“A Monsoon Feast” comprises seven short stories by renowned writers from Kerala and Singapore that provide deep insights on the various concerns and ways of life of both communities.
A Monsoon Feast
Short stories to celebrate the cultures of Kerala and Singapore
Ed. By Verena Tay
Monsoon Books
Pages: 159; Price: $15.95
A Monsoon Feast is a collection of seven short stories by eminent writers of Kerala and Singapore. It is published in 2012 by Monsoon Books PTE, Singapore and carries a foreword by the noted poet and scholar Kirpal Singh and another foreword by Shashi Tharoor,a former under secretary general of UN. Frankly the forewords are more interesting than the stories themselves.
Kirpal Singh says these stories “offer more than just a read”. He cites the example of Suchen Christine Lim’s short story Big Wall Newspaper by quoting the opening sentence of the story “in one minute’s time the electric bell will bong”. A Monsoon Feast “invites us to read, ponder, reflect, engage, respond”. All the writers in A Monsoon Feast do this with alacrity. They are not stories in the conventional sense.
The second foreword by Shashi Tharoor is more comprehensive. As a Malayali he writes in English, but focuses very much on India. Only two percent of the Indian population have mastered English language and therefore he asks himself a question whether he is not “guilty of terrible sin of authenticity”. But those who level the charge of inauthenticity base themselves on a notion of “Indianness” that is highly objectionable.
Sashi Tharoor quotes the critic M. K. Naik “could this have been written only by an Indian”. He asks “why the rural peasant or the small town school teacher with the sandalwood smeared forehead be considered more quintessentially Indian than the punning collegian or the Bombay socialite, who are as much part of the Indian reality.”
Kerala is a state that has practised openness and tolerance from time immemorial. He defends his writings in English. There is no shame in acknowledging that English is the language of the colonialists.” But language is after all a vehicle not a destination.”
Whether these stories are engaging or not would depend on the sensitivity of the reader. The collection includes stories by Christine Lim, Shashi Tharoor, Felix Cheong, Jaishree Misra, Thian Chin, Anjali Menon and Verena Tay and connects the reader to two different cultures.
A Monsoon Feast is a rare anthology of stories from Kerala and Singapore. It is a laudable effort and crosses geographical differences between Kerala and Singapore.
V Rajaraman
