The View from Castle Rock - Alice Munro

Typically, I read the newly crowned Nobel Laureate, during November or December, if they aren't in my familiarity zone. I did not have to do that for a Saramago or a Llosa or Mo Yan as they weren't new to me when they were chosen for the award. But as for the current laureate,  I haven't read any book of Alice Munro, barring a couple of stories published in New Yorker. For various reasons, the customary reading (of Nobel Winner) has split into the new year, and on a collective suggestion and a group reading choice,  The View from the Castle Rock, was decided.

Being the first writer  known only for writing  'short stories', to be a Nobel Laureate, it did attract a higher attention and expectation. The inside Cover specifically mentioned it as 'stories'. The book, however, is a progressive narrative of her own family, spanning over three centuries and two continents. As they say, one can always look at sources closed to us for inspiration, hence the vast number of 'autobiographical' or 'semi-autobiographical' writing in literature field . Alice Munro does exactly that, looking back at her family's history , from her great great grandfather to her step mother in a captivating, touching collection of stories.  The book read like a novel to me, than a collection of short stories. A seamless narrative , chronologically progressed, albeit not in continuous sequences, leaving gaps in the story, space and time. 

From the small Islands of Scotland, Alice starts her tales, of survival, of migration to greener pastures, intricacies of family connections and incidents and anecdotes. Set in two parts, part one,  the family's journey from Ettrick Valley in Scotland to North America, and part two in the new lands and the later generations of her family. I personally liked the initial parts The back yard search for the clues and stories about the ancestors, few prolific ones, and the threading of these various anecdotes into a seamlessly woven story form was marvelous. I am not as enthused in the later part ( especially towards the end) , where the narration tends to be a bit disjointed. A bit of triviality takes over. The later part has a lot more personal experiences and more autobiographical in nature. The first part is more adventurous, the quest for hints and connecting dots, bringing few interesting characters of the Islands. The plan and the dream of the new land, the metaphorical "View from the Castle Rock" to the new world.

This is one of my first reading of Munro and I was talking about this being a progressive stories as in novel vis-a-vis a collection of short stories. I argued that a random reading of one of the stories in the middle, probably will have a lesser impact, as against reading these stories as a collective. I was told that she tends to play along these lines and the narration often breaches the boundaries of the novel and short story.  Characters , places and events apparently pops up repeatedly in the other collections as well.

I would look at the two parts separately. Part one, largely based on the snippets of information she gathered during her visits and from various mentions in the old documents. She stich together a compelling story, enriched with beautiful imagery, characterisation ( build up from the data available) and fixing the missing links. This part which has more fictional element is fabulous, and a creation of a worthy hand. The second part, largely autobiographical and contemplative has lesser amount of fictional element, but more of internalisation of her own life and observations. The energy of her ancestors is derived into the later part, but these two remain different and in contrast in many aspects.

The terrain and the place has a large part of participation in her stories. These stories are all of limited scale and scope. Largely around relationships, confined within the family or short extensions in a few cases. There is a sense of intimacy, a closeness, a dependency of mutual existence. The gradual demo graphical and geographical changes in the landscape , minute observations of the changes in the living conditions et all are carefully handled through the stories.  Beautiful passages, meditative, emotionally deep story telling and fabulous control over language makes this a great read.

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The View from Castle Rock ( 2006 )

Alice Munro

Vintage Books

349  Pages
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Wiki, Guardian, NY Times, Quill & Quire

Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh - Mo Yan

Last years ( 2012) Nobel Laureate Mo Yan goes back to his childhood days in the province, to the days of poverty and hunger the days of cultural revolution t the early days of one family one child policy, in this collection of carefully chosen eight short stories. 1960s , Mo Yan says, is "one of China's most bizarre period. On one hand, those years saw the country in the grip of economic stagnation and individual deprivation. The people struggled to keep death from their door, with little to eat and rags for clothes ; on the other hand, it was a time for intense political passion".  He talked about people surviving by eating coal. "The more I ate, the better the stuff tasted, until it seemed absolutely delicious". These collection of stories are reflective of the time which Mo Yan experienced as a young boy.

The title story talked about a factory worker laid off from job, barely a month before his retirement. Known for his exemplary work, a role model to the rest, even he could not survive the axe, as the bad economic situation, caused the authorities to shut down the factory. All the sweet words that flew and the promises that were given, as Ding Shikou soon to find out, had no meaning. Forced to find a way to live, Shikou takes the help of his friend to transform a abandoned chassis of a bus into some thing called a 'lover's cottage', which he rents out on a fee to young lovers seeking privacy and seclusion. While it gave him economic freedom, as the business grew to greater heights during the 'season', Shikou looses his conscience and self esteem, resulting in his hallucinatory visions of 'visitors' to his cottage.

Man and the beast, reflect upon the plight of a soldier who fought Japanese and was captured and taken as prisoner to Japan. Visiting the island of Hokkaido, the nameless narrator, recounts the story of his grand father and his exploits in the lush valleys and hills adjoining the Sapporo Sea. Remembering his grand dad's words of his time in Japan, the heroic story of resistance of his grand mother, his uncles and aunts against the enemy, the ten years of solitary life in the mountains before his return to China and  the accusation of his rape of a Japanese woman as per the police records ( grand father never actually had intercourse with that women, so the furry baby described in Japanese historical materials, is not related to him. But even having a young uncle who is half Japanese would be no disgrace to our family, and could in fact considered our glory, says the narrator) the grand son tries to get the records right and restore the glory of his family. "One must honour the Truth".

Soaring, is a fantastic story with a touch of magical realism. Forty year old, badly pockmarked Hong Xi marries to a beautiful YanYan, in exchange for his sister to Yanyan's brother, a mute. However, the marriage wasn't one he hoped for, as the bride took off from his house and jumped and flew over the village, from one tree to the other, free like a bird to escape the marriage, refusing to come down despite the plea from him and the villagers, until she was brought down by the village policeman's rifle. Iron Child is an ironical story about a young boy living by eating pieces of iron, during the "great leap forward" campaign, in possible satire on over industrialisation while the country is in famine. "Cure" on the other hand is too visually compelling, forced to witness the mass execution by the authorities, a young boy and his father waits below the bridge for falling bodies to extract the 'gall' from the corpse as a cure for his ailing grand mother. 'Love story', about a city educated young girl forced to labour at the farm collectives, having a affair with a younger boy. "Abandoned Child" is about female infanticide, a larger social and political issue due to the strict one family one son policy. A story relevant in the present day India ( especially Haryana and Punjab and to a lesser extend Tamil Nadu), trying to get the attention of the people to one of the most 'disturbing' trends in the modern era. Restricted to having one child per family, young people abandon or murder new born babies, if they are born with any defects or if they are girls ( preference to male child).

