3Jul-Aug 2013 Vol 3 Issue 4

short fiction essays verse reviews

Reading HourEditorial

We look forward to the monsoon with great anticipation every year. This year, the advent of the rains has seen disaster overtake some parts of the country, which is not only tragic but also a terrible reminder of how vulnerable we ultimately are in the face of nature’s fury. Those of us experiencing only the munificence of this monsoon must be doubly grateful.

This new issue of Reading Hour brings you some interesting write-ups. Stuti Das takes on a serious topic: gender identity. G Karunakar, who has undertaken solo journeys to a hundred countries, writes about his visit to Bali, Indonesia. Roopina Coutinho worked in London before moving to New York – she negotiates the culture shock with humour and optimism and shares her diary with us.

Suneetha Balakrishnan interviews talented poet-novelist Anjum Hasan, on her writing and forthcoming work.

The stories within are wide-ranging, as they usually are. So we begin with a story about a goose, set in Kerala. We then move to the Punjab, and the travails of a mother who searches for a missing son. From there we are back in south India again, with a woman on her deathbed, wondering when the final hour will strike and who will call it. A dysfunctional family and a canny mother cat make their appearance next, followed by a girl, too attractive, in the room of a young man in Delhi. Then there is old Inambhai who tells children stories with happy endings. We also feature a translation from Hindi, of the story of a retired civil servant who is obliged to stay with his bureaucrat son, in spite of their ideological differences.

There are several poems that we’re sure you will enjoy.So, like the busy executive on the cover who picks up his book

and escapes out of his office window, to float away on a raincloud, we invite you to enjoy a reading hour too.

~Editors

Published, owned, and printed by Vaishali Khandekar, and printed at National Printing Press, 580, KR Garden, Koramangala, Bangalore-560095Published at 177-B Classic Orchards, Bannerghatta Rd, Bangalore-560076Editor: Vaishali KhandekarEditing Support: Arun Kumar, Manjushree Hegde

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Disclaimer: Matter published in Reading Hour magazine is the work of individual writers who guarantee it to be entirely their own, and original work. Contributions to Reading Hour are largely creative, while certain articles are the writer’s own experiences or observations. The publishers accept no liability for them. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily represent the policies or positions of the publisher. The publishers intend no factual miscommunication, disrespect to, or incitement of any individual, community or enterprise through this publication.

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Jul-Aug 2013Vol 3 Issue 464 pages

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4 Reading Hour

Fiction

3 White Goose renu balakrishnan

7 Healing the Improbable neera kashyap

16 Love of Earth krupa g e

24 Mummy Cat rumjhum biswas

34 The Room of a Young Man anubha yadav

44 Inambhai subhash chandra

53 Along Which Path sumati lal saxena, translated from the Hindi original by abha sah

Essays

11 The Gender Straitjacket stuti das

29 Island of a Thousand Temples g karunakar

first person

50 New York Diary roopina coutinho

Interview 21 Anjum Hasan suneetha balakrishnan

Contents

Poetry

6 Thalassemia smitha sehgal

6 Mother mohd junaid ansari

15 Once smitha sehgal

28 The Telephone is a Plastic Thing rumjhum biswas

47 Unborn simon jackson

52 To My Son malini seshadri

59 Far Out m mohankumar

59 Solitude m mohankumar

Light Stuff

41 Recipe: Pride of the Garden sarah rand

42 Jackfruit alaka yeravadekar

48 Are you reading this?

60 Last Page

Get Reading Hour at your doorstep!Subscribe using the form on page 40

or visit http://readinghour.in.

Cover by Sandhya Prabhat (sandhyaprabhat.com), Freelance Animator/Illustrator with an MFA degree from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Asia.Inside cover photograph of the Besakih Temple at Bali, Indonesia, by G Karunakar

fiction

White Gooserenu balakrishnan Renu is a creative writing teacher based in

Mumbai. Her first novel is to be published shortly.

