“Around me, dismissed children burst out from the school gates onto the street, pausing to look for drivers and manservants, some of whom had stopped to get their shoes shined or to grab a quick smoke. The afternoon sun reflected off the coppery dirt, matching the school’s Edwardian brick, some of whose alumni were members of Parliament not far from these grounds. Vendors called out to hungry children, ready to serve up samosas and ice cream. Across the street, masses emerged from the metro into the afternoon light, while uniformed children pushed past them into the cool darkness, navigating the city centre to rival any adult, byproducts of being both Dilli-walas and Gilbertians.”
Vermillion
When three young sisters are brutally attacked and killed in the outskirts of New Delhi, all of India is outraged, but no one more so than Sonali, an amateur photographer and school teacher turned activist. Haunted by the descriptions of the attack, Sonali’s sense of injustice toward the weak and vulnerable is kindled.
Vimi is a writer and physician living near Chicago. A graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars, she has published short stories both online and in print and has had a story, “Nadine,” produced as an Audible Original. In 2020 she was the Grand Prize Winner of the Books Pipeline Unpublished Competition, in the literary fiction category. She has been awarded writing residency fellowships at Ragdale, Hedgebrook, and most recently The Macdowell Foundation.