'Shen Garden' is one of the story which stand out  and is my pick from this collection. The most recent story of the book, this is a poignant account of a middle aged couple ( either divorced or separated for a long time), coming to terms with their life's dreams and compromises.  Story starts with two middle aged man and woman, sitting in the bakery, having referential, trivial one sided conversations. We can gather that they are not together and the relation is already cracked. Both will move their own way in the evening ( a reference of an eight 'O clock train) not likely to meet again. Its all of a sudden she demands "I'd like to visit Shen Garden". Shen Garden might be the symbolic of their good times. Its a place where they wish to be together. As we understand from his expression, Shen Garden is not in Beijing, but in Zheijiang province . Nonetheless, they set out for the garden, the Yuanming garden in Beijing.

'This isn't my Shen Garden' she said. "You're wrong, this is your Shen Garden". He felt like a stage performer. In a tone of voice pregnant with meaning, he added, 'Of course, it's my Shen Garden too. It's our Shen Garden."

The royal gardens of China are an attraction by themselves. Having visited many, I can vouch for their effect and impact on the visitors. A place of calmness and serenity among the hubbubs of the crowded city life, the rich vegetation and green surroundings. When they entered the garden it was raining and the place was deserted. The rain lashed on them and their life. The weather is changing, it rained out and the rainbow is in the horizon,  swinging the mood of the couple. She was hopping around like a girl and shouting and the joy was infectious. Mo Yan writes,

"Without being aware of it, they had drawn close together, as they gazed intimately into each other's eyes. No evasions or sidesteps, no hesitation or wavering; first their hands joined naturally, and then they fell just as naturally into each other's arms. They kissed."

Mo Yan derives the characters and his subject from his childhood days( except may be Shen Garden). The intense fragrance of the province in the sixties is visible in each of the tale. The hardship, the ability to look at them and laugh ( as the title story reminds us) and the resilience, which are characteristics of the people comes out strongly through these stories. Its a clever mix, of some hard hitting social issues , few fantastical stories, a fabulous love story. Mo Yan, writes beautifully and they are rich in imagery and deep in content. Even a preachy story like 'abandoned child' has the elements of a good story telling. The translation is smooth and the selection is well thought out. May not be the best of Mo Yan, but are very important and reflective of the resources of this writer , the world recognised through the Nobel Prize.

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Shifu, You'll Do Anything for a Laugh(2001 )

Mo Yan ( translated from Chinese by Howard Goldblatt in 2001)

Arcade Publishing

224 Pages
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New internationalist, NY Times

What Becomes - A L Kennedy

A L Kennedy's books aren't easy to get into. This is my third book and the result wasn't any different. That does not make it a bad book, on the contrary. Each of these stories are good, some very good. The twelve stories in this collection are something in common. They all follow the plight of individuals ( or couples) fighting their own separation from the other.  Some imminent separation, some on the verge of isolation, some even being together has the hidden bridge of separation. All the characters are young/middle aged couple and picked straight out of the daily life. No stories, none whatsoever, has a pleasant ambiance, the gloom and sadness is the feeling in the air. Thus it makes a depressive read, however effective the narration is.

The first story that bears the title of the book, reflects on a couple unable to recover from the loss of their child. Sitting in an isolated cinema hall, alone, Frank looks at the failing marriage with his wife. In an attempt ( final ?) to win her over he even makes a soup for her before her return from the workplace. The attempt however fails after he cut his finger resulting in blood stains all over the kitchen and the soup. Kennedy plays well with her writing here, trying to portray the failure of the relationship as every thing around them is deteriorating.  "Wasp"s again about the imminent separation, albeit short . Its the day of the morning when he had to say good bye to his wife and two young sons, prior to his travel on business. But there is clear signals of the widening differences between them and the difference is clearly played through the children. "Edinburgh' again is a superb build up of an affair, coming to an sad end.  An affair started at the grocery shop of Peter, took him through the realms of love, only to be disappointed in the end. Here we see a clever writing of Kennedy where she interestingly mix the voice of the mind to the voice of the body. A dual communication technique, one to the outer world and the other to oneself cleverly juxtaposed in the narration, giving it an unknown depth. Another interesting story of the collection is Sympathy. A writing almost flirting with pornography, about an accidental one night relationship in a hotel room. Mostly told in the form of conversations, despite their short lived romance, mostly sexual in nature, separate on a promise of a call and a meeting in near future, with both know is not for real and this rendezvous will end as abruptly as it started.  In 'Saturday Tea Time' a young lady recovering in a 'floating tank' remembers the time of the young days where she had witnessed and was subjected to domestic violence.

Each of these stories carry the same line. They are all melancholic, they are all makes one feel for those living it out.  The voice here plays a big role, beyond the narration. It's beyond the written words, they are layered and have various undercurrents of humor, sadness and heart break in some form or other. She uses words cleverly, there are metaphors in abundance ( the wasp for example), philosophical undertones ( in Edinburgh, especially towards the end), and social observations. The characters of these stories are tied to their destiny and do not show any attempts to shackle out of them, rather they endure them with somewhat inner pleasure of a defeatist.

A L Kennedy is a brilliant writer, fabulous use of the words and clever mix of narrative techniques. These stories, while the overall gloomy ambiance is a bit depressive, do seek in with their sheer brilliance.

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What Becomes (2009 )

A L Kennedy

Vintage books

218 Pages
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Guardian, Telegraph, N Y Times, Irish Times, Independent

Blow-Up and Other Stories - Julio Cortázar

Hotchpotch was mesmerizing and will be read many times again. Ever since I was trying to read more of his writing. This collection of short stories, I understand, have varied reception. While few of my friends had very high opinion, there are many disappointed reactions. I too, went through the same upheaval while reading this book. Few of the stories were phenomenal and few did not make any ripples. This collection of stories, split into three parts, probably the time when they were written and in general the stories in the later part were more appealing than the earlier part.

"House taken over" from the first part was a brilliant story.  A brother and Sister living in their ancestral house, finds their house has been "taken over" by some one. The some one could be the authorities or forces that can not be confronted. The build up (of their daily routine, their interests knitting, the french literature etc)  and the irony of the old siblings ( the sure and gradual loosing of their hold on the place where they live, until forced out doors, locking the room and   The eery and scary atmosphere is build up by the sounds of encroachment  and noises they hear from adjoining rooms, in an otherwise silent house.  were captured with such a brilliance. I'm sure there would be a lot more interpretations of this story.

"The Pursuer" from the third part is another one that impressed me a lot. The story of a exceptionally talented and equally eccentric ( alcoholic, addicted) American Jazz musician, told through his biographer , a music critic is the longest story of the collection. This story is dedicated to Ch P ( Charles Parker ?),  Legendary musician, fighting his battle of personal issues, with the critic trying to support him rather ineffectively, and a silent witness in the form of his girlfriends. In the end, he not only bring himself down, he takes every one close to him through the downward spiral. "End of the Game" , "The Blow-up" apparently influenced the movie by the same name by Antonio Antonioni, and the first Axiotl were other interesting stories of this collection.

