Editor's Note
BACKIn this issue of Out of Print, we offer a translation, an excerpt, a first-time short fiction author, a reimagining or an extension of a classic, a writer who creates writing communities, and a story that sharply examines a writing community.
Rheea Mukherjee’s cleverly titled Rectification Still is an extraordinary, intense diatribe against a dead friend, and a cynical, hopeful, and yet despairing self-examination by the protagonist: ‘Man, people are sharp when it comes to telling you that you’re drunk. Sober, well that’s just the expected state of being, isn’t it?’ he riles towards the end of the story where he lays out the first steps to rectification.
We feature Daisy Rockwell’s fine translation of the Hindi writer, Shrilal Shukla’s Among the Hunters. Evoking stories from many mythologies, a confrontation takes place when a young woman is accidently shot in a forest by a party of hunters. The story is true to Shukla’s critical view of post-Independence India, and to his de-romanticising of rural life.
Javed Ahmed Malik, in a seemingly straightforward way, tells the story of two friends, one from Delhi, the other from Lahore, who try to go to see the Taj Mahal. It reinforces both the terrifying and ridiculous nature of the bureaucracy that governs boundaries, and the essential nature of friendship.
In a clever retelling of Guy de Maupassant’s classic, The Necklace, the author G Sadasiv imagines the life of the couple after the ending of the original story. Referencing the twist in the tale the fates of those in the story develop in a fairly linear fashion till the startling loop at the end.
The complexity, meanness, commitment and fickleness of a fortnightly poetry group are keenly observed in R K Biwas’ Word Among Poets. Narrated by a verb and featuring the protagonist She-poet, it tells an ultimately triumphant story of language and leaving.
The close, layered, dynamics of a community is also evident in the excerpt from Mahesh Rao’s novel, A Smoke is Rising that is featured in this issue. We are introduced to the characters at a meeting of the Mahalakshmi Gardens Betterment Association, and enticed by their lives and the connections between them.
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The artwork on the cover page by Rohini Devasher is a detail from her work Bloodlines, a video and print installation (single channel video, duration 45mins; print 60x60inches on Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta paper; 2009; image courtesy Rohini Devasher and Project 88 Mumbai). The cover design by Yamuna Mukherjee contains images from a piece of Kalamkari or crafted-by-pen fabric depicting stories from Indian mythology.
Born in 1978, Rohini Devasher lives and works in New Delhi. She received her MA in Printmaking from the Winchester School of Art in the UK and her BFA in Painting from the College of Art in New Delhi. Her current work involves research and fieldwork in astronomy, the most recent project an exploration of 'strange' terrains where myth and fiction blur the boundaries of what is real and imagined. She works in a variety of media including large site-specific drawings, video, digital prints, and sound.
Devasher was the recipient of the Forbes India Young Contemporary Artist of the Year 2014, Skoda Breakthrough Artist Award 2013 and the Sarai Associate Fellowship 2010 and INLAKS Fine Art Award 2007 and 2008. She was most recently an artist in residence at Metal Culture in the UK, 2013 and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin in between March and June 2012. She was part of the Kochi Muziris Biennale with her work Parts Unknown and has shown her work at the IZIKO Museum, South Africa, The Wanås Foundation, Sweden, Courtauld Institute of Art, KHOJLIVE12, the Zacheta National Gallery of Art, in Warsaw and the Apeejay New Media Gallery New Delhi among others. Forthcoming projects include the Fukuoka 5th Triennale, Japan followed by a residency at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum.