Team Keemiya is in conversation with author Bhaskarjyoti Paul, whose essay is a part of Our Stories Are Us: Voices of Love, Loss, and Longing (MyndStories, 2026).
Bhaskarjyoti Paul
Contributor, Our Stories Are Us: Voices of Love, Loss, and Longing
Bhaskar writes to understand the world we build inside ourselves, blending memory with observation, the quiet tensions, and the subtle inheritances that shape who we become. All the while pausing in the small, fragile spaces where feelings become language.
Team Keemiya: What moved you to write your personal story, and what made you feel ready to share it publicly?
Bhaskarjyoti Paul: To be honest, I do not think I would have found my way into it all if not for Smitha’s guidance. There is something about being held in that kind of attention that makes it possible (not easy) to go towards difficult things.
As for feeling ready to share it, I am not sure if “ready” is quite the word. The wounds are yet to fully heal. But they have healed enough that writing about them felt less like reopening something. More like a soft cleansing. Like you have enough distance to look at it, but not so much that it stopped being true.
Team Keemiya: While writing your essay, did you discover or understand something new about your experience, your relationships, or yourself?
Bhaskarjyoti Paul: What the essay helped me see was the shape of the weight I had been carrying, without ever knowing it. How much of who I became was formed by what I refused to become. That refusal shaped so much of my life without my ever naming it.
The hardest part was going back through those moments one by one, turning them over, deciding which ones held the most truth.
Team Keemiya: Sharing deeply personal experiences can be difficult. What was the most challenging part of putting your story into words?
Bhaskarjyoti Paul: The hardest part was going back through those moments one by one, turning them over, deciding which ones held the most truth. In those moments, I became the age I was those things happened. And the body remembered. The smallness, it returned.
Team Keemiya: If a reader who has gone through something similar picks up this book, what would you hope they feel or take away from your story?
Bhaskarjyoti Paul: I did not write this essay to say that I have figured it all out. The essay ends where it ends. If someone read that and think “that is exactly what I did”, then that is enough for me. That is everything, actually. Being seen. Even if it is by someone who was not even writing it for you.
Team Keemiya: As a first-time writer, what did the experience of contributing to this anthology mean to you personally?
Bhaskarjyoti Paul: I have spent most of my life learning to take up less space. And here comes a book, with my name in it, with my words in it, with the things I was most afraid to say. All printed on a page that strangers will hold. I would not have chosen this for myself, if not for Smitha. She found me. Held space for my words in a way I did not know I needed.
Read more stories of other contributors.
Team Keemiya: How did writing your story affect your relationship with the memory or experience you wrote about?
Bhaskarjyoti Paul: I am not sure I have a definite answer to that yet. Writing it did not close anything. The memories are still what they are. What I can say is this: the same blood runs in my veins. That is not something I can change. But I know, with more certainty, that I will never be that. Maybe that is what writing the story gave me. Knowing what I am walking away from.
Team Keemiya: One word that describes your story
Bhaskarjyoti Paul: Inheritance.
Team Keemiya: A book or writer that inspires you.
Bhaskarjyoti Paul: To be honest, I do not read much. Both Smitha and Swati have scolded me about it. Swati recently introduced me to “The Brothers Karamazov”. So maybe that’s the one.
Team Keemiya: What writing this essay taught you?
Bhaskarjyoti Paul: Silence has shape. And I had been living inside it.
This conversation is part of the ongoing series featuring contributors to Our Stories Are Us, a literary anthology exploring the depth and complexity of human relationships.
Want to read their full story? Find it in Our Stories Are Us. Grab a copy today!
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About the Book
Our Stories Are Us is a literary anthology that brings together a set of real, deeply personal narratives about the fragile beauty of human relationships. Through essays and memoir-style reflections, this collection brings together voices that speak with honesty about grief, resilience, vulnerability and healing.
Blending the honesty of non-fiction storytelling, these lived experiences of love and loss tell of relationships that transform us, grief that shake us from deep within, and moments of connection that leave a lasting imprint. Every story holds space for vulnerability, courage, and the unspoken truths we often struggle to name.
This book is perfect for readers of literary non-fiction, and who enjoy reading essays, short stories, and memoirs. This book is for you if you’re drawn to reflective, emotionally rich storytelling and believe in the power of narrative as a form of healing.
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