His style and the language here is very similar to Hotchpotch, easy and simple sentences grows into you.  He has a way of building the scene through his words. The human relations has an uneasy nature in almost every stories. They all are not necessarily ruled by the social norms. Even those stories, which did not make any great impression upon me, were carefully crafted. As a story teller, he is not behind any of his contemporaries. But this is no Hotchpotch, despite few  gems of stories.

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Blow-Up and Other Stories ( 1963/1967)

Julio Cortázar

Pantheon Books

278 Pages
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Wiki

The Book of Sand - Jorge Luis Borges

"...this book was called the Book of Sand, because neither the book nor the sands has any beginning or end."

The collection of short stories published towards the end of the literary career of Borges,  according to him is the best he has ever written. He was almost blind and at the twilight of his illustrious career as a writer. But, that and his words as a testimony does not make them as his best.  "The volume includes thirteen stories.The number is accidental, or fatal - here the two words are strictly synonymous- and not magical" says he in the author's note. " In these blind man's exercises, I have tried to be faithful to the example of H.G.Wells in combining the plain and at times almost colloquial style with a fantastic plot." , he conclude saying "I write for myself and for my friends, and I write  to ease the passing of time".

Some of them are to his admittance autobiographical ( the one richest in memories).  Most of the stories in this book can be identified as the reminiscence of an aging man trying to fabricate the tales of his yester-years  through scenarios, events, dreamlike sequences and encounters. The other, opening story has the confrontation with his own alter ego , in Cambridge  near Charles River. The Congress and "The Book of Sand" are the two other stories I found good in this. Avelino Arredondo, a story about a Political murder in the last decade in Uruguay is another interesting story.

These stories aren't the precipitation of all that wisdom and learning of a man who enthralled the readers for years. Despite his claim as his most significant work, for the strict Borges readers , both ficcions and labyrinth probably be superior to this collection.  One can observe the reflection of those writings in these pages, and it do have few classy stories to its credit. Borges gives us a hasty afterwords helping the readers into the context of his stories. He says he prefer an afterwords because prefacing the stories not yet read, is somewhat impossible task, since it demand analysis of plots. Not the greatest of the writing of Borges, but the stamp and touch of a great writer is evident in every page. I should get back to 'Labyrinth' soon.

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The Book of Sand (1975)

Jorge Luis Borges ( translated from Spanish by Norman thomas di Giovanni)

Allen Lane

94 Pages
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Latinoes, Wiki

The Empty Family - Colm Tóibín

I might have started on a wrong book. Colm Toibin has been in the list of writers I wanted to read for a long time But, surely, this wasn't the place to begin, or so I believe. This collection of 9  stories not only disappointed by  this book but surely dampened my interest in reading any more for a while, at least.

As a theme, all these stories are around individuals, living an alienated life from their beloved. They are all wanderers, staying away from their homeland ( in US or Spain ) and all have a lasting longing for their homeland. In many stories, they are all back in Ireland, despite being away, for reasons such as death, that bring them closer to their motherland. All of them are linked to the others through love, desire and in loneliness trying to find their own solace in these passing relationship. Colm Toibin, play with this  basic emotion of the human, in its intimacies, in its subtle, untold but deep expressions in fairly effective way , at times too explicit and repulsive.

The last story of the collection, the longest for more than 60 pages , which talk about homo-erotic relationship among migrant workers from Pakistan in Barcelona, to me is the worst of the lot. Apart from the fact that the love and relationship are between men, it is a silly story fit for a 'bollywood flick'. Take one man out of the triangle and replace with the heroine, it had all the ingredients for a cheap 'masala' movie. Explicit , graphic gay sex scenes aren't my cup of tea. They are galore in this series, and they aren't erotic, but disgusting. One story of a young man trying to take care of his dying aunt ( The color of Shadows), is the only story worth remembering. I thought that, including its fantastic twist at the end, was a good story. Perhaps, "The Pearl Fishers" too, for its attempt to  bring out those moments which are buried deep down in the minds of the three and "the time has come to reveal", the misconduct of the Priest happened years back in their boarding school.

His writing and language is good, and there is no mistake of his capabilities. But this collection of stories, some how, did not live up to the expectations I had on this writer. Barcelona 1975 , about young gay sex party ( well that is all I could gather)(, or 'The New Spain', about a young revolutionary returning back to her family after the death of Franco, from her exile and the earlier said Pakistani story are played out in Spain. Few stories "The Empty Family", "One minus One" and 'Two women' are also fairly ok.  As the plots are centered around the US, Ireland and Spain with some connect to the land distant , the nostalgia, the sense of loss and the alienation continue to take form in every other stories.  But that alone does not make this a great collection of stories. Except for  his control over language, and the continuity of the theme of isolation and loneliness, there is nothing noteworthy in these stories.

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The Empty Family ( 2010)

Colm Toibin

Penguin Books

214 Pages
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NY Times, Guardian, Oprah , The Telegraph

The Old House & Other Stories - Chuah Guat Eng

There has been a surge in the English Writings from many of the commonwealth countries of late. India has a thriving publishing Industry for those who write in English. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are producing more writers who express their art form in the colonial language. Tan Twan Eng's Gift of Rain was my first introduction to the Malaysian Literature ( though he lives in South Africa these days). I was planning to buy his new book, while at a book store in Kuala Lumpur. It was the store manager who suggested I try out this writer. I had no knowledge of her , and that can be a major handicap to appreciate the context of many of the stories.

In a detailed introduction to this writer Prof Mohammad A Quayum, says despite the multi-cultural , multi ethnic and multi religious ambience in the Malay social living, "she is not a polemic writer : she refuses to write maliciously about race and religion". However, people from all religious background appear in her stories. When you look at the stories, these are all common people, living the regular middle class life. These are not those who live in periphery or outside the normal facts of life. Their issues in life are what is experienced in day to day life. Their concerns, issues, hopes and ambitions are nothing different from the rest of the world. What is interesting in this collection is in her ability, to pick moments of interest out of these ordinary lives.

As is expected in any anthology, this too have some good stories and a few very ordinary ones. The day Andy Warhol Died , The Old House, Two Pretty men were very good stories. The old house especially demand a lot more attention. Finding a piece of jewelry in an old house, the nameless protagonist find the disturbing remembrances of her childhood memories. The once hidden nightmares of the ill treatment she experienced at the hands of her step mother, has found a way out of her subconscious mind. Without sensationalizing she told a beautiful story. The day Andy Warhol dies , experiments the possibility of relating two non-connected incidents through the imagination of young kids. Sexuality or the gender relation subject are appearing in many a stories. Be it the subtle homo sexuality hints in two pretty men, Karuna's mermaid, or the infidelity issues which appear in 'Tamarind tree', almost wrong and seventh uncle, are treated with such a great care.

