The Elephant and the Maruti: Stories

Set in locales as cosmopolitan as Delhi and as remote as Mangladi, these stories, ranging from the whimsical to the bizarre, constitute a fascinating ride through the lives of everyday people grappling with themselves and with circumstances they can neither fully comprehend nor entirely control. A freak episode involving an elephant and a Maruti has unforeseen consequences; a seething communal cauldron boils over in grotesque fashion in a half-forgotten hamlet in South India; love, fear and intrigue come together in a heady concoction in a restaurant in Faraway Paris; and a diffident young schoolgirl in awe of beauty discovers its darker side in a surreal encounter. With all the flair and insight that marked her best selling debut novel, smell, Radhika Jha weaves a rich tapestry of characters and situations in this delightfully off-beat compilation of short fiction which provides a unique glimpse into disparate worlds.