This collection brings together ten stories and two one-act plays which embody all of these qualities. In ‘The Love Letter’, Birupaksha Ray, a translator and a linguist, receives a ciphered missive from an old flame, unlocking which could occupy the rest of his life; in ‘A Scent of Tulsi’, Mihir, a husband comfortable in his patriarchy discovers a side to his wife, Kamala, which shakes up his world. And, in ‘Twenty-five Years After―or Before’, a one-act play, old lovers meet by chance at an international airport and talk about opportunities missed, and those not taken.His prose is marked by invention, refreshing modernity and an easy yet deep engagement with timeless themes: love, the nature of memory, and the complexity of the relationship between man and woman―qualities which keep Bose’s work enduringly relevant.