The narration is fairly straight forward and no great experimentation with the structural forms or linguistical ( as we see in many post-colonial writing) freedom of using local dialects. The typical middle class prejudice, greed and moral issues are the major themes of her writing. While the book may not be extra ordinary, it gives us a glimpses to the post colonial life of the Malaysian middle class. In the interview given in the last part of the book, she says : 'When I reflect on the stories I have written, I suppose the dominant theme has resolved around the issues arising from the interrelationship between truth,lies and silences'

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The Old House & Other Stories ( 2008 )

Chuah Guat Eng

Holograms

138 Pages
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Eric Forbes

Insects are Just Like You and me Except Some of Them have Wings - Kuzhali Manickavel

The book was recommended to me by the publisher himself.  He said, if you like some weird , non-conforming kind of writing, you will like this book. This was about a month ago, at the COMICON event at Koramangala. I did buy the 'Stupid guy' book as well. Like most of the readers, I too, got carried away with the unusual title and few diagrams that appeared through out the books with illustrations of various insects ( which I found out later, has no connection whatsoever with the stories) , in which one says "A Literary Appreciation of T.S.Eliot's The Waste Land sen as a diagram of a mutant fruit fly".

The book indeed is a bit whacky in its style and stories. They appear to you in short spurts. One paragraph at a time. Stop. Start again. Some of them are only a paragraph or half a page long. Few of them are longer. Hence many do not have a standard complete story format. It is difficult to get used to this style for a while, and once you are through with that, then the reading become easy. The voice, remain same almost through out, of a semi urban-urban low middle class modern youth. The images again are restricted to these neighborhoods of semi urban, middle class. The prevailing angst, the frustration and the need to establish themselves crops up in many a stories.

Whenever she attempt to writer a longer version of the stories, I find it has a better effect. The stories are more complete and round, the characters are formed appropriately and there is a sort of continuity and conclusion. "Suicide letter is the most common form of the letter", "The dynamics of Windows", and "The Dolphin king" are , for the same reason, are more complete and are much better.  The language is consistent, her observations are trivial at times but are spontaneous and fresh.  The constant detached behaviour of her characters, we see some one who is sort of connected to the roots. While trying to be independent and self, there is a longing for love and admiration, of wanting to get to the family ( may be a generation above like in the case of Suicide letter..) and connect to the life despite the death of the individual ( the shoe box that keep appearing despite the death of the owner, Kathis carrying the embryo of his twin-brother in a bottle, the husband who re-appear to his wife in her dream asking for his watch in Paarvai ) , apart from numerous animals and insects ( the Rat names miraculous, the dragon fly, the butterflies in the entomologist in line with the title of the book.

IVery interesting set of short stories. The conversations are abrupt and non-polished. The characters are all middle aged, just out of house/family young individuals trying to find their own meaning/foot hold of life. The stories as said earlier, comes in short spurts, a paragraph at a stretch, breaking, opening at another in a flash. In the conventional sense, these do not conform to the standards. Despite many short comings, they have a freshness in them. A very different voice in the Indian English Writing.

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Insects are Just Like You and me Except Some of Them have Wings ( 2008 )

Kuzhali Manickavel

Blaft Publications

141 Pages
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The Short Review, Tehelka

കോട്ടയം 17 - Unni R

It's been long since I read a good collection of short stories in Malayalam. Here is a good surprise.The voice is fresh, the theme is contemporary yet cleverly chosen, the plots are measured , the language is lucid yet attractive. There is no effort to work around the same cliched approach of the baroque and vivid description. Hence the freshness in words. Not that all the eight stories are brilliant, or better to one another. Three of them were fabulous and the rest were good to mediocre. That is besides the point. What Unni has tried to attempt is to look at the current issues of the generation in his own perspective and put them in a voice that is different.

The opening story (thodinappuram parambinappuram) about a blind lady with her grand daughter, seeking unknown lands through her inner vision, The world outside to her was the description of the places by travellers, or the books of legendary travel writers. Their experiences and what they witness become her view and experience. For Sulfath and her grandmother, it is important to imbibe these short sojourn into the world of unknown an escape from their harsh realities.

Anandamargam, follow a group of middle age ladies in their 'picnic' to Munnar. Away from the shackles of life, the office, the family restrictions , the group decides to make the most of it. At the age of mid forties, the social taboo restricts them from expressing themselves and this opportunity let them vent out all that were hidden for a long long time. There is no fellow office staff who despise them, no society to watch them. Their cry of freedom , though, limit to alcohol or few steamy conversations or few shouts to the wild without any inhibition and they are happy about it and content.

The symbolic 'Leela', which I understand is now being made into a movie by Renjith, revolve around the fantasy of a middle age person to have sex to a young girl in the presence of an elephant. In fact, the girl leaning on the trunk of the elephant and he entering her holding on to the tusk. What is needed is the elephant to begin with and then the girl who is willing. He and the narrator begins their trip cross crossing the state following one lead to other.

Rest of the stories, thread the similar track in terms of theme and treatment to a lesser effect. Kottayam 17, another symbolic tale of a childless family, who 'lift' the Infant Christ's idol from the church, 'Enteyanenteyanikkombananakal' on a book lover, trying to come to terms with the selling of his treasured possession are fairly good. Couple of the others are mediocre.

Good collection of stories, and importantly a different voice , in general.

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കോട്ടയം 17 (Kottayam 17 -  2010 )

Unni R

96 Pages

Rs 60
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മലയാളത്തിന്റെ 100 കഥകള്‍(100 mini stories from Malayalam)

A collection of 100 mini stories by 100 different writers in Malayalam is an interesting read. The name include some of the big-wigs in the Malayalam Literary world, from VKN , Madhavikkutty, Kovilan, M Mukundan, Punathil Kunjabdulla etc etc to some of the 'new kids in the block'. While the majority of the stories were after the same old cliched subject of abuse, family values, expatriation, abandoned parents back home etc, there were a few different voices and attempt to improve within the constraints of a short fiction.

Like any compilations, this has 10+ good stories and a lot of average mediocre ones and the rest shear waste. I know one can not reach consensus with others in their liking. I picked around 8 stories for a second read and the person read this book immediately after me picked her 8. There were agreement only on 5 ( so much for good ).

I know it is not easy to write a story in few sentences or in less than a half a page length. It demands a different level of skill and talent. The impact has to sublime and lasting. The language has to be crisp while being fuild. The words to be poetic and the theme or plot to be short. That also calls for better editorial and compilation work. Considering all that, this is a brave attempt to get them published in one book trying to include most of the prominent writers of Malayalam. Arshad Batheri, who compiled the book ( which include on of his own creation) tells us that these are directly collected from the writers and have not been published elsewhere. Hence, unlike other anthologies , this does not have a history of readers feedback and their previous experience.

