First published in 1999 this book really has the best collection of Indian stories - "Kabuliwala", "In the Flood", "Exchange of Lunatics", "The Shroud". It was great re-reading them all. Fabulous collection of short stories in Indian regional language writing.
"The Letter" by Dhumaketu is about a coachman waiting for a letter from his daughter until his last day - the pain of his eager wait, the ridicule of the postmaster and when the letter finally arrives too late, the post master realises the pain of waiting for a loved one's letter. "Tabara's Story" is about the beaurocratic jungle and how one can lose a life (and a wife) while waiting for things to happen. 'Tai Esree' is about a lovely bond between a feisty aunt and her nephew who comes back to see her one last time - partition time, an aunt who makes magic in life's little moments and memories that drive a life. 'Maguni's Bullock Cart' is about a man who lived his whole life serving his village by driving them hither and tither in his bullock cart and how he is forgotten the day a bus is brought into the village - only to be remembered one last time when he dies. 'Kabuliwala' is about an Afghan seller who sees his daughter in the daughter of his customer and how he goes to jail and comes back to find that the whole world was not as it had been before.
"Kamalini" by Gurzada Appa Rao is about a young woman who deals with her husband in a way that he probably will mend his erring ways - for good. "Poovan Banana" is a difficult theme to digest as the husband tames his wife by using rather extreme measures to fall in line - so much that whatever he shows her she has to say it is a Poovan Banana or else she gets a rap on her back. "The Cock Fight" is about two bickering neighbours and an unlikely cock that saves our heroines honor. "The Big Silver Rupee" - a generous gift by a happy father to his eight year old - places a huge burden on the child as the whole world starts suspecting the child of having done some mischief - won't let him enjoy it.
Premchand's "Shroud" is about human frailty as father and son drink away the money they had raised for the shroud of the dead wife of the son. "Prehistoric" is deeply disturbing as we see a world of darkness described in such gory detail that you wish the story would end - no happy endings though. C Rajagopalachari's "Ardhanari" deals with the subject of caste and how a low caste boy hides his caste from a high caste marriage prospect and seems to wish the worst things on his family (didn't really get why the low caste guys family had to be killed off to appease his guilt). "The Flood" is brilliant as it takes us into the very soul of the dog that is left behind by its master in a rising flood and how it stays loyal to its master till its death. Manto's "Exchange of Lunatics" reminds one of how our modern civilised world is actually run by lunatics.
"The Curds Seller" is brilliant play between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law and how they make peace and get their ways. "Womenfolk" is difficult to read - how their views though legitimate, are stamped down. "Redemption" is a happy ending, with a man whose heart turns into gold when he meets the old woman in a forest. "Must visit Eluru" is super progressive - a feisty woman who seduces a young neighbour and uses the child from that liaison to secure property and a good life for herself and her son - and when she meets her former lover years later as a widow, introduces their son and invites him to her house. "Death of a Banana Boat" is about a woman who is used like a pawn in the socil hierarchy of a landlord, his clerk and the servant - the pleasure is the upper classes and the burden is of the lower classes.
Fabulous read. Glad I read it. Again.
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