Because short stories never go out of print

Chandni S Chandel

Short stories are a welcome change, a whiff of fresh air vis-à-vis novels and other forms of writing. This compilation from Indira Chandrasekhar’s online short fiction portal, Out of Print, has a lot of variety — ranging from mythology to reality and satire, segregated under different heads. Commemorating 10 years of the portal, the book widens the scope of thought, imagination and realism, starting with the ‘dogma that literature is a reflection of reality’.

Stories in the mythology section, like ‘The Three Princesses of Kashi’, force you to re-examine the set narrative about the forced wedlock of Amba, Ambika and Ambalika in the epic of Mahabharata. A spoof on democracy, Altaf Tyrewala’s ‘Mischief in Neta Nagar’ gives an insight into the bitter truth about what democracy could mean to different people. All the stories — short, crisp, interesting — are worth a read.

The writings open vistas of perspective on incidents that you can relate to in your day-to-day life as a teenager, a woman, a retiree or a middle-aged person. They give the readers a licence to make their own interpretations rather than just go by the author’s thoughts. Since it is a collection of stories from different writers from diverse lands, the book keeps you engrossed. The tales nag your conscience to the core and lend an opportunity to the readers to enjoy the written word on a hard copy, rather than scroll on the laptop or mobile. Probably a pioneering work in online format started 10 years ago, and now in the form of a book, ‘Out of Print’ could well usher in a revival of short fiction.

An interesting combination of science and fiction, Chandrasekhar’s works are published in literary fora across the globe. Her editing of the book is flawless, and renowned authors’ comments preceding each section nudge us towards contemplation. Subtleties like the difference between ‘hitting and beating’ and how ‘mythology’ and ‘history’ can be used interchangeably as terms become clear.

The seriousness of Chandrasekhar’s plunge to compile short stories from different languages can be gauged from the fact that Gauri Lankesh’s father, Kannada author P Lankesh, finds a place in this collection, as also Marathi, Kannada, Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam, Gujarati writers. She seems to have succeeded in culling the right works from such a wide range.

Easily slipping into the characters, the readers are sure to feel happy reading works of award-winning writers. Moreover, Chandrasekhar’s website outofprintmagazine.co.in is an appropriate forum for authors of short fiction to get recognition.