The stories stood out for their brilliance and their ability to handle the their theme differently are of Kovilan, Pattathuvila Karunakaran, Perumbatavam Sridharan, Vaishakhan, U K Kumaran, E Harikumar, Abraham Mathew , K Raghunathan and K V Anoop. These are my picks and I am sure you can come up with another after you read them. Death was the theme for Pattathuvila ( gorgeously named Guernica ) , Perumbatavan ( yathra ) and Vaishakhan ( marakkombil thoongiyirikkunna kuta), each taking it in a different way. Mixing the Picasso's Guernica ( created during Spanish Civil war after the Basque town with the same name was bombed by German and Italian Airplanes) to the present day bombing and murder in a small town, Karunakaran depicts a scary picture of the current day political murders. Vaishakhan's symbolism of death to the hanging umbrella on the tree after a gruesome road accident, Perumbatavam's journey to the other world, UK Kumaran's 'man' is unable to react or respond to the external world thus remain a nonbeing.

James Kelman's 'acid' and the one line story of Guatemalan writer Augusto Monterroso's 'The Dinosaur' ( for those who want to know the story goes like this : "When he woke up,the dinosaur was still there") comes to my mind. I remember being shocked by Acid. While these stories may not be as impressive as some of the better stories written elsewhere, this indeed is a significant attempt in the same direction.

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മലയാളത്തിന്റെ 100 കഥകള്‍ (100 stories from Malayalam)
100 Writers ( Compiled by Arshad Bathery )

Olive Books

150 Pages

Rs 90
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ചുംബനശബ്‌ദതാരാവലി ( Chumbana Shabda Tharavali) - Indu Menon

Another disappointing read in Malayalam. I did not have any great expectations in the first place, but was hoping to hear a different voice and see some class which stands out in the new generation story tellers. However, this too moved through the usual cliched style of narrative and subject. Barring one, rest of the stories were bland and lacked any character. She had a theme and title brilliantly chosen, and invariably woman were the central characters in all these stories. There was this strong voice of rebel, the voice of angry reporter on crime and atrocities against woman.The self made liberator who goes after the so called attackers with a vengeance. But it stays just thee. To me, this failed to create any literary ripples in me as a reader despite having some great control on her language.

The book starts with a petty dedication ( to her husband and daughter) and the descriptive "dictionary of Kisses". The 'dictionary of kisses' itself was a bit odd. Might be intended to create a tickle in the adolescent mind, but for serious readers, this had no real meat. I remember reading a similar attempt by A L Kennedy in her short story collection "Now that You are back", where she experimented with the form of story telling in " 'Mouseboks Family Dictionary", which was pretty interesting.

The next two stories made me think differently . " Chaklian" was a good story, attempting to rebuild a fathers woes in bringing up a girl child. Unable to suffer the humiliation , all he did was what is expected of a father. The next, 'raktakalee, raktakalee' is the best of the compilation. Innovative mixing of myths, fantasy and the contemporary theme, she created a good story of revenge. Suffered from what is called as a dual personality disorder after the death of her sister, Kamala has been having dreams of the mighty goddess kali. She metamorphosed herself into the reincarnation of kali, sowing and spreading the 'small-pox' ( as the myth goes) and 'chicken pox' seeds. Her vengeance is complete only after the death of her sisters murderer and rapist, years later. The rest of the stories are mediocre. "Pithavum Kanyakayum talks about a father seducing his daughters friend to his bed, while on the other hand, she being the only virgin in her class was eager to join the rest of the class , which include his daughter. 'Oru Extra Nadiyude Aathmakatha' ( and you can guess the story), athmarahasyam, chumbana shabda tharavali ( yes, another story with the same name) and the rest are all in the same league.

Now that, I am citing references to A L Kennedy, I cant resist in comparing the observations of the writing. It says, AL Kennedy in her writing "exposing and exploring the sinuous undercurrents of violence, anguish and love". Indu Menon on the other hand, focusses her energy on the women and the general atrocities of the society against women in general. Her attempt to portray her characters as a victim of various forms of aggression and in most of this stories, they seems to be taking decisive action by themselves. Dr.Mini Prasad , in her afterword( a short study) claims that Indu Menon's characters are build on the 'male centric social set up where the woman are are treated as mere consumable. The writer here, fights against this perceived world order through her characters, says the review. however, to me, that is a generalisation. A story has to be appealing to the reader, irrespective of the ideology or the thought process it attempt to convey. Sadly, these stories does not go beyond the often chewed cliches and thus fails to create any favourable impression in general, barring a couple of good stories.

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ചുംബനശബ്‌ദതാരാവലി ( Chumbana Shabda Tharavali- 2011)
Indu Menon

D C Books

120 Pages
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Buying a Fishing Rod for my Grandfather - Gao Xingjian

I have read his novels as they were available in India soon after he won his Nobel for Literature. I always wondered about his selection as a candidate for Nobel Prize, with only a couple of major works available. It is only recently, I could get a copy of his short stories, which are originally published in China before his exile. A collection of 6 stories, specifically chosen by the author himself , originally published in Beijing before he moved to France , says the translator in the introduction.

There are not stories per se, these are more notes and observation of trivial things happening in our daily life. Each of the six stories are short in time frame, but have a large picture of the social set up. The canvas is present and is visible to the observer. The narrator in each of the story is one who either participate or witness the event , trivial in most of the cases, takes place. It is through these visuals, Xingjian gives us the glimpse of the society.

The Temple, first story of this collection talks about a newly married couple on their honeymoon, decides to step down from the train in an unknown station only to create some adventure to their trip. Having understood that this town , typical to any other town, does not boast any attraction except for a temple on top of the hill. "In the park" , written as conversational piece, has two middle aged man and women ( likley lovers prior to their marriage and family) meets in a park and talking. They observer a young lady in one corner of the park crying. They contemplate and debate about the causes of her depression and about helping her. They probably see their own past and the lost opportunity in the troubles of the young lady. Xingjian do not provide any solution, neither does he conclude. We never know the reason of the lady crying, nor whether the middle aged couple managed to shake off their current life and re-unite.

A swimmer developed cramps and nearly drown in the sea at an unnamed resort, barely managed to escape. In his return to the hotel in all excitement to announce the news of his miraculous escape, he find no one interested in him. He wanted to live desperately and to be with the rest of the world. He finds that his escape and excitement does not matter to anyone and the loss of an individual goes unnoticed in this world. As he walks back to the shore dejected, the writers takes our views to a couple of boys running to the water leaving behind a crippled girl on the shore.

"The Accident" tracks the similar line. an accident involved a father and son in a crowded street and its after maths to the street ( note: not to the family) and its momentary occupants. The government machinery goes through the pre-determined process including shifting the body to the hospital, removing the debris and even cleaning the road and the blood stains. The world here has come back to what it was a while ago. "Of Course a traffic accident can serve as an item for a newspaper. And it can serve as the raw material for literature when it is supplemented by the imagination and written up as a moving narrative: this would then be a creation.

