May-Jun 2013 Vol 3 Issue 3
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May-Jun 2013 Vol 3 Issue 3
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May-Jun 2013 Vol 3 Issue 3 60 pages
Reading Hour
short fiction essays verse reviews
Published, owned, and printed by Vaishali Khandekar, and printed at National Printing Press, 580, KR Garden, Koramangala, Bangalore-560095 Published at 177-B Classic Orchards, Bannerghatta Rd, Bangalore-560076 Editor: Vaishali Khandekar Editing Support: Arun Kumar, Manjushree Hegde Subscriptions, business enquiries, feedback: readinghour@differsense.com Ph: +91 80 26595745 Subscription Details: Print (within India only) or Electronic (PDF): Annual subscription Rs. 300/- (6 issues) 2 years subscription Rs. 600/- (12 issues) Payment via cheque / DD in favour of ‘Differsense Ventures LLP’ payable at Bangalore. Subscription form elsewhere in this issue. Online subscription: readinghour.in Submissions: editors@differsense.com Advertisers: Contact Arun Kumar at arunkumar@differsense.com / +91 98450 22991 Cover Illustration & Design: Sandhya Prabhat Inside Illustrations: Raghupathi N S Disclaimer: Matter published in Reading Hour magazine is the work of individual writers who guarantee it to be entirely their own, and original work. Contributions to Reading Hour are largely creative, while certain articles are the writer’s own experiences or observations. The publishers accept no liability for them. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily represent the policies or positions of the publisher. The publishers intend no factual miscommunication, disrespect to, or incitement of any individual, community or enterprise through this publication. Copyright ©2013-2014 Differsense Ventures LLP. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part of this issue in any manner without prior written permission of the publisher is prohibited.
May-Jun 2013 Vol 3 Issue 3
Editorial What a summer is upon us this year! Blank white dawns, glaring noons, and stifling sunsets gaudy with colour. Indeed, too hot the eye of heaven shines down this May. Surely then, it could be respectable to be a little lazy. To hold off on dashing around getting things done, if one can. To curl up instead with a glass of cold sugarcane juice and lose oneself in engrossing stories. Saranyan B V’s What to do with Fatik Ruidas? will transport you to the noisy, overheated, smoke filled platforms of a steelworks and the close camaraderie among its crew. Aditya Sudarshan’s Left Side of the Face explores the love-hate relationship a man has with himself and the impact it has on his life. Janaki Venkataraman’s Of Facts and Figures is a whodunit that is solved by an unlikely detective. Deepa Kylasam Iyer’s Missed Call is about the difficult relationships between fathers and sons. N S Vishwanath tells a beautifully detailed story Jasmine in the Mist, about a small family dealing with dementia. Earlier this year Sreelata Menon travelled to Dhaka and she reports on her experiences there. Galapagos, where Charles Darwin collected material for his research, is covered in a short essay by Sarah Rand, with some beautiful photographs of the local fauna. We profile young entrepreneur Rajeev Kher, whose social enterprise 3S Shramik is a pioneer in the field of portable sanitation and liquid waste management. Mridula Koshy, whose debut novel Not Only The Things That Have Happened was very well received, chats about her books and her writing with Suneetha Balakrishnan. If you enjoy this issue do recommend Reading Hour to a friend or two. Happy reading. Editors facebook.com/readinghour readinghour.in
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Contents Fiction
Poetry
3 What To Do With Fatik Ruidas?
saranyan b v
10 Those Questions and an Endless Night tanaya singh
9 hum
lance manion
18 The Barber Came At Dawn malini seshadri
14 Missed Call
deepa kylasam iyer
21 To Reach You
abha iyengar
34 Eyes
smitha bhat
35 Left Side of the Face aditya sudarshan
45 An Economy of Her Own nidhin shobhana
49 Jasmine in the Mist n s vishwanath
54
O f Facts and Figures
58
A Piece of Advice
28 Abdul
mohammed junaid ansari
33 So on and so forth abby jay
33 The Road abby jay
59 In the Waiting Room s aruna
janaki venkataraman
First Person
chaturvedi divi
19 Days of Being Wild siddhartha lal
Interview
27 Light
22 Mridula Koshy
Stuff
suneetha balakrishnan
Profile
Essays
42 Social Enterprise: 3S Shramik
11 Dhaka sreelata menon 29 Walking in Wonderland sarah rand
47 Are 60
you reading this?
