Zeashan Zaidi's "Murde Ki Awaaz" (tr "Voice of the Corpse") (short story, Hindi, treasure hunt, free)

Dr Chandra, the proverbial mad scientist, has made a discovery: that human memories not only live in our head, but also in our cells! And that some cells in our bones can survive decades after death. And he's made a machine to read the memories from the cells!

Abdul Majid's greatgrandfather had once seen a great treasure somewhere in Sundarbans (on India/Bangladesh border?), but died before he could tell anyone its location.

So now Abdul & Dr Chandra are working together to locate this treasure & split it fifty-fifty; Abdul's responsibility includes digging up his greatgrandfather's grave to get a bone.

All goes well till treasure is located, only both men are greedier than is good for them...

Fact sheet.

First published: Science Times News & Views, sometime in January 2001.
Download full text of original Hindi from Kalkion Hindi. Or automatic translation to English by Google.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Zeashan Zaidi; Hindi fiction.

Free fiction: Hindi novel: Zeashan Zaidi's "Platinum Ki Khoj" (tr "Discovery of Platinum")

At author's site: original Hindi; automatic translation to English by Google.

I haven't personally read it yet,

Related: Stories of Zeashan Zaidi; Hindi fiction.

Free fiction: Hindi: A short story & a novel of Zeashan Zaidi

While I haven't read either, author's other stories I've read are all clearly science fiction.

1. [ss] "Jhoomti Nagin" (download Hindi pdf).
2. [novel] "Platinum Ki Khoj"; download Hindi or Google's automatic translation to English: Currently being serialized at author's site.

Related: Hindi fiction.

Free fiction: 4 Hindi short stories by 3 authors (some with English translations)

First 3 are all clearly science fiction; I haven't read the last, but it probably is not. All are original Hindi. Only the first is human translated to English (& not a high quality translation); automatic English translations for 2 others are available.

1. Arvind Mishra's "Disillusion"; download: This is human translation, but has many spelling mistakes. Plus some cultural aspects that appear normal in Hindi but not quite so in their literal translation to English.
   
   Story is of a lonely old man who has found uneasy solace in the company of machines & the lonely wilderness of moon.
2. Zeashan Zaidi's "Majboor Asman"; download original Hindi, its automatic translation to English by Google: Terrorism funded by powerful countries & arms manufacturers to further their influence & business, respectively. Starts very well - 100% authentic Indian plot that won't be penned at many other places; but gets ... kind of ... contrived as it progresses.
3. Zeashan Zaidi's "Dangai Banjare" ("Rioting Nomads"); download original Hindi, its automatic translation to English by Google: Mad scientist on his quest to take over the world.
4. Somesh Shekhar Chandra's "Apne Apne Durg" ("Everyone's Own Forts"); download original Hindi: Not read.
   

Related: Hindi fiction.

Free fiction: 2 Hindi novels & a short story of Zeashan Zaidi & Yashwant Kothari

Zeashan's both stories are science fiction. I haven't read Yashwant's novel, but it is probably non-genre.

Zeashan's short story "Avatar": It's about a cyborg planted by an unnamed X-country in India - to play godman, & help build a favorable public opinion towards imports from X country.
Download original Hindi as a 4-part serial: 01, 02, 03, 04. Or automatic translation to English by Google: 01, 02, 03, 04.
PS: I wish all serials have their own label - so a single link needs to be posted & opened!

Zeashan also recently finished posting his serial novel "Taboot" (tr "Coffin"). Download original Hindi, or automatic English translation by Google. This is about the hibernating ancients awoken accidentally in a cave in Assam, & their adventures in modern India. Lot of (low-end) humor.

Both stories make a light read, later in a fun mood too.

Yashwant Kothari's satirical novel "Asatyam Ashivam Asundaram": At Internet Archive.

Related: Stories of Zeashan Zaidi; Hindi fiction; humor.

Zeashan Zaidi's "Parivartan" (tr "Change") (short story, Hindi, free): Cool & surprising ending

In a future where sea surface is divided & owned the way land is owned today, you can steal someone's identity by stealing an ID card & getting his body appearance by surgery, & hominid robots indistinguishable from humans exist, Anand is a destitute man looking for some work.

So when he is witness to a road accident that killed the sole occupant, he quickly claims driver's ID, disposes off the dead body, gets himself surgically transformed to diseased's body (presumably with dead man's money), & goes to diseased's office to his job - all before anybody noticed anything was amiss about the dead man!

Only, he did not know of a little thing that he will discover when he "returns" to dead man's home... Fantastic ending, of an otherwise ordinary story.

Fact sheet.

First published: As a "recent" radio drama (when? where? is audio online?)
Rating: B.
Download full text (in Hindi): part 1 & part 2. Or automatically produced English translation by Google: part 1 & part 2.
Related: Stories of Zeashan Zaidi (all are in Hindi); Hindi stories (including human translations from other languages).

Free fiction: In Hindi: Some short stories & a drama by Zeashan Zaidi

Online here.

Can read online but no download. Story links are unusual & can be missed - click the post title! I wish link was inside each post's body, so no new instructions need be given when sharing the post.

Future entries in this list will be automatically picked up by my reprints free fiction feed (will add to watch list this weekend).

Zeashan - in case you are reading this: my program will be watching for new posts with label "Short Stories and Dramas".

Humor: The roots of nuclear war

"I've heard our ancestors were once apes... Then how did they turn into humans?"

"Nuclear war changes species. So I think when the apes became highly developed, they started disliking their ape-faces. So to change the species, they started a nuclear war. That changed their species, & they turned into humans."

"... I guess this is the reason there is so much preparation for nuclear war now-a-days. Because man has started disliking his face, & he wants to become something else."

- Taboot (novel) by Zeashan Zaidi. Translated by me from original Hindi text of Episode 14 of its currently-being-serialized web version.