The story that bears the title of this collection is about a mans buying a fibre glass fishing rod for his grand father, who we ( the reader) realise later had died long ago. He wants to keep the rod away from his son, for fear of damage, and plans a trip to his ancestral village and realises ( the whole thing is in a delirium) that the place and the world has changed beyond recognition and he will be in no position to find the house and streets he grew up with. Whether he takes up the journey in real sense or not, he takes up an emotional journey through his past and the days with his grand father bringing him close to the place he wanted to be.

Nothing extra ordinary happens in any of the stories, What is impressive and catches your attention is the ease at which he is able to create an atmosphere of familiarity and thus the triviality. I found 4 of these stories very interesting, portraying the loneliness of the individual and the near zero value and impact of him in this vast world.

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Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather ( 2004 )

Gao Xingjian ( translated from Chinese by Mabel Lee 2004)

Harper Perenniel

127 Pages
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Other Reviews : January Magazine, Guardian, Pop Matters, Wiki Entry

Arresting God in Kathmandu - Samrat Upadhyay

Samrat Upadhyay, is the first Nepali author who had written and published his works in English. Currently working in US, most of his stories in this collections are on the middle-upper class life in and around Kathmandu. Most of them revolve around the changing world and changing values of the society and the families.There are no generation conflicts, but there are the difficulties of the individuals in the changing world where the find themselves alienated from the world and from their own people.

Most of the stories depicts the troubles and unhappiness in the families. The rebellion within the family , unhappy over the orthodox family values pushed on the generation. Hence, all the stories revolve around adultery, relationship outside wedlock, the new found sexual liberation and freedom, illicit affairs, and unwanted pregnancy. While these form the thread on the chain, its the resulting issues that affects the family that is in discussion here. Except one, "The Cooking Poet", rest all appears to be moving along this line.

Samrat has a knack of starting the stories with a bang. "The trouble bagan for Deepak misra when he kissed his unattractive secretary in the office ( Deepak misra's Secretary), Get him married, Rudra said, once he has a wife, he will come to his senses" ( The limping bride), "The man wih long hair appeared around the street corner, his self confident apparent even from a distance" ( The man with Long hair) etc started with enough curiosity.

The Cooking Poet, which stand out from the rest talked about a young poet with extraordinary talent, seeking blessing from the old guard, an established and well sought after poet during his early days of career. Realising the huge potential bordering jealousy, the old man promote the talent to the larger world, only to realise his involvement in the revolutionary movements. In "The Limping Bride" talks about a fathers dilemma with his drunkard son. He fights his own hidden desires ( after the death of his wife) resurface with the arrival of the bride, along with his efforts to get his son accept the girl as his life partner. The room Next door talk about a families hide the illicit pregnancy of their college going daughter and to save their image in the society get her married to a worker in their house. Deepak Misra's Secretary, is a tale of a Nepali businessman's troubled marriage with an American wife. 'This world' looks at the new generation, US educated Nepali youths with their life and multiple affairs and

Arresting God in Kathmandu is a catchy title; however there are no stories that carry this name. The only reason I could attribute for this header ( I dont see any other reference to it elsewhere), is the omnipresence of Gods in the life of Nepal with its numerous temples ( the famous Pasupathinath Temple including) in and around Kathmandu. God, is an eternal presence in the life and so is in the stories.

Having said that, there are no stories that worth a second read in this series. Nor am I going to start my verbose on this book to my friends and insist they read this. While it is interesting and good to see writings emerge from Nepal, this leaves me rather disappointed for its lack of style, substance and language. Apart from few superfluous family story of sexual, matrimonial troubles, it does not reflect the larger issues of Nepali society. A mediocre effort.

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Arresting God in Kathmandu ( 2001 )

Samrat Upadhyay

Rupa & Co

191 Pages

Rs 250

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Other reviews : Book Reporter , Blesok

The Wandering Falcon - Jamil Ahmad

The soldiers of an isolated military out post somewhere in the borders of three countries ( Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran), spotted "two figures and a camel" movingly slowly and hesitantly towards the fort where they camped. It was cold winter months and the wind rages continuously during these four months. 'The wind had been blowing with savage fury for three days' and the soldiers, who remained inside the closed shutters while the wind blew came out for some fresh air and water noticed them coming up the hill. "Water", was the only words came out of the man and the subedar 'pointed wordlessly towards the half empty bucket'. The man took the head of the women in his hand and tenderly squeezed some drop of water on to her face, wetting the edge of her shawl. As she sensed the water, she started sucking his hand and fingers. All of a sudden she lunged towards the bucket and plunged her head into it until she choked. Once recovered the couple requested refuge as they were running away from their tribe, the Siahpads, weathering the terrain and the cruel storm. Refuge was refused as the soldiers do not want to get in the wrong side of the tribal law, but a shelter was granted. The stay however continued for 6 years , and it is here their child was born. However, the tribe had their way and the couple notices the tribesmen on hunt coming towards the post. The attempt to flee did not take them long, before the hunters caught up with them in a couple of days. As was decided earlier, they ended their life ( women being killed by him and he to the deathly blows of their pursuers. The kid was spared ( and live to take us through the rest of the tales as a participant and witness in the rest of the tales. The boy known as Tor Baz ( the black falcon), continue his journey all over Pakistan, the mainland, the delta and more often in the hills bordering the countries through the eventful years of turbulence.

The hilly areas of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran are inhabited by various tribes with their own distinct life style and tribal law. The bureaucratic efforts to bring them to be the national law abiding citizens are often resulted in conflicts and as their law demands, they ended up in armed struggle with the authorities. Each tribe and multiple clans within the tribe has definite sets of boundaries of living , moving and existing and any breakage of this is dealt with killing. The authorities on either side of the Pak-Afghan border continue their effort to bring them to justice, often treating them as criminals, subjected to torture and capital punishment, many a times even without proper trial ( as a case of 7 surrendering tribal men in one of the story here).

The life up the terrain is difficult and demanding. Often the weather is unbearable and the tribe move in caravan from one place to the other. However with the birth of the country states and international boundaries, curtailed their freedom of movement as they have to cross the "border", which is prohibited without 'permits'. But to them, these are not in their books and wouldn't understand, often getting into armed struggle and loosing cattle and human lives in the end.

Though these writings belong to the period of 50s and 60s , before the Soviet occupation, it gives us the glimpses of the real issue of the region. The strong tribal grouping and hierarchy , with inability of the Governments to understand and appreciate these inner power politics ( or the non-willingness to accept) could be one of the real back ground of the never ending conflicts in that region. They are simple people and the life is more or less predefined. The life is tough and often have to deal with harsh realities. Hence taking up arms and killing for honour of the tribe is not considered as a crime. Interestingly, religion is not a strong force.

