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misspalah's review
3.0
“The young are determined to be people and citizens, not of ghettoes and religions, but of free India. What does this freedom mean? Does it not mean the right to marry whom you chose? The right to spend your life as a constructive citizen with another citizen of your choice? Our generation won freedom for India, another generation is teaching them ways of freedom”
- Confession (Poona Company by Farrukh Dhondy)
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The thing about short stories collection, it is either hit or miss. This one definitely a miss - i enjoyed some of it but the rest is just ‘meh’ (at least for me). The one that really stood out for me especially when it touched about caste, class and identity is ‘Black Dog’, ‘Samson’ and ‘Confession’. The characters from other stories can be seen or mentioned in another stories making it slightly connected with each other but the story is capable to stand on their own. The background of most of these stories happened in a Parsi Neighborhood in Poona( now known as Pune) in 1950s. The way the stories were told is almost quirky and eccentric. You were being told these stories and you felt like a spectator of these tales. Overall, it was not a bad collection of stories but it was not great either. It has some humor but some of the stories is not impressive enough. However, it did give a great introduction on a Parsi Community in India - via these stories of knowing whats it like being a minority and navigating their daily lives in what they called the chowk of Pune, India. The fact that the author said it is an amalgamation of his childhood stories and real people that he knew were written in this book make it more authentic.
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If i can give one liner based on what these stories , this is what i would have said:
1. Cotton figures - Unstoppable inventor, Skeptical society.
2. Samson - A story of corpse carrier and the price of it.
3. Black Dog - Karma bites back instantly when you hurt animal.
4. Boomerang - Legendary boxer in the making.
5. Dinsy - The search of husband / guardian / caretaker.
6. Confession - The death of a brave hindu convert.
7. Chamak - The cleanup act of Wadia College : “the Indianized and moral way”election campaign.
8. Gandhiji - The cost of Partition.
9. Rose de Bahama - The class shift.
- Confession (Poona Company by Farrukh Dhondy)
.
.
The thing about short stories collection, it is either hit or miss. This one definitely a miss - i enjoyed some of it but the rest is just ‘meh’ (at least for me). The one that really stood out for me especially when it touched about caste, class and identity is ‘Black Dog’, ‘Samson’ and ‘Confession’. The characters from other stories can be seen or mentioned in another stories making it slightly connected with each other but the story is capable to stand on their own. The background of most of these stories happened in a Parsi Neighborhood in Poona( now known as Pune) in 1950s. The way the stories were told is almost quirky and eccentric. You were being told these stories and you felt like a spectator of these tales. Overall, it was not a bad collection of stories but it was not great either. It has some humor but some of the stories is not impressive enough. However, it did give a great introduction on a Parsi Community in India - via these stories of knowing whats it like being a minority and navigating their daily lives in what they called the chowk of Pune, India. The fact that the author said it is an amalgamation of his childhood stories and real people that he knew were written in this book make it more authentic.
.
If i can give one liner based on what these stories , this is what i would have said:
1. Cotton figures - Unstoppable inventor, Skeptical society.
2. Samson - A story of corpse carrier and the price of it.
3. Black Dog - Karma bites back instantly when you hurt animal.
4. Boomerang - Legendary boxer in the making.
5. Dinsy - The search of husband / guardian / caretaker.
6. Confession - The death of a brave hindu convert.
7. Chamak - The cleanup act of Wadia College : “the Indianized and moral way”election campaign.
8. Gandhiji - The cost of Partition.
9. Rose de Bahama - The class shift.
cheeka's review
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
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