Old and new, here is a selection from Saros Cowasjee’s short fiction written over the years. It includes his very first short story, ‘My Shikar’s Wife’, which touches the heart with its tenderness, and his more recent, ‘The Dog Who Died’, about an animal’s sacrifice which recalls that of the Saviour. In between these two are other unforgettable stories: ‘His Father’s Medals’, a poignant reminder of the world of the untouchables; ‘Another Train to Pakistan’, about people who find themselves homeless through absence of roots and loyalties; and ‘The Sentry’, in which two brothers meet in the jungles of Burma as enemies belonging to different camps. Cowasjee is a cosmopolitan who is equally at home in London and Dublin as he is in Agra or Regina. His ‘Sunday on a Soapbox’ is a delightful portrayal of speakers who frequent Hyde Park Corner, while his Dublin pieces show how much of the Irish he has absorbed into himself. But at heart he is Indian, as the chance encounter with another Indian reveals in ‘Strange Meeting’, amongst the most memorable of his stories.
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