Author: Manoj Das
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 350
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0141007001
Description
Marked by humor and compassion, wit and sensitivity, this collection of 28 delightful tales, characters and situations to encounter and relish, brings together the best of work of one of India's most mature and rewarding writers.
The stories range from the light-hearted to the somber, from the ironic to the fabulous. In 'The Naked', Bhanu Singh, the respectable scion of the hereditary senapatis, is faced with a predicament when he is requested by the Rajmata to receive a band of nudist for a conference. Aunty Roopmati, qualified to conquer the world, is vanquished by a former admirer in 'The Misty Hair', and in 'Mystery of the Missing Cap'. The monkey who stole a minister's cap changes the life of two promising politicians for ever.
Life travels a full circle in 'The Vengeance' when the soul of Bahdur Singh is restored in the son of Vilas Singh, who has lived his life with the sole mission of killing Bhadur. And in 'The Dusky Horizon', the story of the narrator's youth, life and fairy tale blend together so that the two are indistinguishable.
The novella 'The Tiger at Twilight' is the tale of a raja stripped of his powers, his melancholy daughter and a man-eating tiger. Its depiction of rural charm in an era of change hints at the powers and beings that lurk just below the surface of our consciousness.
Marked by humor and compassion, wit and sensitivity, this collection brings together the best of the work of one of India's most mature and rewarding writers.