IT HAPPENS – STORIES OF HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS - BHASWAR MUKHERJEE

The artistic green cover leaps out at you, even as you take in the succinct title – 'It Happens'. Bhaswar Mukherjee has proved to be a miracle worker, as fourteen of the fifteen stories in this book by Readomania were entries for the TOI Write India contest. In fact, his writing has been noticed and lauded by greats such as Amitav Ghosh and Ashwin Sanghi.

Delving into the stories, you realise that they are little vignettes of life, showcasing various places by linking them to scenarios that nestle in the minds of all Indians – the Babri Masjid imbroglio, bomb explosions in urban Kabul, “a maelstrom of conflict”, the Indo-Pak border conflicts and militancy, the devastating hurricane Vardah that hit Chennai, the brutality of the Khap Panchayats and the like. Each of these stories holds up a mirror to society, where the author puts in a pertinent comment, almost like an aside in a Shakespearean play. For example, “In the current state of politics, the communal card and the religion card are the only two in play now.”

The first story ‘Karma,’ one of my personal favourites, encapsulates an entire philosophy which convinces the reader that “Life metes out justice sometimes bigger than the courts.”

There are stories which reveal the simpler truths in life, such as how one cannot control destiny, whether in the case of a ruined garden or the illness of a beloved mother. Some plumb ugly depths, opening a Pandora’s box of incest, molestation, the internalising of suffering, clinical depression and revenge. My heart went out to one poignant tale where a person felt trapped in the infirmities of his sexual orientation, or “putting a veil over one’s identity”, as it were.

What shines through is the way Bhaswar Mukherjee modifies the style of his writing to the theme. For instance, in 'Amherst Villa’, there is a gravity that allies itself to the age and erstwhile grandeur of the building. “In reciprocity, I watch the decay of social mores and morality around me as I do the declining opulence and the fragmenting family within.”

“He is looking for a girl who does not know he exists, or the story that has brought him here.” What a beautiful way to start the story titled 'A Lament Too Late!

An almost Wodehousian touch shines forth in certain lines in ‘Remarriage’. “When she had first seen those eyes, they looked like ‘limpid pools’. They now resembled those of a fish, with malfunctioning gills.”   

 The stories I particularly liked were Karma, Amherst Villa and In the Eclipse of a Memory.  In conclusion, this is a book that deserves to be read at leisure for each tale needs to be sipped, and savoured.