Monday, March 24, 2008

Nine on Nine - Nandita C Puri

A foreword by Gulzar and the cover design by M F Hussain , with recommendations by Shobha De and Khushwant Singh.. Written by a noted columnist , who is the wife of one of THE BEST actors in Indian Cinema. This has all that it takes to get my attention.

However, the end result is disappointment. Pretty ordinary stories of upper middleclass Indian Urban women told in rather superficious manner. None of the stories live upto the 'awesome' categories. This was heralded as the new Indian Writing. Let me admit, I have not read many Indian English writings to pass a judgment. But if this is the yardstick, we have a long way to go in fiction / short story writing.

Most of the stories are about the fall in moral values; social, family, couple and individuals. Every human is living in a dream world; may be it is the reflection of today's urban life. Barring 'Pages From Indulata Debi’s Diary' , which is styled as a biographical essay, there aren't many worth mentioning. On the whole, these stories failed to strike a chord with me.

However, here is a different view on the same.

Nine on nine - stories
Nandita Puri
224 Pages
Rs 295

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