Resumo de Love And Longing In Bombay (stories)

Vikram Chandra is well known as the author of his novel Red earth and pouring rain. He shares his time between India & America, & hence he has observed both cultures from close by. However in this book, he presents imaginatively written five short stories, all having titles in Hindi, even though the book is in English. The five stories entitled Dharma, Shakti, Kama, Artha & Shanti, are narrated by Subramaniam, in the setting of a small bar, near the Sassoon dock in the vibrant city of Bombay (now called Mumbai). These stories cover various aspects e.g. ghost, love, crime, jealosy, secrets & loss etc. The background of these stories being Bombay, which is said to be fast moving & dirty, is immaterial. If the setting would have been some where else, the stories would have equally impressed the readers. The period covered is from the time of independence, to the present hi-tech times. The characters of the stories appear to be unique. These stories depict different social aspects of the present day India.
Dharma is the story of an army veteran soldier, exorcising a ghost. The story Shakti is very interesting, & reveals the happenings in the higher levels of the Indian society, esp. the manipulations in business & social levels, in the context of the most prominent family. In the third story, a long one, a detective after breakdown of his marriage, becomes abnormally involved in a murder mystery. The next long story Artha, is about the love life of a gay computer mechanic, & his female programmer business partner. The last story Shanti, said to be an emotional love story, deals the case of a person trying to woo a war widow, even though she has hopes of finding out, her so called missing husband.
Whatever it is, it is a pretty impressive collection of interesting stories. Under the spell of Vikram Chandra's clean & excellent language, realistic style of presentation, the reader finds it difficult to close the book once started, even though it runs to 268 pages. Also we are unable to forget the stories, after closing the book. Some people may find some minor flaws in the book, as in any other work, but the good points far outweigh such points. He is a remarkably talented story teller, & a great writer. He deserves our praise.

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