To the absolutely phenomenal team at Penguin Random House India—Sohini Mitra, Smit Zaveri, Piya Kapur, Aditi Batra—for their belief in my stories and for taking my words to a better place, always. It has been such a joy to work with you.

To Devangana Dash. Thanks to her amazing talent, I hope this book is judged by its cover.

To Rajan Navani, Vikram Sathaye, Asma Said Khan (my inspiration for Nabeel Said’s character), Aliya Suleman, Sangeeta Datta, Chintan Girish Modi, Baela Raza Jamil, Ting Wang, Sunaina Shivpuri, Avi Gulati, Deepak Melwani, Dr Adwaita Menon (ace tape-ball cricket consultant), Jyotsna Gadi, Noreen Kazim and Bodhijit Ray—for their unhesitating and enthusiastic support in finding a wider reach for this little book.

To all the contributors to The Partition Museum in Amritsar, The 1947 Partition Project at Stanford University and The Oral History Project—The Citizens Archive of Pakistan; and the lovely staff at the British Library.

To my parents and my brother, Nishchae, for their boundless duas that guide my hand to write.

To Nandana and Vrinda, for reading every single draft and coming up with uncannily insightful plot points. And more than anything else, for gifting me with precious memories of our shared writing adventures.

To Vivek, for always believing, even when I floundered, and making it all possible.

Thank you everyone. For helping me tell a story that is very close to my heart.

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Red Card

Kautuk Srivastava

One team. One year. Everything to lose.

When Rishabh Bala reaches the tenth standard, life takes a turn for the complicated. The bewildered boy feels the pressure of the looming board exams and finds himself hopelessly and hormonally in love. But what he yearns for most is victory on the field: at least one trophy with his beloved school football team.

Set in the suburban Thane of 2006, here is a coming-of-age story that runs unique as it does familiar. Hopscotching from distracted classrooms and tired tutorials to triumphs and tragedies on muddy grounds, this is the journey of Rishabh and his friends from peak puberty to the cusp of manhood.

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Toppers

Aayush

How far will you go to be the best?

Manipulation and lies reign supreme at the elite school of Woodsville. The race for the coveted spot of head scholar sees stakes being raised and sides taken as the student body turns into a pawn in a vicious game played by Woodsville’s toppers: a charismatic royal, a calculating damsel in distress, the school star who had it all, a topper who cannot lose, a soft-spoken boy tired of living in the shadows and an unstoppable child prodigy.

Witness an intense battle of wills where the toppers overcome their demons only to unleash those lying in wait within others. Chaos and mayhem become their playthings as the facades slowly begin to crumble. But in their fight to be the best, they forget one thing . . . there’s always someone better.