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Excess: The “Tehelka” Book of Short Stories "ALL year we would chase hard facts and interpret them, but at the very end, in the last issue of the year, we would turn to fiction, to remind our readers that a supple imagination is no less crucial to the concrete world," wrote Tarun J Tejpal, Editor, Tehelka. Excess is in keeping with the commitment that the Tehlka walas made.
In the Introduction, Tejpal says "Contrary to popular wisdom, I do not think that the challenge in India today is to present complex things simply. The real challenge is to present complex things as complex things, and to urge everyone to read them well and to come to terms with them." Well, many of the stories here are complex. They are obscure and yes, they present a challenge to the reader who is sometimes left wondering why the author cannot tell his tale in a way that the reader can understand. Some stories, are simple, but presented in a complex manner. Maybe there is some merit in that. Contributing to Excess are top contemporary Indian writers: Altaf Tyrewala, Ambarish Satwik, Amruta Patil, Anjum Hasan, Kalpish Ratna, Manjula Padmanabhan, Mridula Koshy, Rana Dasgupta, Rajorshi Chakraborti, Ruskin Bond, Sarnath Banerjee, Sudeep Chakravarti, Sunetra Gupta, Tishani Doshi and Vivek Narayanan. The first story, Feast, by Manjula Padmanabhan, is about a vampire who finds his way into Delhi and delights in gorging himself on the sweet, unsuspecting blood of the Indians, until he meets his nemesis because of his greed. Rosie by Vivek Narayanan, is a sweet and amusing story about a South Indian family in Africa, who get a dog to protect themselves from the brazen robberies that are taking place in the neighbourhood. So, they get themselves a fawn coloured Doberman called Rosie, who turns out to be a pacifist. Of course, Rosie cannot be fed meat or fish, and the lady of the house, decides that it can do very well on curd rice. The family does its utmost to get some fighting spirit into the dog, even feeds it eggs, but to no avail, until, of course the surprising end. Strawberries are White is the story of Yusuf, who is seriously allergic to strawberries. We met him first as he is choking up when an urchin thrusts strawberries that he wants to sell, into his car window and then we are taken into a flashback. The story Yusuf relives is a story of passion and murder, but seen through a child’s eyes. A little obscure, though. The Good Boy is Rajoshri Chakraborti’s story about a young man’s meeting with his former best friend’s mother, years after the boy hangs himself. The revelations made on this delayed condolence visit, shocks his placid existence to the core. Thirteen, written by Brinda Charry, is about two 13 year old girls, whose friendship is tested by the telling of a secret. Up in a tamarind tree in their school, they discover what friendship and betrayal is all about. It’s a short story, but a poignant, coming-of age one. The reader is presented
with a smorgasbord of tales to sample. Different flavours, different
chefs. Some exotic, some mundane, some the reader will take a bite of
and reject, and some he’ll go for a second helping. But in all, it’s
a piquant offering, so sample what you want to, leave the rest!
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This
year the writers were offered a theme—Excess—and the stories that
they created are stories about excess. Over the top, too much, lots
more than needed`85Excess! Excess of their own imagination; of
poverty, of love, of fear, of childhood memories, of betrayal.
Whatever was excessive to the author, found its way to this anthology.
And that’s why it’s fascinating. So many different writers and
with so many manifestations of ‘excess’! The resultant anthology
is a diverse and stimulating collection of pieces of imagination and
experience.