For this edition of Out of Print, which is the first in our fifteenth year of publishing the magazine, we asked our readers to tell us how they responded to the fifteen featured stories, rather than telling them how we read the works.
Today, we begin to publish a selection of their comments here on the blog.
- Six-anna Ticket by Bhagwati Charan Verma, translated from Hindi by Ankita Gupta
Wonderfully narrated incident. So relatable. Many have had an uninvited guest foisted on them, who simply don't go away. And then there's the middle-class mentality that wants to maximize every drop from a lemon. Two beautiful truths, wonderfully spun together to form an entertaining story.
- Anonymous
- The Smoky World of Aravamuthan by Ramanujam Parthasarathy
The story ‘The Smoky World of Aravamuthan’ made excellent reading. The description of Vijayawada environs, the Nature surrounding Aravamuthan's house (before he chose to move) are very convincing. One could almost smell the fresh air of the morning and its fragrance, along with the acrid cigarette smoke radiating from the neighbouring Professor's balcony. The story moved with a sedate pace which helped the author as it provided a complete contrast to the finale – which made Aravamuthan's heart to beat faster than ever.
On the whole, the story evoked R K Narayan's vivid descriptions and sudden endings which leave the readers and the characters surprised or sometimes shocked.
Sri Ramanujan Parthasarathy is known for his racy narrations which appear sometimes in Facebook in his timeline. I have grown fond of his writings. I thank Out of Print for publishing this story.
- D S Kesava Rao