Last Page
Get Reading Hour at your doorstep! Subscribe using the form on page 27 or visit http://readinghour.in. Cover by Sandhya Prabhat (sandhyaprabhat.com), Freelance Animator/Illustrator with an MFA degree from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Asia. Inside cover photograph by Sarah Rand: The most photographed spot on Galapagos Islands 4
Reading Hour
Fiction What To Do With Fatik Ruidas? saranyan b v
T
Saranyan is a poet and short story writer. He is currently working on the Sincere Anthology of not so Obese-poems.
he red-hot plume dotted black here and there, but mostly red and rich, strikes the side of my face. The smell of burnt metal irritates
the inside of my nostrils; I snort due to the desiccation. The hapless airconditioner struggles noisily to cool the cabin; yet, the sweat from my palms makes the pen slip in my fingers as I make entries in the log book. Generous smoke billows through the broken windowpane. Shift engineers ingenuously keep one of the panes broken. The break grants a view of the teeming platform below, and is an insidious way of keeping track of the preparedness; it is a lot easier than walking to the door every now and then. No matter how many times
we
change
them,
the
glasses
turn opaque due to the dirt raised in the span of a single shift. ‌
May-Jun 2013 Vol 3 Issue 3
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Fiction hum lance manion
A
Lance has recently released his third short fiction anthology The Ball Washer. He has contributed to several online fiction sites as well as short story anthologies.
wise man once told me that a ladder is not an upside down hole... so you can see why I am leery of advice. He really was a wise man
but I can’t help thinking that on that particular day he was a bit off his game. Thinking back, he might have been the man who started me on the whole “either/or” path that has been part of my life since I was little. This way of dealing with bad things started innocently enough. If I dropped my ice cream I would think to myself that I would rather have dropped it than maintained control and been hit by a car an hour later. Using this little ploy I always felt that things turned out for the best. As I got older this very simplistic way of looking at things continued. Anything bad that happened was immediately made better by the idea that something much worse could have happened had the original bad thing not transpired. I was never going to win the lottery but I was also not going to contract some deadly rotting disease and this made my very ordinary life seem ok …
May-Jun 2013 Vol 3 Issue 3
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Poetry Those Questions and an Endless Night tanaya singh
The Barber Came At Dawn malini seshadri
To Reach You abha iyengar
Abdul
Tanaya works as the Executive Editor at Youth Ki Awaaz. Poetry for her, is the most beautiful form of expression and art.
Malini is a freelance writer, editor, and former columnist based in Chennai. She has authored a book for children and co-authored value education textbooks.
Abha is an internationally published poet, author and creative writing mentor. She has authored ‘Yearnings’ (poetry), ‘Flash Bites’ (flash fiction) and ‘Shrayan’ (a fantasy novel).
Mohammed studied Literature and Journalism. He writes short stories, poems and plays.
mohammed junaid ansari
Poetry
abby jay
In the Waiting Room
Abby is a nineteen year old pre-med student and aspiring poet who lives in Saudi Arabia.
Aruna is an engineering student who wants a library and two cats.
s aruna
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Reading Hour
essay Dhaka
Sreelata is a widely travelled freelance writer who has published with Penguin / Puffin among others.
sreelata menon
A
cacophony of sound hit us as we walked out of the Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport. The colossal din, which
would put any Indian bus terminus to shame, assaulted our ears. It was the buzz of people waiting to receive disgorging arrivals, competing with shrill police whistles and a continuous stream
Lal Bagh Fort
of blaring cars and battered SUVs
manoeuvring
to
make a quick getaway. With trolleys packed to the hilt narrowly missing unsuspecting
toes,
the
chaos was unimaginable. But the sudden sense of déjà vu that assailed us hinted that we were in familiar territory, perhaps in an India of a few decades ago. So, welcome to Dhaka. A city as famous for its Dhakai muslins as it is for the proud Bengali heritage it shares with us …
May-Jun 2013 Vol 3 Issue 3
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fiction Missed Call deepa kylasam iyer
Deepa studied in India and France. She has published with the British Council, Voices Israel, Sampad; and in several magazines. Her play Metaphor was long listed for The Hindu MetroPlus Playwright Award 2012
“Take care to fly a middle course, lest if you sink too low the waves may weigh your feathers; if too high, the heat may burn them. Fly half-way between the two.”
