Each
of the stories in this release of Out of
Print has a resonance with an aspect of the cover image by Suki Dhanda,
perhaps because it captures something of what the narrator in Gilead (Picador, 2004) by the remarkable
Marilynne Robinson says of people: ‘… I am struck by a kind of incandescence in
them, the “I” whose predicate can be “love” or “fear” or “want”, and whose
object can be “someone” or “nothing” and it won’t really matter because the
loveliness is just in that presence, shaped around “I” like a flame on a wick
emanating itself in grief and guilt and joy and whatever else.’
In
Word Sanctuary by Meenakshi Chawla,
one writer visits another. We discover that their relationship is based in a
staggering amorality that the protagonist, despite his fine sensitivity, is
compelled to exploit. Shom Biswas' The
Other Transgression also tells the story of a character who is driven, this
time by loyalty to friend and fraternity, to make a profound and ugly
compromise that directly impacts him.
Sathya
Saran's, The Lost Note, brings alive
the particular and intimate dynamic of orchestral musicians as the flautist
awaits his final cue. The imagery has the quality of a dream filled with anxious
twists and a yearning for that elusive lost note. Also about finality, Kaushiki
Rao's Obituary raises questions of
fairness in a situation whose larger structures are outside of ones control.
Stylistically, it is an obituary that lays out the life achievements of the
dead individual who, in this case, is an insect.
Neeta
Deshpande's, The Recounter of Memories
leaves us with a sense of resignation and sadness, but also of courage. A woman
on the brink of a divorce visits her old home. All that she is leaving behind
impresses itself upon her, but at the same time, she examines the levels of
breakdown that make it impossible for her to stay. Another story about
marriage, Divya A's Bride Barter is
all the more brutal for being based on real stories that she encountered as a
journalist in rural Haryana. Savitha Devi is torn because her fifteen-year-old
daughter is being given in marriage as barter for her son's bride.
In
contrast to the inherent cruelties in the previous two stories, Roshna
Kapadia's Mrs Aggarwal's Mirror,
carries the kind of closure that indents a sense of human grace. Set in the
countryside of a changing India, it spans generations and lifestyles, and plays
with the inevitable ironies of a complex and multi-layered world. The Love Letter by Madhumita Roy is also
based in the great divides that course through the landscape of Indian society;
Priyambada Sen, whose view is framed by the English literature she teaches, is
full of hope as she contemplates writing a love letter to a man who cannot read.
With searing and disturbing imagery, Niven Govinden's Grains follows a photographer who is recording man taming the wild
for his purpose. She is an observer, reconciled to the fact that she has 'no
power to stop anything'.
