Tag: short stories

Authors, Book Reviews

“Teresa’s Man & Other Short Stories from Goa” by Damodar Mauzo

My love for Goa stems from the fact that our ancestral deity is Shri Mangesh at Mangeshi, near Ponda in South Goa. We have therefore been visiting Goa for over 50 years if not longer. I loved the book I write about because most of the stories are set in Goa. The book is written by Damodar Mauzo, one of the finest writers in Konkani- which happens to be my mother tongue- and translated to English by the well-known translator, Xavier Cota.

“Teresa’s Man & Other Short Stories From Goa” is not a recently published book. It was published by Rupa in 2014 but I happened to read it only recently. Interestingly, the translator in his note informs us that this collection of 14 short stories have amongst them some written by Mauzo decades ago- but they still hold relevance to this day.

The characters are always sharply drawn in these stories. Be they Rajesh and Mithila of Goan origin hoping for a better future in Saudi Arabia; or of Halsid’du hoping for a better future in Goa! All the stories tug at your emotions as you are able to relate so strongly with the characters and the situations they find themselves in.

Over the decades, Goa, in the minds of many Indians has been typecast as THE tourist destination. Apart from the scenic beauty, tourists associate Goa with booze, beaches, and partying. I must tell you that the characters painted by Mauzo in these stories are nowhere like the typical Goan in the minds of many people. Mauzo depicts the way most of them are- simple, God fearing, hard working folk who strive to lead better lives in a tough world. Catholics and Hindus live check by jowl in total harmony in Mauzo’s stories. As I said, all the stories are interesting but my favourite was “A Writer’s Tale”.

Damodar Mauzo is a famous novelist, scriptwriter, and literary critic. He was awarded the prestigious Jnanpith Award – India’s highest literary honour in 2021. Earlier, his novel “Karmelin” won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1983.

I would urge you to read this delightful book.

Authors, Book Reviews

“Unaccustomed Earth” by Jhumpa Lahiri

Being an unabashed fan of Jhumpa Lahiri’s, I loved “Unaccustomed Earth” a collection of short stories, first published by Albert A. Knopf in 2008. I had the pleasure of reading this recently. Ms. Lahiri was not a new author for me as I had read her famous novel, “Namesake” in the past, as also her first anthology of short stories, called ” The Interpreter of Maladies” some years ago.

You may recall that at age 32, she gained immediate fame for the debut ” The Interpreter of Maladies” in 1999. This collection of short stories received popular acclaim. She received the coveted Pulitzer Prize and it was on the New York Times Best Sellers list for long. The stories were typically set in the East Coast of the United States. I guess all the stories had a common theme. They were about the lives of Indian Americans and the challenges faced by first generation immigrants. The author knew this part of the US the best having grown up there. Ms Lahiri’s parents migrated from India to the UK in the 1960’s and when she was three, moved to the US. She then grew up in the State of Rhode Island.

This collection of short stories, titled, “Unaccustomed Earth” coming as it does, about a decade later, shifts focus somewhat to the second generation of Indian American immigrants. Their lives have been vastly different from that of their parents. Their parents had to struggle to balance between two cultures, the Indian culture which they were born and brought up in, and the one they had voluntarily embraced with their new lives in a different country. For the second generation of Indian Americans, the issues were rather different. The ties with India were not so strong or fading away with time. They faced a new set of challenges being Americans -but of Indian origin.

As always, Ms Lahiri writes in a simple yet elegant manner. Her choice of words, and the descriptions of people and places are deft. They make her characters come alive to the reader. The book has eight short stories, each one more engaging than the other. They have a tinge of sadness that one has come to associate with many of Lahiri’s stories. As always, the characters are primarily Bengali though the stories are set in different places such as Seattle, and Cambridge in the US and London, Rome and Thailand outside of the US. Naturally, the Rumas, the Pranabs and Kaushiks of the stories belong to a world with which Lahiri is so familiar.

It is widely acknowledged that short stories are very difficult to write. Her mastery over this craft is so evident in her writing. Highly recommended for anybody who appreciates excellent writing. This is short story writing of the highest order.