This is a collection of tales, loosely held with the Tor Braz as a silent witness. Each story is powerful and is an eye opener. Jamil Ahmad had spent long years with the Pakistan administration working in these tribal areas and have a first hand knowledge of their life, which is brought out brilliantly in these pages. The language is beautiful and the set up and the characters are new to the general readers. Very picturesque and subtle shift of emotions and the underlying reality of their existence against every thing against them ( the place, the weather, the people, the authorities), they continue to struggle through their life from generations to generations.

Fantastic work of fiction by the 78 year old debutant.

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The Wandering Falcon (2011)

Jamil Ahmad

Penguin Books India

181 Pages

Rs 399
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Read : Guardian , Penguin India Page

Now That You're Back - A.L.Kennedy

A L Kennedy's ( Alison Louise Kennedy) name have been coming up in my reading circle for a while and I haven't  read any of her works. This book, one of her early writings was the one I could get hold off. A collection of short stories as the blurb say "exposing and exploring the sinuous undercurrents of violence, anguish and love" is a good introduction to this gifted writer.

The collection of 13 stories has its own draw backs. Most of the stories are of people living in isolation, trying to find their own feet within the society and within themselves. These are not the characters you feel closeness or sympathy. There is a level of detachment and possibly that could be one of the inhibition in approaching this book. The later half of the book, I somehow found to be more interesting especially stories like 'Mixing with the folks back home  ( about a serial killer), warming my hand and telling lies ( a retired writer ), and friday payday ( about a prostitute) .  She has also experimented with the form in 'Mouseboks Family Dictionary'.

She has incredible style of writing and with sly humor. The prose is very moving at places and seldom loud. I find each emotion, be it anger, love or friendship is treated tenderly with balanced approach. This alone is enough for me to hunt and buy one of her full length novel. 

Unlike James Kelman (another Scottish writer), I find her characters away from the mainstream society. Personally I find more closure to Kelman's characters than to this one.

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Now That You're Back ( 1994 )

A.L.Kennedy

Vintage Books

248 Pages

Rs 525/-
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Other Reviews : Independent 

The Government inspector ( Play) & Five stories - Nikolai Gogol

Chanced upon an old book published by Raduga Publishers (when the erstwhile USSR had an influence in these parts of the world ), with a relative of mine. Interesting combination of one of the famous play ( The Government inspector) and five of the popular short stories of one of the most popular writer in the 19th century Russia, Nikolai Gogol ( along with Pushkin and  Checkov ).

The Government Inspector, written in 1834, is supposed to be written after an anecdote by Pushkin, takes on the St.Petersburg aristocracy and the government machinery in general under the Tsar's rule.  After the first performance of this play in 1836, the Tsar Nicolas I, supposed to have commented "Hmm, what a play! Gets at everyone, and most of all at me!"

A remote town bureaucracy, is shaken one day by the news that a government officer under disguise is arriving in the town. The clandestine operation, the feared, is to witness and report the corruption and wrong doings of the officials to St.Petersburg. The who and who, of the bureaucracy under the leadership of the local mayor had an emergency meeting to take the necessary steps, to welcome the unknown visitor. This includes, hiding their petty crimes of corruption, cleaning up of the town, making sure that the prominent places like the jail, the school, the local hospital , the court etc are in clean and presentable.

Soon, it was reported by two local land owners ( Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky) that the local inn have a distinguished guest, with suspicious behaviour. They have concluded that , he is the inspector, and a delegation under the leadership of the Mayor goes to receive him. The guest, Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov, a St.Petersburg clerk is having a tough time with the inn-keeper, for not having paid any money for this stay and food so far. The inn-keeper refuses to feed him and threatens to take action. To this scene comes the Mayor and team. On Mayor's insistence Khlestakov, agrees to stay in the house of the Mayor as his official guest. Having realised that he was mistaken for some senior official, he decides to play along and make merry. In the brief time in the house, he manages to collect a large sum of money from various people, flirts with the Mayor's wife and daughter ( promising to marry her) , and fled the place taking the best horses available.

The five short stories collectively called as "St.Petersburg Stories". Like the play above, here too, Gogol focussed his satire on the St,Petersburg society.   Nevsky Prospekt talks about the glitter and glamour of uptown St Petersburg and the temptation of two youths. Piskareve, a young artist, falls in love with a beauty who turns out to be a prostitute. He commits suicide in the end. While Pirogov, the lieutenant survives his life after his love with a German immigrant, only to be despatched by her husband.  Second story 'The Nose' is  absurd and funny. Collegiate Assessor Kovalev, realises one morning, that he has lost his nose. The place where it belonged, is now empty and ugly. His attempts to find out and get the nose back in its place is the event of the story. Kovalev, has seen the nose walking on the streets and he failed to collect him and get him on its original place. His attempt to put an advertisement in the herald was rejected, for the fear of public by the editor, his attempt to file a complaint at the authorities was also failed. In the meanwhile, his barber finds the nose, in his soup the same morning. He was unable to recollect any incident while shaving him the previous morning. 

The Great coat and the Portrait are the best of the stories.  Akaky Akakievich Bushmachkin, is a short man, and is the target for his colleagues jeer and ridicule. All day he sits at one place in the office and copy papers. His only materialistic need is to have a new coat. His existing coat is so old and worn out, that the threads are not able to hold together. his tailor refuses to fix the coat saying any attempts to correct this will only make things worse. He suggest that a new coat be made.  So, he starve and collect money from his meagre earning and finally the coat is made. His happiness was short lived as he was robbed of his coat. His desperate attempt to seek help from the authorities failed as "the important personage" was not willing to listen. Despair and cold lead to his death. Poprischin, of Diary of a madman , is like the characters of the other stories, is poor and insignificant. But he wonders why there is so much unjust in this world. Why is all the good things goes only to the generals, he asks. This in fact is the crux of Gogol's writing. Gogol, looks at things from the poor man's angle and uses his writings to ask the questions to the society and the authorities.

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The Government Inspector & Five Short Stories ( 1834-1840)

Nikolai Gogol  ( translated from Russian by Christopher English & Gordon McDougall )

Raduga Publishers , Moscow

318 Pages

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Not Not While the Giro - James Kelman

Considered as one of the leading exponent of Working class literature, James Kelman's first collection of short stories, published in 1983 was a huge success. Stories about these working class people, who live an abandoned life in rented cottages and the dreaded factories. The work in the day time at stupid conditioned, the evening usually spent in the pub over a pint, some gambling. The concerns of every one is the same. The hand to mouth kind of living, no luxury whatsoever. Most of them live out of the weekly unemployment money they receive or the meagre wages, spending the money in first couple of days on 'pint' , on gambling ( dog races, horses, on cards, on pool table) often defaulting on the rents, living last few days starving.

Most of them are alone, living in small cottages, along with co workers , isolated from the near and dear. Few occasions of being near to the fairer sex, they are often confused and does not know how to proceed ( Stories like 'Ten  guitar, the hitch hiker and Jim Dandy').

