10 Short Stories - 7 Deadly Sins -Multiple Shades of Indianness
Writing Short stories needs an immense focus and brilliant outcome, only then it can portray brilliant storytelling. Throughout the history of reading and writing literary pieces; readers have interpreted a single piece of writing differently. Be it an anthology, compilation, or books from any genre, all can be considered ambiguous. Nagarajan's The Parijat Tree and other stories can be placed under this ambiguous nature.
10 short stories 7 deadly sins
No, the author hasn't mentioned this underlying theme in the book. Rather the book is quite open to interpreting and understanding the themes. But once you finish reading and decide to introspect it completely, all the pieces of the puzzle fall into their own places. There are imageries but in simple terms, just like a bedtime story for a toddler; but here the toddlers are mature readers.
The book is dark; every other chapter has lustful eyes, falling from grace, sins that are not to be committed, and much to ponder over from the very beginning.
Plotted against contemporary India and its people, their raw emotions; from the hilly terrain and farthest corner to the remotest, from the aristocratic feudal life to the reality of drought trodden life of farmers; the book has all. It was a brave task to write on things that need to be talked about much; be it sexuality, the exploitation and suicidal rates of farmers, male rape, or domestic violence. The story named 'Chameleon' is unputdownable from the backdrop to the progress throughout the pages; that single story has everything a thriller addict can look out for. Instead of 'The Parijat Tree' "Chameleon and other stories' could have been a better title and rise on the expectation from the anthology. Like the Chameleon, each story in the book has multiple shades which change according to the need arises. To name a few others that will definitely top the list in this anthology will be 'The Rice Bowl' and 'A Charming Man'.
This dark-themed book will undoubtedly make you urge for more but somewhere in a few stories it felt loosely knitted and finished abruptly as if everything was served at the plate already. If the crafting and developing of the character arc and backdrop is a positive approach the weak links and plotholes make it weak. Ardent Thrillers addicts who enjoy both movies and books may find the thrill lacking despite setting up a promising backdrop. We can explore this drawback in the stories such as 'Enigma' and 'Love and the art of war'. In some stories like 'Triple cross' and 'Redemption', we can encounter some stretched development and cheesy endings that we can experience in Indian commercial movies. But as a whole, that perfectly blends with the idea of Indianness that the author wanted to convey through the stories.
'The Parijat Tree and other stories' has potential, each story has something to offer, and the dark themes will make a reader hooked and engaged. So, what are you waiting for? Grab the book for your weekend reading.
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Trigger Warning - Inclusion of Rape, Adultery, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic Violence, Assault
Reading Updates -
See you again next week with anything artistic!
Until then read this excerpt:
"I still remain where I am, offering shade, flowers, laughing to myself at humans who think I can neither hear nor speak and listening in on conversations, sometimes innocent, sometimes lustful, and always interesting. If you want to hear more of them, all you need to do is come to me and pour some water around my roots now and then." ― Sameer Nagarajan, The Parijat Tree and other stories