SHORT STORIES WITH REVIEW OF BOOKS

Here are several short stories. The writer is Naval Langa. About the writer: let his writing decide what he is. The short stories which are given here narrate the situations in the life of Indian men and women. However, these situations would occur in any society, in any country, as the men and women face similar questions whenever they are facing relationship issues.

 

SHORT STORIES 

Do you know how the short stories are defined? It is a very short definition. "Short story is a brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that usually deals with only a few characters." My God. In fact, it does not make any sense. Really. It does not define the concept of a short story on its own. Okay. Let us move on believing that we all know what a short story tells us.

 

India has a rainbow-like cultural spectrum. Mirroring the same would be a real challenge. This compilation of short stories emerges from the engagements of personal and social relations and from contemporary circumstances, which shape them. 

 

WOMEN PROTAGONISTS

In these short stories, you would find that the protagonists are women in most of the stories. On a stage where masculinity calls the shots, the women protagonists occupying the centre stage. Each of them deals with the challenges in distinctive ways.

 

The characters and situations in these short stories are drawn from everyday life. The places are recognizable. The ordinary homes, the regular scenes of offices, and the interrelationship disputes. The situations these characters face pose almost comparable problems. But the manner in which the protagonists discover the solutions for their problems is unconventional. It is a novel and a rebellious one. 

 

 My Mother's Pencil Sketch

This short story is about a woman who is caught in a situation wherein she is helpless against her dominant husband. She cannot resist his husband's out of the marriage relationship with another woman. But she finds a solution. She approaches her stepson, with whom she had not good relations. 

In all of these stories, the characters are from ordinary strata of society.  They are neither extraordinary nor unbelievable. You would find a common theme-thread running through these stories, feeling a sense of continuity. Nevertheless, each story stands alone in its own right.   

 The Salt of Life

An aged woman, passing through the evening years of her life, finds herself caught in a strange situation. She cannot live with her son and his family. She and her husband had carved out a good fortune for their family. By doing hard labour. After her husband died, her dependency results in a stream of deep pain. She finds out a novel solution at the fag end of her life.


In this short story The Handicapped, a boy struggles for becoming an entrepreneur. He wants to stand on his feet. He did not want help due to his being handicapped. He seeks permission to start a shop, providing telephone services to the people. The officials make him running from pillar to the post. He finds out a solution, a strange one. 

THE WOMAN WHO STOLE A LIFE

Her husband is absconding. From the law. He had already disowned his relationship with her. She has a baby girl of one year. She had no future. She had no resources to carry on life. She is standing on a strange curve in her life. She finds out an unusual solution.

Catch The Grave Fast 

It's a short story, narrating the helplessness of the weak people at the hands of the strong. The people grant power to the state to regulate the law and order of society. The power-holders start killing those who do not conform to their beliefs and norms.

 MY NEST ON MY WINGS  

The couple loses interests in each other. The husband develops an extramarital affair.  The wife, being a level headed woman, wants to know the real reason for her husband's behaviour. Here she meets the woman with whom her husband has relations. She is shocked after knowing the fact. She tailors a novel solution.  


The protagonists in these short stores are capable of springing surprises. Their responses to the challenges are strange, even for those who are familiar with Indian life and culture. 

They Are Poor: They Aren't Beggars  

In this short story, the self-respect of a poor woman is highlighted. She needs help. But she refused to accept cash from her friends. She wants to work. She wants to survive on the fruits of her own labour only. She is poor. She is not a beggar.


The short stories have almost every characteristic a novel or a novella can have, except it is shorter in length. A short story carries a plot, it develops the characters and imparts a message to the reader community.


Recalled To Life    

In this short story, the protagonist woman shapes her life at distant premises. She goes out of his restrained life and lives with her in-laws. Composing the unexpected changes in her conduct, she manages the activities of farming. She had found out a peaceful solution to her ruined life.


It is still undecided how the form of the short story is different from other forms of fiction. One known theory is that the short story is a fictional narrative that can be read in one sitting. Are you satisfied with this concept? I am not. 


The Parting Gift: Narrating Parental Love   

In this short story, the protagonist woman finds a wonderful character in the grandmother of her would-be-husband. The old grandmother, living in a remote village, explains how parental love and affection are essential for better living.


It is believed that a short story must have a beginning and end. William Somerset Maugham believed that "it must have a definite design, which includes a point of departure, a climax and a point of the test; in other words, it must have a plot”. 

When Fiction Visits The fact 

In this short story, a strange incident occurs. There is a writer. She writes novels and short stories. Obviously, she creates characters. To her utter surprise, one young woman comes to her house and tells her that it is her, the woman writer's responsibility to take her care. Why? Because she was the character the woman-writer had created. The characters so created cannot be left orphaned by their writers.

Anton Chekhov, one of the most celebrated short-story writer once said that "A story should have neither a beginning nor an end. It should just be a 'slice of life', presented suggestively. Yes, you would find a "slice of life" in the short stories presented here. So, carry on the reading.

 The Near Relative

The story narrates the breaking of a relationship. It also narrates how relationships are revived. It reveals how the separated souls, a man and woman who loved each other, come together again.

There are practical aspects, too, due to which the short-story form had remained undefined. What should be the length of a short story? That is the main aspect. Generally, it is believed that a short story should contain 2000 to 7000 words. Fine. If it is less than that, it is a Short Short Story. Okay? If it is longer, it is a novella. Fine. It's a genuine-looking concept. 

 My Mother's Remarriage

The protagonist in this short story, a young woman, who is still unmarried, is facing a strange situation. She had endured the most culpable act at the hands of a man whom she trusted most. That had created a permanent-hate space for the species of male in her mind. Then her mother creates a novel situation. She finds out an innovative solution.


There are awards for short story writers. Some of them are:

  1. The Sunday Times Short Story Award
  2. BBC National Short Story Award
  3. The V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize,
  4. The London Magazine Short Story Prize,
  5. The Pin Drop Studio Short Story Award and many others  

 Fear: The Enemy Of Love

When a woman meets an ex-lover of her present lover, it creates a situation wherein one faces the fear factor. Here the lover of the protagonist woman is gravely hurt by a miscreant, and the ex-lover comes to meet him. It is very interesting to know how both the mature ladies talk and decide the future paths of their life.  


The form of short stories is as old as the ancient epics, as these epics contain several short stories as their sub-stories, along with the main story.

 The Transplant: The Woman Who Paid Her Bill Well

This is the story of a bold woman. She had faced odds. Unbelievable odds. But she had got help from a motherly woman. Unfortunately, the motherly woman falls ill; she suffers from a strange disease. The young woman was indebted to her. She finds out an unusual solution to the problem.

In the modern age, the form of the short story has acquired its own credibility. The short story writers are no longer the novelists-in-waiting. They can survive just by writing short stories. 

 The Vicarious Wings

This is the story of a woman who had missed the bus in her younger years. A similar situation re-occurs in her family. After twenty years. His brother denies his daughter the liberty of undergoing higher studies in another city. The elder aunty, who had missed the bus, comes to her help. Both women jointly find out a solution.



It is a humorous short story. For a change, try it. It's a ten minute's reading.



The thread running through the story is fear factor.


[ Image Courtesy: Edward Robert Hughes, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

GOOGLE SEARCH