S
aid Dedalus to Icarus1. Father to son. The
mighty Dedalus, desperate and compromised, tailoring a fragile future for his young son. With wax wings. To fly neither too high, nor too low. The affordable ideals of the middle path. The aspiration to fly just above the waters and way below the skies, to crawl out and escape silently and go across the seas and make a future in a strange land. The distance would inspire lofty dreams that had no place on terra firma. “I know how men in exile feed on dreams; I know how men feed alien dreams to their own sons.” Expensive wings to make impossible dreams come true. The things that fathers do! … 9
Reading Hour
first person Days of Being Wild siddhartha lal
Siddhartha is a student and a writer. His work has appeared in Helter Skelter (an online journal), Urban Shots – The Love Collection, The Traversal of Lines, Papercuts, and Talk.
Yes, this is A noon for wild men, wild thoughts, wild love. - Hot Noon in Malabar, Kamala Das
H
ere, summer is the season of dreams. As the languid afternoon shudders to a halt before the sweltering heat of
the grey evenings takes over, time slows to near stillness and one cannot but dream with open eyes. Dreams lingering on the border between reality and illusion. Dreams shimmering in the distance like mirages, luring unsuspecting victims. Dreams that seem to be the illegitimate offspring of nostalgia, depriving you of your peace of mind at the slightest hint of weakness. And just like that, reminiscent of little children colouring outside the lines in their drawing books, these dreams visit often, to dislodge the stagnant reality of the summers here ‌
May-Jun 2013 Vol 3 Issue 3
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interview Mridula Koshy in conversation with suneetha balakrishnan
Mridula Koshy is a writer with a respectable repertoire: a wellappreciated debut anthology (If It Is Sweet), an award, and now a novel (Not Only The Things That Have Happened) that she places in the two worlds she has occupied in the four decades of her life. Here, she chats with Suneetha Balakrishnan about her books, writing, its reasons and more. SB: Publishers in India often discourage authors from short-story collections being their first published work. Tell us a bit about how your first book If It Is Sweet came about, and the challenges you faced if any. MK: I think publishers everywhere steer away from short story collections. Apparently they are not as easily marketable; readers are convinced the novel is more bang for the buck. And perhaps a short story is something you should be able to read for free in a magazine while waiting in the doctor’s office. Perhaps a short story is a lesser form, engaged in by lesser writers who haven’t the ability to write novels. 11
Photograph: Santanu Ganguly
I was lucky to run into Nilanjana Roy when I did. I was reading one of my stories to a group of people and she liked it and asked if I had any more to show her. She had been recently appointed at Westland’s new literary imprint Tranquebar. All of which was lucky for me: they did not have a huge line up of writers and manuscripts at that point. They were looking for manuscripts. But to my credit I would say I was ready to take advantage of this bit of luck. I did have more stories – some two dozen – that I had been working on for the previous two years, in a disciplined fashion … Reading Hour
essay Walking in Wonderland sarah rand
T
Sarah is a psychiatrist who celebrates her love for people and nature through her writing and photography.
he dream was to walk the paths traversed by Charles
Darwin as a young naturalist in 1835. Darwin stayed at the Galapagos Islands for just 5 weeks and visited San Cristobal, Floreanna, Santa Cruz and finally Isabella Island, 4 islands in all, collecting and documenting rocks, minerals, fossils, birds, and animals. He sent the lot back to Cambridge, to the professors and scientists there.
Sea lion at Floreanna Island
Upon his return he laid the foundation blocks for his Theory of Evolution. I was going to feel that same sand beneath my feet, breathe in the same air, hear the same oceans lap ceaselessly at the same beaches, and see if I could feel his spirit, and his genius lingering in these remote little islands in the Pacific Ocean 600 miles west of the coast of Ecuador. ‌
May-Jun 2013 Vol 3 Issue 3
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Fiction Eyes smitha bhat
S
Smitha spends her days treating patients and teaching students. Her travelogues and short stories have been published in various papers.
ome days in the hospital, I reflect that they should have taught us to spend more time looking into eyes. Eyes tell
a doctor so much. I’m not talking about things like jaundice and anaemia, though these are doubtless important too. I’m talking about those things that are difficult to voice, about the words that remain unspoken. Eyes do not lie, to a sensitive doctor …
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Reading Hour
fiction Left Side of the Face aditya sudarshan
T
Aditya is a novelist and playwright living in Mumbai.
he lift wasn’t working, so he walked down three flights of stairs and the short, shaded distance into the open streets. A speeding car just missed hitting him.