I couldn’t see Mum among the people who trickled out

of Kochi International Airport at midnight on Tuesday,

January 5, 2010. Where was she? I wriggled my fingers free

yet again from Pum’s grasp. She grabbed them back at once.

Where was Mum?

This is the last warning. Better grades or the goose goes!

6Jul-Aug 2013 Vol 3 Issue 4

Ikk ōnkār satināmu karatā puraku nirapǎ’u niraver akāl mūrat ajūnī sepàng gurprasād1

Kartar Kaur murmured the words under her breath, aware both

of their sanctity and the constriction in her throat that persisted

despite the repetition. Sometimes she could continue repeating the mul

mantar2 without a break for half an hour but mostly she would falter,

grope for the next phrase, and

lose it in a sudden shortness of

breath, in the tense exhaustion

of her mind. Even when the

repetition went on for a while,

her mind struggled to invoke

onkar, the one constant, the

universal creator.

fiction

Healing the Improbableneera kashyap Neera has published stories for children. She

interprets ancient texts for contemporary readers and now writes fiction as a means to creatively understand social and political issues.

7 Reading Hour

fiction

Love of Earthkrupa g e

Krupa is a Chennai-based journalist and writer with two books to her credit (Hands of Art and StopOver Chennai). She was shortlisted for the César Egido Serrano Foundation, Madrid’s Flash Fiction Prize.

When you live with someone for the entirety of their

life, you develop a sense of clairvoyance about them.

Their comings and goings, their feelings.

Even lying in a bed in a hospital room, I could tell she was

coming. It could have been the flip-flopping of her sandals,

her perfume, or maybe I’d just known her too long – all her life

from the very day she was born to be precise – I couldn’t tell

how, but there she was.

How brazen a show of affection this was!

8 Reading Hour

fiction

Mummy Catrumjhum biswas Rumjhum’s fiction and poetry have been

published all over the world. She has won prizes and accolades in India and abroad.

Mitra looks up from her math homework at the

sound of heavy cardboard boxes hitting the

floor. Mother’s back! Her upper lip curls, unconsciously

imitating the brindled tabby sitting on the sill and hissing

at an unseen predator.

The cat seems perennially in the house these days; Mitra

reckons she must’ve found a secret nook inside, helped by

Muni of course. The cat has a flaccid stomach with pinched

wet teats, and is thin and always

hungry-looking. But whenever

Mitra extends her hand in a

pretend gesture of generosity,

and says “tchuk, tchuk, tchuk” in

what she hopes is a coaxing tone,

the cat hisses and goes spiky all

over.

9 Reading Hour

A corner of the small park

could be seen from the

kitchen window. Amla soaked in

the soothing orange of the setting

sun, balancing herself on the very

tips of her toes as she peeped from

the window. Every time she went

up on her toes, crescent sized heels

emerged from under her sari.

Crooked broken lines ran busily

across them, like long ant trails.

Two buildings stood on either side

of the park with the evening sun

setting in the centre. It seemed as

if the two buildings had entrapped

the ochre ball, guiding it off the sky,

slowly dissolving it into the light

brown mud of the park.

fiction

The Room of a Young Mananubha yadav Anubha is a writer, academic, film-maker in New

Delhi. She teaches at Delhi University. She has published in several journals and newspapers.

Sucharita often sat outside the door with her cup of tea and biscuit and wondered if he ever got up from sleep.

10 Reading Hour

fiction

Inambhaisubhash chandra Subhash retired as an Associate Professor of

English. He has been published in India and abroad. He is interested in the short story format, but is working on a novel simultaneously.

Nobody knows who they are and where they’ve come from,” mumbled

the wife.

“Why are you curious about their lineage? If they’re nice people, that should

be enough for us,” said the husband, a teacher in a nearby school.

“They appear to be Muslims. Why did they choose a house in a Hindu

mohalla1?”

“Why should their religion bother you? They seem to be poor. Perhaps this

dilapidated one room house is all they could afford.” His hunch was right.

