“Amnesia in Nainital” is a gay romance short story of over 22,000 words, and with a surreal twist. It tells the affair of two high school boyfriends, first divided and then reunited by fate, which keeps working in truly mysterious ways.

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Nainital, a small village in the Kumaon Mountains, India. Year 2019.

After an emotionally hard day at work, Devan Puri drives up to the Ayarpath Peak. A quiet ride ends tragically, because an unexpected snowstorm causes his car to veer off the road and end up in a snow ditch.

Saved by a mysterious woman named Eliyana and her rather tacit brother Elavarasu, Devan wakes up in a traditional wooden lodge, adorned with the images of Lord Shiva, the Hindu god known for his power to destroy the old, to make space for the new.

Although Devan survives the car accident physically unscathed, it quickly turns out that he’s got deep post-traumatic amnesia. All his memories are gone, he doesn't even know his real name... Still and all, very soon a certain man appears on his path: Jihan Sharma, whom his heart still seems to remember...

Interestingly, Jihan knows him as well, and claims that they used to be very much in love with each other once, and that they even dated in secret. This news comes as a total shock to Devan, who doesn’t remember his parents, but intuitively knows that he grew up in a rather conservative environment.

He doesn’t have an opportunity to think of Jihan’s confession, though, because soon, he finds a threatening letter addressed to him. The sender swears revenge for something terrible, and Devan has no idea what he might have done...

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“Amnesia a Nainital” is a dreamlike and atmospheric winter tale, full of themes such as (but not exclusively) repressed feelings, the refuge of oblivion, and the return to the right path thanks to adversities.

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