The mind has the power to create fascinating images, images
the eye has not seen— images that permeate the soul, floating in and out like
deep, thoughtful sighs — images that wordsmiths carve out with the dexterity of
one adept in the art. For instance, this
one: “a tiny multi-coloured tent
imprinted upside down in her eyes”, a woman in love with the stage, in love
with the art of performing on stage. This one’s been carved out by the pen of
Ruchika Chanana , winner of the 2011 Elle Fiction Award, whose short story The Tent shares space with thirteen
others in Baker’s Dozen –The Elle
Tranquebar Book of Short Stories. Of
these thirteen, six are “emerging voices”, winners of the Elle Fiction awards
while the rest are wordsmiths from Tranquebar.
And Ruchika Chanana’s voice has won over this reader’s heart.
The Tent is a
story brimming with vivid, haunting images, effortlessly weaving in the
unsteady ebb and flow of surging emotions. It is the story of a woman who runs
away from home at the age of sixteen, to join a travelling theatre, where “the
cacophony of sound and belligerence was her lifeline; her deity was the
nautanki, erasing her past like it had never been.” She is later found and
taken back by her family, retaining, however, the inverted image of the tent in
her eyes. The man who marries her, spots the tent in her eyes, “he recognised
the patterns drawn on it, and he liked them. So he said yes.” And although her
marriage is a happy one where she wears ghungroos all around the house, the
call of the stage becomes too much and she leaves her husband and child (who
are consumed by their search for her) to live, once again, in the tent of her
eyes.
Then there is Nighat M Gandhi’s In Lieu of Gold, a gentle, wistful story about a man’s love for his
wife. Subtly pointing to the differences in the way men and women think, it’s a
story of a man who plants fruit-trees for his wife, while she—all woman—reminds
him that he never bought her any gold jewellery. How Sultan, the husband, tries
to please Amira and atone for not giving her what she really wanted – after she
dies suddenly—is a tale that would bring a throbbing in your heart and a lump
in your throat.
But Madhulika Liddle takes the cake for the knack of telling
a story. Her works, full of humour and gasp-inducing, delightful twists, remind
one rather of Hector Hugh Munroe—Saki— and his short stories replete with
humour and amazement. Of course, Saki’s humour is darkly so, eliciting
wide-eyed laughs and the occasional shiver. Liddle’s humour is the clever kind,
with a flair for engrossing narration. She is a reader’s delight. St
George and the Dragon is about a humble, nondescript but upright man
working in a government office, PA to an officer who is just his
opposite—intelligent and ambitious but corrupt and a lecher. A serendipitious
episode in the life of Mr George, who has been living in the same mundane way
for decades, turns him into a hero of sorts, causing a minor coup and saving
the day, too. A surprise visit from an officer of the Central Vigilance
Commission, coupled with the serious predicament of Ms Shivani Sinha drive Mr
George to come up with an ingenious plan for slaying the dragon. It is a very
realistic account of government departments and officials, but most
significantly it is a riveting account of one seemingly unexceptional man’s
exceptional acumen.
Liddle’s second story, The Howling Waves of Tranquebar
creates a setting and a particular mood to lure the readers into her tale. Set
in Tranquebar—the site of a Danish settlement in Pondicherry, it takes the
readers into a land of desolate mystery with howling winds and crashing waves
before making them gasp at the climax.
Salted Cashews by
Divya Sreedharan, another winner of the Elle awards, is a poignant story of an
adolescent girl’s first encounter with the world of lechers and gropers… a
story that makes you angry and sad at the same time, while Sanjay
Sipahimalani’s In Praise of Straight
Lines is unusual and interesting, delving into the dark realms of a human
mind gone rather awry.
There is some lovely, masterful story-telling here and even though some may
not be as good as the others, these wordsmiths would surely give you pleasant
company.
Footnote: Baker's Dozen is 13 not 12, because bakers used to throw in an extra loaf
so that their customers didnt feel shortchanged! Howzzat??
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