Manav Kaul
2016
Hind Yugm
pp. 192
This collection of short stories by Manav Kaul came as a surprise to me. Not a short stories fan, I picked it up with the clear thought that this will fill in the fifteen minutes of reading a day slot. Pleasantly surprised, I found his writing gripping. His writing is refreshing and young. Unlike many of the contemporary writers in Hindi and English, his writing style and language is not overly simplified. The themes in the stories are contemporary and quite contextualised. There is a story in this collection for everyone. To me, the stories revolved around making sense of self. But I know, that on a different day, in a different time, and for a different person, the stories would hold some other meaning.
I didn’t like a few but there were many that I would happily re-read. Some of the stories sound like snapshots from someone’s life. I was left wondering what happened in the protagonist’s life after the story had ended. The whole reading was enjoyable. Kaul seems to be a fan of Camus, and apart from the two direct references to his work, has also touched on writing absurd, albeit with scope for expansion.
Another feather in Hind Yugm’s cap.