The Punch Magazine Anthology of New Writing Edited by Shireen Quadri. Niyogi Books. Pages 198. Rs 395
Book Title: The Punch Magazine Anthology of New Writing
Author: Shireen Quadri
Aradhika Sharma
IN May 2019, The Punch Magazine invited short stories from women writers and received submissions from India, UK, America and countries across the globe. The works cut across genres and cultures, negotiate varied subjects and imbue the book with thematic and stylistic eclecticism.
While the stories reflect individual voices, a female consciousness pervades the book, making it uniquely feminine, and sometimes, feminist. Since a theme was not mandated by the magazine, the authors have explored diverse subjects. The resultant anthology, compiled by Shireen Quadri, offers vignettes of different sensibilities, experiences and cultural settings, making the transition from one story to another an exciting experience. The topics range from forgotten and lost loves, inter-family relationships, reminiscences to psychological stories. Mostly sad, they resonate with universal human existentialist preoccupations.
‘Olya’s Kitchen’ by Helen Harris is a food-love story set in London. It tells about the narrator’s Russian grandmother, Babushka Olya, who “smelt of the kitchen” and who expressed her love through old-fashioned, wholesome Russian food. Years after her death, Babushka Olya inspired the establishing of the vastly popular food truck, ‘Koyla’s Kanteen’, that served authentic Russian food. ‘The Very Narrow House’ by Latha Anantharaman, a tale set in South India, tells about a poor mother-in-law and daughter-in-law who live in a small village house. Their lives are shrouded in silence and solitude. The shocking twist in the tale, however, comes at the end of the story. ‘Marietta’s Song’ by Sarah Robertson is a plaintive story of love with a surprisingly sweet end. It tells of Marietta, an old lady suffering from dementia, who lives in an asylum.On her birthday, she is given a gift of music and as the music plays, she breaks into a song. “It was Marietta’s song, and as she sang, it was clear she’d known it all along...”
Meher Pestonji’s ‘Ghost’ describes the antics of Kaizad, an irrepressible 10-year-old Parsi boy, who takes pleasure in frightening his sister with ‘ghost’ tricks. He loves rummaging through discarded treasures in the attic. One day, he comes across an old pair of dentures, motivating him to perform another ‘trick’. But this time, he goes too far. Rochelle Potkar’s ‘Honour’ is an allegorical story of a washerwoman from a dhobi ghat in Mumbai. Just as she beats the grime and soap out of clothes, so does life haul her from one difficult circumstance after another.
There are some narratives on Kashmir, including ‘The Closed Cinema’ by Meena Menon, about Srinagar’s popular Firdaus Cinema, now abandoned and decrepit. Humra Quraishi’s ‘Kashmir Valley’s Soofiya Bano’ is the story of a woman waiting at the chai shop of her son who was taken away by the security forces. ‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’ by Vineetha Mokkil is the story of a Hindu girl in love with a Muslim boy and the antagonism she faces from her seemingly modern family.
The diverse comprehensions, settings and styles make this anthology an interesting read. Although the stories are not similar in quality or plot — some excellent, some only middling — yet the compilation is an expression of universal experience.