This collection has some fantastic stories. Not Not while the Giro the story carries the name of the collection, is the best for me. Over the perennial wait for the Giro ( the unemployment benefit), the lavish living over the weekend, the struggle for the last 4 days, before the next payout. But he never stopped to dream of his life out of this. He is not happy with the free money, he has his on dreams and plans

    Seriously, I am fed up with being fed up. What do I wish

             I shall not entertain day dreams
             I shall not fantasise
             I shall endeavor to make things work

The situation is so bad, that there is a scene, where he suck his own thumb, hoping for some traces of nicotine taste.

Acid, a one paragraph, half a page story talks about an accident in a chemical factory, where a young worker falls into a tank of acid, screaming for help before he succumb to death. There is nothing can be done to save him, when an old man comes over using a mopping stick to push the still floating head the remaining down to the acid, who happens to be the father of the dead.

In the house of old women, we see three young men in a newly rented house, fighting over small comforts and see the deterioration of the friendship. Jim Dandy, contrary to his image seems to be struggling with himself when the opportunity arise. Nice to be nice is one story took ages for me to complete. Written completely in the local dialect, had be reading it for four hours. 'Ten Guitars', 'The hitchhiker' and 'Double or clear plus a tenner' are other important stories.

There is an undercurrent of anger, by the writer while the up front is detached. The society, in general and the authorities in particular aren't in sympathy with them. Though they do not rebel against the system, they do so in the ways and means they are familiar with.

James Kelman uses the swear language liberally in his writing. I was amazed at my first reading of this writer ( A Disaffection) on the number of four letter words per page. I heard form othere too that the initial reaction for them wasn't any different. But as you get used to his style and his writing background, you starts appreciating this writer. In this collection too, the people are the working class, and they have the right to speak the language and Kelman uses it to its best effects.

Acclaimed collection of short stories, one of the first to be published by Kelman, who later went on to win the Booker in 1994.

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Not Not While the Giro ( 1983 )

James Kelman

Vintage

207 Pages

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By Line - V K N

Published soon after his demise, in 2004, this is a collection of stories and various articles written in periodicals during the last decade of 20th century. Most of the writings are his political commentary over the national issues, mainly focussing on the Indian Naitonal Congress and the then ruling BJP and the government. Attired with his usual sense of humour, he observes the news events through his inimitable style.

There are a large junk of articles on the sports, covering cricket, tennis and some of the regional athletics events. Even here, it is the news beyond the obvious is interesting him. The social , economical and political issues are commented upon through the style and writing known from VKN. Being, set in the period of 1990s, one will have to have a fair idea of the socio-political scene of the country to appreciate these writings. While it has all the characteristic style of VKN - multi lingual writing, the contrived translation which he is famous for, and the satiric humour are in abundance - it is not as great a read, compared to his novels.

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By Line ( ബൈ ലൈന്‍ )

VKN

Current Books

168 Pages

Rs 80

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Ghatikarangal Nilaykkunna Samayam - Subhash Chandran

A devastating earthquake stuck the district of Latur and surrounding districts of Maharashtra on 30th September 1993. Images of destruction and suffering were displayed in various media, to the terror of the readers. There was one image of a watch/clock shop with all the watches stopped at 4:00am, was one of those images still recurring to my mind. Subhash Chandran, combining this image and another news story of a lost child looking for his parents into a beautiful story which carries the name of this short story collection, Ghatikarangal Nilaykkunna Samayam ( when the clocks stops ). The local thief Thukaram, spares the shop with repairs and sells clocks, where he spends his night, from his usual targets. One dreadful night he sees witnesses the fury of the nature as buildings after buildings collapsing, people leaving the towns and villages. Holding one clock which is removed from the rubble of the fallen shop, Thukaram starts his journey. Listening to a soft cry in the destruction, he manages to rescue the young infant. Towards the end of the night he realises that the life beating under his dress ( in the form of pendulam) had ceased and the clock stopped displaying 4:00am, before he along with the lives he rescued descends to the depths of the planet.

I also observed that Death is one recurring presence in every story ( except one, if I recollect correctly) appearing in the form of suicide, murder, natural disaster, dead body etc. Book consists of eight stories, apart from a forward by M T Vasudevan Nair and an excerpt from an interview with the writer.

Subhash Chandran, as observed by M.T.Vasudevan Nair in his foreward, uses the language to his best ability and outstanding effect. Some of the clever use of idioms, the symbols and the structural joining of words are highly effective. However, apart from the main story and another, the rest of the stories in this are very ordinary. Clever use of language and the structure alone does not necessarily give you a good story.

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Ghatikarangal Nilaykkunna Samayam ( Malayalam )
(ഘടികാരങ്ങള്‍ നിലയ്ക്കുന്ന സമയം)
Subhash Chandran
D C Books
94 Pages
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In Other Rooms, Other Wonders - Daniyal Mueenuddin

Daniyal Mueenuddin's collection of short stories , are woven around the feudal hierarchal Pakistani society. This book of eight stories are all around the same theme. Loosely around the Land Owner, Political bigwig , rich and famous K.K.Harouni and his family, each of these are distinct stories. The name K.K Harouni is only a representation of the feudal land lord , it could be any name.

Most of the stories are not directly about the rich and their ways. It is about those who make a living out of serving the rich. The only thing that is common is their dependancy of the big family. The financial and social shelter they enjoy. For most, association to the rich is a status by itself within his/her own community or of those lesser privileged.

The valet, the cook, the driver, the sweepress and the estate / property manager are common in most of the stories. Barring a couple of the stories, every thing else is around this theme. Young maidens falls in love ( out of necessity for survival) to the next-powerful of the house ( mostly the manager/ the right hand man of the lord) , or in some cases to the land lord himself. Their needs are not large. It is their need of daily living. Even in this practised love, there are moments of truths and longing. Sadly, we see each of them failing and they are shown the doors ending up in prostitution and in beggary.

In Nawabdin Electrician, local electrician, Nawab working for K.K Harouni, is sort of local hero. Apart from his job of mending and running the pumpsets , he also helps the locals by manipulating the electric meter , thus running the meter at lower speed saving them few rupees. He still struggles to keep the family of his wife and 13 children with his meagre income. Saleema, falls in love with an older servant, only to be dumped for his family , to be left with his baby. Provide,Provide is also in the similar lines. The young maiden was abandoned after the death of the old land lord whom she was serving as a mistress. 'The lady in Paris' and 'Lily' (to a certain extent) are two stories different from the others.

The language is beautiful and unpretentious. The characters are raw and living as they are. There is no forceful twist and the narration is clear and fresh. These stories are already published in Newyorker, Granta or other periodicals. One of the draw back is that many a stories are of the same pattern and the characters in each stories are behaving in the same predictable ways.

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In Other Rooms, Other Wonders
Daniyal Mueenuddin
Random House India
247 Pages
Rs 395
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Further Read: The bookslut, Washington Post