Authors, Book Reviews

“Tongue of Slip” by C P Belliappa

I simply loved this book as it made me chuckle from time to time. My wife mentioned that it has been so long since she saw a book elicit such a response from me! The book I talk of is called, ” Tongue of Slip: Looking Back On Life With Humour” by C.P. Belliappa, published by Rupa Publications in 2014.

When it was first published, little would the author have known that his book would bring so much cheer in the dreadful times we are living in. I would heartily recommend this book of light humor to anyone looking to cheer up in these stressed times. It is something like the “Buck U Uppo” made famous by Wodehouse, if you get what I mean!

Let’s start with the author. C. P. Belliappa? The name sounds familiar, you may think. Isn’t he the guy who used to write “middles” in the Deccan Herald amongst other publications? Or wait! Is he the guy you met in Goa?? The well known Charlie Peter??? But you need to read the book to find out for yourself.

Writing a fiction novel is not easy. Writing a short story, I consider even more difficult. Writing a well-crafted ” middle” has to take the cake! It looks easy but it is not, take it from me. C P Belliappa has mastered this art and this book is perhaps based on some of them fleshed out in more detail.

I am sure these tales ( over 50 in number) from locales ranging from his beloved Coorg to Chennai to China will hold your attention as they did mine. There are delightful nuggets in there but I don’t want to spoil your reading.

Look out for stories about the chap who was hungry all the time while at school; the prankster at college; the Pomeranian with a huge appetite for food and more; and the sales girl trying to flog a time share deal as if her life depended on it (which possibly was the case – of her budding career, if not her life!)

Thank you, Mr Belliappa. You made me laugh spontaneously on reading your stories. I bet this would be a common reaction amongst many more who will read your book.

Highly recommended!

Podcasts

Storytelling Podcasts

Guess what? I have got hooked to listening to podcasts. Sure, I had heard of podcasts even a decade ago but at that time my focus was on writing. So I used to read a lot and write as much as I could but I didn’t really listen to podcasts. It was only recently that my attention was drawn to podcasts by none other than WordPress which I have been using for my blogs for years together.

I saw that blog posts in WordPress could be converted without too much effort to very basic podcasts! I found this quite interesting and made one myself. A Book Review of ” The Girl Who Lived” by Christopher Greyson using Anchor. This excited me in a big way.

Could I convert some of my short stories to podcasts? I had to find out ! So I explored the world of short stories and podcasts. It was thrilling to find there are many websites devoted to podcasts of short stories. For example, I discovered this website from Bustle called 10 Storytelling Podcasts You Need To Listen To If You Love Short Stories!! Bustle is part of Bustle Digital Media, said to be the fastest growing publisher in modern media with 84 million readers!

To start with I explored The Moth and loved the very first story I heard. It was by Stacy Bader Curry in the podcast In Service Of in Moth Radio Hour.

I also enjoyed The Short Story Masterclass by The Aerogramme Writers Studio. In this, leading writers share their experience and thoughts on writing short stories in a podcast series produced by Thresholds, an online international short story forum based in the University of Chichester in collaboration with Small Wonder Short Story Festival.

There is so much there to learn and enjoy. If you have time – while on a flight, on a road trip, while waiting for someone, or just being free to do what you like- do dip into a short story using the podcast mode. There are so many talented people out there who have the ability to tell a story so well that you will ask for more.

Authors, Book Reviews

“Tongue-In -Cheek: The Funny Side Of Life” by Khyrunnisa A.

If you are looking for delightful light reading, a book to pass time and, and improve your mood in the bargain- here’s one for you. As the title suggest, “Tongue-In-Cheek: The Funny Side Of Life” is a collection of short stories or should I say “middles” by Khyrunnisa which indeed capture the funny side of life.

Not everyone has the talent to see and describe a situation with humor. On reading this book, I can vouch that Khyrunnisa most certainly has this gift in abundant measure. She writes of situations which you and I have come across in our daily lives: finding a snake in the garden; the rush for the wedding feast; the mandatory jewelry worn in weddings; booking a seat in a bus the Indian way; the perils of maintaining an aquarium (more commonly known as a fish tank in most Indian homes), amongst many others.

In most of these anecdotes, the author brings in her husband thereby allowing us readers to take a peek into moments of married life that most readers would relate to quite easily! She jokes easily about the way many people pronounce -or rather mispronounce -her name. The best part of this book is that you can dip into it at your convenience. Reading story No: 10 long before Story No: 1 doesn’t matter in the least. Not being connected with each other, they can be read in any random order.