The house had lain abandoned for some years. The owner had migrated to

Pakistan in the wake of the Partition and his nephew here wasn’t too bothered

about it. When Inambhai approached him, he was glad to part with it for

whatever Inambhai could afford, which was a pittance.

11Jul-Aug 2013 Vol 3 Issue 4

Ever since ten this morning

there has been a rat-a-

tatting going on in the room. Half

the window grill is being cut out

to fit in an AC. And Mr. Chaudhry

is bursting with irritation. This

loud tinkering is not the only

cause… oh no, several disturbing

thoughts agitate his mind these

days. He mutters to himself,

these boys, they are government

employees but want to live like

industrialists.

fiction

Along Which PathSumati began writing in 1967 and has been published in all the top Hindi literary magazines. Abha taught English in a Junior College in Mumbai for 16 years. She is now a freelance translator.

sumati lal saxenatranslated from the Hindi original ‘Kis Raastey Par’ by abha sah

This talk of ‘the middle path’ never ceased to intrigue him… Mr. Chaudhry knew of only two paths – one right and the other wrong. And he laments the path he is treading these days…

12 Reading Hour

poetry

Smitha is a professional who celebrates literature, law and life with equal zest. She lives in Delhi.

Junaid is a final year B.A. student in Delhi. He has written for newspapers and college magazines.

Mothermohd junaid ansari

ThalassemiaOncesmitha sehgal

TheTelephone is a Plastic Thingrumjhum biswas

Rumjhum’s fiction and poetry have been published all over the world. She has won prizes and accolades in India and abroad.

Unbornsimon jackson

Simon writes poetry, plays, films and music. He has won 11 national and international competitions and awards for poetry. He lives in Edinburgh. and is currently teaching in Cairo.

To My Sonmalini seshadri Malini is a former columnist and freelance

writer / editor based in Chennai.

Far Out

Solitudem mohankumar

Mohankumar’s poems have appeared in leading literary journals in India, and he has published 7 volumes of English poetry. He retired as Chief Secretary to the Government of Kerala.

13Jul-Aug 2013 Vol 3 Issue 4

interview

Anjum Hasan

in conversation withsuneetha balakrishnan

Anjum Hasan’s debut collection of poems, Street on the Hill, was published by the Sahitya Akademi in 2006. She went on to publish her debut novel, Lunatic in My Head, in 2007 and it was shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award 2007. Her second novel, Neti, Neti , published in 2009, was long-listed for the 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize and shortlisted for The Hindu Best Fiction Award in 2010.

Moving from verse to long fiction to short fiction, Anjum’s short story collection, Difficult Pleasures, was published in 2012, and Anjum made her second appearance in The Hindu Best Fiction Award short list. This also marked

the first time on the prestigious list for a short story collection. Difficult Pleasures was also nominated for the 2012 Frank O’ Connor International Short Story Award.

And it’s a full circle of achievements for Anjum now, as her creative non-fiction appears in Granta magazine.

Anjum lives in Bangalore and is currently Books Editor for The Caravan magazine. Her partner, Zac O’ Yeah, is a crime fiction and travel writer who is currently making waves with his new book.

Here, Anjum is interviewed for Reading Hour by Suneetha Balakrishnan.

Photograph: Zac O’Yeah

Suneetha is a writer/translator/journalist working in English and Malayalam. She has translated Jaishree Mishra’s ‘Rani’ and Jhumpa Lahiri’s ‘Interpreter of Maladies’; and written for The Caravan, The Hindu Literary Review, Indian Literature, among others.

14Jul-Aug 2013 Vol 3 Issue 4

“People changed lots of other personal things all the time. They dyed their hair and dieted themselves to near death. They took steroids to build muscles and got breast implants and nose jobs so they’d resemble their favorite movie stars. They changed names and majors and jobs and husbands and wives. They changed religions and political parties. They moved across the country or the world - even changed nationalities. Why was gender the one sacred thing we weren’t supposed to change?

