Editor's Note
BACKSeven stories are presented in this issue. They are an eclectic collection but what is distinctive about them is that they are all about people with everyday lives to whom extraordinary things happen. These extraordinary things occur in some stories through the realm of the supernatural, in others, in the course of quotidian events, and in one case, through the ridiculous. What is even more distinctive is that however the extraordinary occurs, each of these stories allows the reader to participate in the process by which the characters examine their situations.
Growing Up by Sathya Saran is an excerpt from a novel in progress. The main character is a young woman, Leela, who, it is hinted, has returned home after having been through a traumatic and failed romantic ‘incident’. Her companion is the maid’s daughter, Nagamma who is blossoming into womanhood, something that makes Leela acutely jealous. The story ends with a denouement where ultimately it is unclear whether what Leela sees as the lustful gaze of a lover is in fact, avuncular regard.
In Farah Ahamed’s story named after the principal character, we encounter Dr Patel whose sense of himself is out of sync with the way the world sees him. Set in a wedding of the wealthy Gujarati community in Kenya, we see Dr Patel’s grandiose and self-deluding style crumple, but regain strength, then remain terrifyingly consistent to the end.
Rainbow Loom Bracelet by Srilata K is about a young girl who recognises that she is different. Told, with great sensitivity in the voice of the child, the story is about her life, and the friendship she develops at a school for children with special needs, and how and why she tells herself, ‘Leap, Tyrex, leap. Don’t look back. Enter the happy garden. Become exactly like the others.’
In Green Thumb by Avantika Mehta, a woman struggles with a failing relationship the shakiness of which is emphasised when she discovers her inability to conceive. The story is remarkable in that it deals with the imperfect ways in which human beings function.
Sowmya Vidyadhar takes us into the supernatural in The Hole In The Wall. Thommachan must decide what to do when a Yakshi’s anklet comes into his possession. A straightforward narrative, and a supposedly simple tale tell a complex struggle between greed and sanity. Dion D’Souza’s The Maid also deals with a struggle. In this story too, a magic object grants the main character a gift, that of sensual appeal, the worth of which she must weigh against keeping her life and her family intact. The Monkey God by Chandra Ganguly-Meyer is another story about gifts, unexpected ones granted to Narayan Bakshi, a typist in a government office and his wife, Lata when they make rigorous offerings to Hanuman.
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The artwork is by Sudhir Patwardhan and is titled Paying the Bill, acrylic on canvas, 2005, 36x48’’. The cover design by Yamuna Mukherjee contains images from a piece of Kalamkari or crafted-by-pen fabric depicting stories from Indian mythology.
Sudhir Patwardhan is an artist, and an occasional writer and lecturer on art. He has also been a curator focusing on introducing new audiences to contemporary art. His work has been exhibited regularly in India and abroad over the past thirty years. He lives and works in Thane, near Mumbai.