Shanta Gokhale, award-winning writer, critic and translator, brings her sharp understanding of the human condition to this collection of her finest short fiction. Humorous, tragic, wise and honest, these stories will move the reader deeply.
In the title story, an elderly man navigates his final days with his wife as she sinks deeper and deeper into forgetfulness, fading away with each day. With his love and his gentleness, he holds her close, recalling the early days of their relationship—of finding love for a lifetime. In ‘The Swimming Pool’, two women strike up a conversation on the Mumbai-Pune bus and in the minutiae of the story of one woman’s life, the other finds a way to move forward with hers. ‘Daybreak Over the Gandaki’ is a powerful examination of grief, and the torturous path to expiation. While ‘The Bhikbali’ is a charming tale of a couple finally finding the time and space in their tiny Mumbai room during the Covid lockdown to explore some generational anecdotes—and each other, ‘She Came to Stay’ is a delightful story of contemporary love and the creation of a modern composite family.
A deep knowledge of, and a sympathy for the lives of ordinary women and men permeate every word of these stories. In each of them, Shanta Gokhale unpeels the layers till she reaches the very core of what makes us human— flawed, brave, foolish, brilliant.