Who made that rule?”– Ellen Wittlinger, Parrotfish

A video clip uploaded on the video-sharing website

YouTube opens with the host – a news anchor with

Toronto’s CityNews – walking into a cocktail lounge with a

fashion model who has of late garnered much attention after

appearing on the catwalk in Paris in an haute couture bridal

gown for the French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier. They

settle down for an interview.

“So when I look at you,” the beaming host tells the model,

“I see an absolutely beautiful, ridiculously tall, lean, gorgeous

woman.”

essay

The Gender Straitjacketstuti das Stuti is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree

in Sociology at Stella Maris College, Chennai.

15Jul-Aug 2013 Vol 3 Issue 4

essay

Island of a Thousand Templesg karunakar Karunakar has served the Govt. of Karnataka as

Law Officer for 3 decades. Travel is his hobby and he has travelled solo through a 100 countries.

When Jawaharlal

N e h r u

visited the diamond-

shaped island of Bali, he

poetically called it the

“Morning of the World”.

Landing in Ngura Rai

International Airport, Bali, all I

desired was a quiet vacation amidst its

famed beaches and emerald-green rice

terraces. Little did I realize then that I

would end up scouting the island, visiting

several major Hindu temples among the

hundreds scattered around and observing

their religious practices. These temples

stand testimony to the true spirit of

democracy that governs the Islamic state

of Indonesia.

Mahabharata battle scene in a roundabout in Kuta

Statue of Gatotchgaja in Denpasar

16 Reading Hour

first person

New York Diaryroopina coutinho Roopina is an IT professional working in

the finance industry. She is originally from Mumbai, and presently works in New York.

DAY 1

My fascination with this city began when I was 13 years old and first heard

Liza Minelli croon “New York, New York”. Right away I knew I wanted to

be a part of this glamorous place that never slept, and to make it there, so I

could prove that I could make it anywhere… and now, three decades later,

here I am making that ‘brand new start’. Strangely, all I can think of is what

I have left behind: my home, my friends, the comfort of the old and the

familiar.

My hotel is just off Wall Street. Sadly, it is more Travellodge than Ritz…

still, it is very ‘New York’ in that you can get a yoga mat delivered to your

room!

17Jul-Aug 2013 Vol 3 Issue 4

Recipe: Pride of the Garden

It was labelled ‘Fakhr-e-gulshan’ (pride of the garden) by Khusrau.

The great poet Ghalib composed an entire masnavi (narrative

poem) in praise of his beloved mango wherein he says:

Aur dauraaiye qiyaas kahaanJaan-e-sheereeN men yeh miThaas kahaaN

(how far can we imagine, when the mango is sweeter than life itself )

sarah rand Sarah is a psychiatrist who celebrates her love for people and nature through her writing and photography.

Jackfruitalaka yeravadekar

Alaka is a writer, trainer, and consultant. Her poetry and photographs have appeared in print and online magazines.

The first thing that you notice is the smell. The strong

sweet odour assails your nostrils and can drive away

anyone but the most dogged visitor – or a true jackfruit

connoisseur. Why a connoisseur? Well, this fruit is not for

everyone. It is a developed taste.

light stuff

18 Reading Hour

Laurence “Larry” Darrell is born into a world of lawn parties, polo ponies, and rich relatives who wave benignly from the shade of a cocktail shaker. Larry, at a very young age, runs away from school and gets into the air corps.

~ Reviewed by Manjushree Hegde

review

Are you reading this?

The Razor’s EdgeSomerset Maugham

‘Lunatic In My Head’ spans a year in the lives of its three protagonists Sophie Das, Aman Moondy and Firdaus Ansari. 8 year old Sophie Das lives with her parents and a soon-to-be-born younger sister in Shillong. Sophie’s father is an out of work teacher, too principled to consider tuitions and as a consequence, the family is behind on the rent.

~ Reading Hour review

Lunatic In My HeadAnjum Hasan

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