“The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction” by Hachette India

“The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction” by Hachette India is a collection of contemporary sci-fi stories, focusing on themes such as dystopia, climate change, space travel, the arrival of aliens and man’s quest to find sustainable ways to live.
These are some tales from the masterful minds of some of the most inventive minds, and barring a few pieces here and there, all of the narratives were exhilarating and thrilling.
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The book being first of its kind of a selection of historical sci-fi and new age dystopia from the South Asian subcontinent to appear in the twenty-first century, did hold a lot of potentials and it was able to live up to the hype albeit by simple yet effective narratives that one can enjoy and be left with something to ponder on at the same time.
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Some of the anecdotes didn’t work for me, because of their long, tedious and unnecessary description, but the others more than made up for the experience, especially in the latter half of the book.
I absolutely loved the last one, a hypothetical future where a group of young scientists is trying to find a way to combat climate change by coming up with ideas such as sustainable colonies and to seek a way to communicate with the forest even though the web of life has reached a point of destruction.
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Read it with an open mind and overlook the minute nitty gritty and I am sure you are in for a culmination of laughter, wonder, amuse and intrigue.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Genre: sci-fi, south-asian-lit, short-stories, future
Reading Difficulty: ⭐⭐⭐/5

“The Essence of Delhi ” by Aleph Book Company

“The Essence of Delhi” encapsulates the spirit of the city Delhi, in all its complexities, tragedies, and charm.
12 stories that aim to capture the glories of the riches and the miseries of the poor, the history that is lost, and the potential that the future holds.
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From Malvika Singh’s introduction to the history of the city, Khushwant Singh’s description of the nitty gritty’s of life of a Delhite, William Dalrymple’s depiction of the metropolis as the city of Djinns, to Ruskin Bond’s portrayal of the life in Punjabi household headed by a matriarch, each story unfolds with such interlude, one cannot help but marvel at how simple things can be a cause of great joy.
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These authors need no introduction and even before picking up the book, I was sure I am in for a good time and I am glad the book didn’t disappoint me at any point.
One can take their time reading each story and allow it to be taken in in all its essence, a flavor of the city composed of a myriad of emotions, its grandeur, its distress and hardships, the culinary delights that the city offers and the spirit that the people exhibit even with all the chaos.
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A city that rises from its ruins and coexists with a glimpse of the past and a promise of the future.
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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Genre: non-fiction, short-stories, indian-literature, indian-author

“In a Violent Land ” by Aleph Book Company

“In a violent land” bring forth essays and stories, panning the length of our vast country of India, a collection of some of the best fiction and non-fiction stories that have been written on the violence that infiltrate all sections of the Indian society.
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As you go through each recital, you hear the cries of the Babri Masjid incident, the pangs of the Gujrat riots, experience first hand the brutality shown in the name of casteism, the atrocities meted out in the Naxalite bound regions of North East India, or the sadism exhibited in the garb of social status.
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In a country which inhabitants populace of such varied characteristics, divided by religion, caste, gender, language, class or geography, clashes are bound to happen and more so in a place where politics thrive on the differences between people.
Such are these tales that reminds you of the catastrophic past that has scarred the land for centuries now and acts as a constant reminder of the folly of not being tolerant of each other’s differences, even in this time and age.
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Stories featured comes from writers like
Khushwant Singh, Mahasweta Devi, Udayan Ghosh, Anna Bhau Sathe, Manoj Mitta, Harvinder Singh Phoolka, Salam Bin Razzaq, Suketu Mehta, Vijaydan Detha, Sonia Faleiro, Barkha Dutt, Shahnaz Bashir, and Sanjoy Hazarika.
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So one cannot doubt how beautifully woven each narrative is, in it’s all entirety.
Some stories are more impactful than others but there is no doubt that every single one of them is equally alluring.
Pick this one for a pretty hardcover coupled with powerful and compelling tales that blotch the history of our glorious nation.
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Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Genre: essay, short-stories, politics, IndianLiterature, cultural

“No one writes to the colonel” by Gabriel García Márquez

“The only thing that comes for sure is death”
-Gabriel García Márquez, No one writes to the colonel

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Fifteen years have passed since the Thousand days war ended in Columbia, and the colonel is still waiting for his letter of pension to arrive which was promised after the war.
Struck in poverty, the old man lives with his wife, the couple had lost their only son, lives off by selling little objects around the house and now they are just left with an old clock and their son’s rooster.

“An Offbeat Yellow Back : A book without a genre” by Aditi Bakshi

A collection of short stories and funny anecdotes, that perfectly resonates with the millennials of today’s life where everyone is slogging to make ends meet at a desk job. The ones that live on peanuts and yet spend recklessly on weekends because how else would one ‘relax’. And once the weekend is over, they are back to the mundanity of their lives, slowly giving way to insomnia and anxiety in hopes of life to turn exciting somehow.

“Unaccustomed Earth” by Jhumpa Lahiri

“Odd things made him love her”
                                 – Jhumpa Lahiri, Unaccustomed Earth

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“Unaccustomed Earth” by Jhumpa Lahiri is a collection of 8 short stories. Each story a complex and emotional account of Indians settled away from the country, traveling back and forth to India, all the while trying to find a familiar earth.

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The title story, “Unaccustomed Earth”, is about a young mother Ruma, who finds her father reappears in her life after her mother’s death, only to find her once aloof father in a different light, as he tries to build a bond with his grandson.
My favorite story is, ” Only goodness” which explores the responsibilities of siblinghood and the various consequences of trying to maintain a relationship as we grow older, with all the flaws and ramifications of past actions.