I understand that the author is an Asst Professor of English and has written many books for children. After reading this book, I, for one, would love to read more of these tongue in cheek stories from Khyrunnisa. I liked her wit and writing style . Here’s hoping someday she will write and publish another book -as entertaining as this one!

Authors, Book Reviews, On Writing: Resources for Writers

“The Writer’s Digest Handbook of Short Story Writing Volume II” : Ed. Jean M. Fredette

All of us who love writing, and reading of course, can do with periodic reminders on how to hone our writing skills. That there is no end to learning is well known. In this context, I was happy to recently read, ” The Writer’s Digest Handbook of Short Story Writing: Volume II“, edited by Jean M. Fredette. 

This collection of articles on short story writing was published by the well-known Writers Digest Books in 1991. I came across this book in our Club library. It is striking that all the points made still remain relevant though nearly three decades have gone by since the book was first published. It is edited by Jean M. Fredette , who was an Acquisitions Editor of Writer’s Digest and has edited several of their books.

The only thing that has changed has been the process of submitting a manuscript. While the principles remain pretty much the same, much of the process has got simplified thanks to the progress in technology. We can now submit manuscripts over the internet, no longer being bound to print and send the manuscript in physical form in many cases. However, do check the submission guidelines mentioned by the publisher.

Seven chapters encompass a wealth of material in this book, covering sections such as, ” Getting Started”, ” Craft and Technique”, and ” Marketing The Short Story”. Each of the chapters have contributions from distinguished authors who have generously shared their experience and expertise. Principal amongst them are Adela Rogers St. John, Lawrence Block, and John Updike.

From very basic points which we sometimes overlook ( like repeating words/phrases so often that they jar) to more sophisticated aspects like Sentence Structure, Transitions, and Dialogue, this book has tips for the novice and the experienced writer alike.

Reading this book reinforced in me why writing is really a craft. The material in this volume really applies for any kind of writing . It is not restricted to short story writing as the title implies.

Uncategorized

“Life In The City” Work In Progress After NaNoWriMo 2014

I am delighted that I successfully completed NaNoWriMo 2014 where the challenge was to write a novel of 50,000 words during the calendar month of November.

” Life In The City” is a collection of short stories, 14 in all, which capture different aspects of life in a city in contemporary India. Since I live in Bengaluru ( recently made the official name for the erstwhile Bangalore) most of my stories tend to be set here. I guess the issues are the same in different cities of India. While the stories are largely a figment of my imagination, I must confess that the inspiration for at least a few of them came from real life incidents as reported in the daily newspapers.

The stories feature a wide variety of characters and situations which I hope most readers will be able to easily relate to. They involve, amongst others, an elderly woman who gets a fresh lease of life; a bored housewife caught up, thanks to her addiction for the internet, in a net of deceit; and, a couple who settle down in Bengaluru to come across ghosts from the past.

This is now work in progress and I hope to share more details of this project with time.

Life In The City

“Life In The City”

As mentioned in many posts in this blog, November finds me busy with NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, an international event in which we aim to write a novel of 50,000 words in the calendar month of November. The rules permit the writing of short stories too as long as the collection has a common theme. This year, like in 2012 when I did an anthology of short stories called, “A Bouquet From India”, I have embarked on writing a collection of short stories once again.

The common theme is that they are all set in the cities of India, a land I know best having lived in different parts of this vast country, all my life. It was natural then for me to select, ” Life In the City” as the title for this year’s effort. Continue reading ““Life In The City”” →

"A Bouquet From India", "A Toast To Plum", "Obedience Unto Death"

Stock Take on Writing Projects

Ok, the A to Z Challenge is over, my third novel, “Let The Dead Stay Dead ” has been released on Wattpad, and NaNoWriMo is still months away. This is a good time to stock take on my on-going writing projects. This exercise which I do from time to time, not only keeps readers informed of my work but more importantly acts as a compass for me to prioritize my time and energies. I would advocate all writers should do the same, with the frequency of such a stock take dependent on their specific requirements.

Continue reading “Stock Take on Writing Projects” →