Queen Mother Kunti reflects on her life as a pawn in the hands of time. A revolutionary warrior mulls over the choices she has made. A tree talks to her daughter in a dystopian future. Draupadi tells her mother-in-law to speak up. A woman beats up an abusive husband. Or does she? These 15 stories by women reflect some of the quiet joys as well as deepest fears of Indian women today.

Drawing inspiration from leading contemporary female authors in India today, including Anuja Chauhan, Anita Nair, Jaishree Misra and Jhumpa Lahiri, every month, readers of Women's Web (www.womensweb.in), a digital platform that tells women's stories, sent in their own writing. These 15 shortlisted stories represent the very best of the short fiction published on the site in 2016. These stories that emerge from the reality of women's lives will resonate with women and men everywhere.