He continued his march across the road divider. On the other side, an auto slowed at his signal and he climbed in before it had quite stopped, announcing his destination as it picked up pace again. To be on one’s way without waiting or haggling was a relief. But soon the traffic thickened, and frustratingly so, for this was the weekend. The more the vehicle stopped and started, the more the horns sounded and the beggars came pawing, the wilder he swam in his thoughts. ‌ May-Jun 2013 Vol 3 Issue 3
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profile Social Enterprise: 3S Shramik
I
n 1997, Rajeev Kher was in Canada as a business management intern, selling financial plans for an investment firm. While there, he
chanced upon a portable toilet. It was the first time he had seen one, and he remembers wondering if it was a telephone booth, Canadian-style! The chance encounter with a ‘portaloo’ ended up being something of a turning point in young Rajeev’s life. Even if you belong to the privileged minority in India that does not have to resort to it, you cannot help but be aware of open defecation; the scourge of our country, a practice that impacts not only our environment and health, but also the dignity of millions, especially girls and women. Yet, most of us do little or nothing about it. Rajeev,
The 3 founders with the CNN-IBN India Positive Award
however, looked at the portable toilet and realized he was looking at something he could do … 15
Reading Hour
fiction An Economy of Her Own nidhin shobhana
Nidhin’s interests include urban studies, oral histories, women’s studies, informal economy and Dalit studies. Writing diverts his restlessness.
“Yeh paisa leneka kaunsa slip aae?” “Kya? What?” “Cash lenekaye...” “Withdrawal? White slip, safed colour ka slip.” “Thaankyu!”
Sujata was momentarily bewildered at the sight of so many coloured slips. White, green, pink and yellow. She was not visiting the bank for the first time. But in all her previous visits, she had never really filled a withdrawal slip. Donald would do the filling-up. Each time he would repeat his usual instructions. “You go to counter 1. Just give them this slip along with the pass book. They will do the rest!” …
May-Jun 2013 Vol 3 Issue 3
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fiction Jasmine in the Mist n s vishwanath
M
After a career in technology development and marketing at GE, MIT, and Bell Labs, Dr. Vishwanath is now a freelance writer ‘dedicated to the fine art of vagabonding’. He lives in the US and in India.
r. Sreenivasan sauntered over to the large circular window and luxuriated in the symphonic splendour of the dawn. Through the diaphanous mist
that enveloped the world below, he watched early risers make their way around a walking trail. At the far end of the trail, workers at a neighbourhood teashop bustled about, getting ready for the day’s business while a decoction of watered down milk and tea leaves boiled steadily in a large cauldron in the background. Mr. Sreenivasan observed all this from his ninth floor vantage point and smiled contentedly. The mist, the walkers, and the steam rising from the teashop were serene images, symbols of order that briefly anchored him to a good place each morning. Shortly thereafter, sunlight scattered across vagabond clouds causing carmine blotches to appear in the sky. This made the ninety-year-old retired judge wince, as though someone had upset the heretofore orderly proceedings in his court. … May-Jun 2013 Vol 3 Issue 3
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fiction Of Facts and Figures janaki venkataraman
D
Janaki lives in Chennai. She is a freelance writer who loves the short story format.
o you keep notes of your daily expenses? I don’t. As far as I can tell, none of my friends does either.
In this age of plastic, our banks are more concerned about our expenses than we ourselves. My grandmother Neela, was different. She liked to know, to the last detail, where her money went. To facilitate this she developed the practice of writing household accounts into a fine art. Neela died some years ago. When the family gathered in our ancestral home to commemorate her first death anniversary, many of her possessions were distributed among her grandchildren as keepsakes. I requested for and received a few of her account books. When I was asked, curiously, why I wanted them, I replied, “They contain a lot of information that might be useful to my writing.” What I left unsaid was more complex: something of my dear Paati1 was trapped forever in those pages. When I read them I felt close to her …
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Reading Hour
Fiction A Piece of Advice chaturvedi divi
Chaturvedi lives in Prasanthi Nilayam with his wife Dr. Sai Mangala and they are associated with Sri Sathya Sai Mission.
I
f you want to enjoy a better view, you should walk down half a kilometre. This café will be crowded in a few minutes with visitors,
for their morning coffee,” she said. “Oh, I didn’t notice you!” Rakesh was startled. “Are you... are you from one of the massage centres in the neighbourhood?” She laughed. “It’s true, the massage centres mushrooming around Kovalam woo tourists with lady masseurs! I assure you I don’t belong to that tribe.” She laughed again. “I’m sorry,” ventured Rakesh. “It’s okay. You are cautious. I like that. Not many young men are so cautious.” “You mentioned a better view...?” “Yes, yes, I’ll walk with you. I’m Sheila, a garment designer,” she offered, smiling. …
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Reading Hour
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