Book Read: Ants, Ghosts and Whispering Trees

After many many months I finally once again picked up my reading. I read Ants, Ghosts and Whispering Trees: An Anthology of Oriya Short Stories. These are a collection of translated Orissa based short stories written by Oriya writers. The stories are well written (or should I say rather well translated), leads you into the stories well. They are all based on the “common man”, mostly set in the past and talks of beliefs, superstitions and social issues related to caste, hierarchy and such; covers a wide theme.

While most of the stories were interesting, a few I found a bit staid. Of the few stories I found well written and interesting, one is a story of a beggar blind man who keeps praying to god to send him someone who would help him earn a living, all the while a lame beggar woman who is also seeking companionship lives besides him, eventually the lame man realises and seeks her solace but.... maybe its too late!! Another story is of two men from a village who work in the city and are killed during communal riots, the illiterate mother of one of the sons believes it is the "Ps" written at the end of one of the letters she sent to her son (written for her by the postman) that killed him. A third story I found interesting is called “Night Dogs” and speaks of an ordinary couple who suffer sleepless nights due to howling dogs in the neighborhood and their indifference when they find themselves caught in between an equally disturbing Naxalite clash.