Some readers are looking to flip the pages. Then there are others who are sensitive to every nuance. I had the privilege of receiving one such review from a fellow officer.
As I've said in the past, civil servants are the sharpest critics. You simply cannot hoodwink them. Yet they are also generous in their praise. Thank you RP for writing so beautifully. Better than I could ever have!
I got this wonderful collection of short stories few days back and was lucky to get it autographed by the author herself.
Having lived at Lucknow and studied at Delhi University, I was inclined to read the stories Dinner at Bukhara and Rain first. It was sheer pleasure reading them. They take you to the places and the culture, however what goes on in the minds of the actors, is what people go through in everyday life – anxieties, insecurities, accidents and so on.
The unpredictability of life is beautifully captured in different stories, though tragic, but at the same time they bring thrill and tell how life doesn’t stop.
In a humorous and interesting way, the author has also captured social problems like corruption and poverty. The story of Panchei Nani in ‘The Buda’ is unique which in a humorous fashion, captures grave human circumstances arising out of poverty.
One is also not disappointed reading the stories with supernatural tinge. The excitement and thrill is retained in the ‘A Chance Encounter’ and the ‘Demons within’ till the last minute. Rather, the latter is how a psychoanalyst would peep into a troubled mind.
Simply written, the stories take you completely into the circumstances of the protagonists. Rather, it is like going through full circle of life. Thoughts and feelings of a child, a bride, a married woman or the old man who come in different stories bring with them a flavor of different stages of life.
A mix of everything one would expect from a good collection. Difficult to resist going through all of them at one go once you start reading. Hope to see the new collection coming from the author soon.- Ravindra Pratap Singh, IAS
