A POTPOURRI OF DRABBLE BY HARSHITA NANDA
At first glance, the
cover entices with its simplicity – blue blossoms on a white background. The 100
100-word stories were created and written for the Momspresso platform. It was for
the first time that I had heard the word ‘Drabble’ for 100-word stories.
The eBook is a
veritable montage of themes, each story making the reader ponder. It is no
easy task to contain an idea within a 100 words and Harshita Nanda is a past
master at the art. Her stories soar from the sublime – love, happiness, achievement
and empowerment, and swoop down to the abyss that shelters themes like envy,
betrayal and violence.
The stories begin
with the lament of a housewife in ‘Is This My Destiny?’ and this is
carried on in ‘Oh! Where Did Those Days Go?’ However, one of the most prominent
emotions that the author brings out is the love of a mother for her offspring,
and vice versa, in such poignant stories like ‘My Ma’, ‘A Mother’s
Exhaustion’, ‘The First Love’, ‘The Birthday Party’ and ‘A Piece of My Heart’. Is
there any love that can surpass that of a mother’s?
Love is a many
splendoured thing, as the old song went. Harshita Nanda plays with this age-old
emotion in many of her stories, writing simple lines that yet, seem so
familiar.
“In that half-hour,
the word seemed to recede, its constant cacophony falling silent, as they fell
deeper in love with one another.” ‘A Simple Love Story’
‘The Red Flower’ and ‘Her
Song’ break the heart with their tenderness, as do ‘Over a Cup of Espresso’ and
‘Waiting in the Wings’.
‘When Love Ends’ reveals
the sad finality with “the scratch of the pen on the divorce papers”, which is
offset by the beautiful ‘I Am Here for You’ which underlines continuing love
even after death.
Harshita Nanda’s stories
deal more with the positive than otherwise. She talks of the universality of
kindness in poems like ‘Teacher Didi’s Steel Dabba’ and ‘The Red Nail Polish’
and moves on to the even more universal concept of ‘The Hidden Power’
(Humanity) and ‘Humanity Always Wins’.
Resilience also plays
a major part in the stories. Achievements always shine brighter after adversity
and this is the beautiful message that illustrates many of the pieces like ‘Change
of Plans’, ‘Reward for Resilience’, ‘The Christmas Pig’ and ‘Mrs. Sharma’s
Kitchen’.
Covid Tales bring the
reader back to the present. The author sounds a warning note at a few tales
that may trigger emotions of unease such as the ‘The Never-Ending Nightmare’, ‘His
Soft Touch’, ‘Her Good Luck’ and ‘Spirit’.
As a thriller writer,
I have left the stories that jolted me to the last. Well crafted, their twists
churn the insides of the reader. For example, ‘I Never Knew’, ‘The Enchanted
Rose’, ‘The Last Glance’ and ‘The Missing Jewellery’ are suspenseful, but ‘The
Banyan Tree’, ‘The Ring’, ‘A Twist of Fate’ and ‘The Kitten’ draw a shiver down
the spine.
While I enjoyed all
the pieces for their brevity and their punchlines, two stood out. One was the
poem, ‘Far Away from Home’ and the other ‘The Big Loss’ which said so much with
so few words.
Take a bow, Harshita!
Your book sparkles, both in its uniqueness and in its variety!
#BlogchatterEBook #Blogchatter #Drabble #Potpourri #Stories #Themes #Variety
If you would like to download the free Ebook by Harshita Nanda, here is the link:
https://www.theblogchatter.com/download/a-potpourri-of-drabble-by-harshita-nanda
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