Eye Contact
Author: Achla Bansal
Publisher: Shubhi Publications, Rs395
This is a collection of sophisticated stories with urban motifs, sensitive portrayal of human follies and psychology, written with intelligent dialogues, says MANDIRA GHOSH
In her fourth collection of stories, Eye Contact, the author, Achla Bansal, speaks in a very strong voice through her protagonists, and themes are marked by intricate designs of ordinary lives of, marginalised and unprivileged persons, underdogs and uncared. Eye Contact is a very readable collection of 15 Indian stories, including the story Checkmate, which got ‘A book for Borges Award’ in UK. She creates in her stories, urban landscapes and contemporary themes.
At a time when silly romantic stories, have occupied the book selves of many book sellers, suave, sophisticated stories with urban motifs, sensitive portrayal of human follies with witty, intelligent dialogues make Achla’s stories absolutely distinct and different.
Some of her stories will shake us and our society, and we will ponder over our inadequacies, of our system and society. She has observed the superficial society from close quarters and, through her power of observation, she could take up follies, hypocrisy of the social milieu.
Thanks, Anyway is a gripping tale of a chance encounter between a septuagenarian and a young woman of 29. Their ensuing mid morning friendship is ridiculed by her husband and friends. His vast collection of books and wisdom fails to impress them.
Intricacy and simplicity at the same time — plots and themes move forward and backward in time... Time with all its dimensions fascinates the author who pens in Out of Time the remarkable lines:
“It has lost only three minutes,” the old man murmured. “People set their own time for doing things...for not doing things”...his voice trailed away, getting lost in the haze of the distant past, a lifetime of living.
She realises what time is, its power and that it may devastate the best of plans. This realisation demonstrates a stamp of maturity as she speaks her mind in the following lines:
“Had she not been cast into the role of an observer cum confidante — by sheer chance, or was it destiny — of this very man who now baffled her by his sudden disappearance from his shop, from her life. He could not just walk away, leaving her saddled with his pain, while he rested, played with his grandson…She had the right to know, she decided, if for nothing else, for the restoration of her own peace of mind.”
She is a harsh realist and not a vain idealist. Practical life with all its hypocrisy is depicted. Human psychology, yearning for a fair skinned daughter, even in the higher strata of our society, generation gap are a few of the topics dealt with in her stories. Without sermonising, she candidly opens the sores of the society; without criticising them, she, through the plots, characters and dialogues opens her mind and heart.
She keenly observes a society, that is superficial, with her sharp and penetrating eyes and takes out the dark forces that hide behind the life’s exterior and outward appearance. Through honest and candid confessions of the characters, the plot grows and sometimes the most unacceptable happens; the beauty and irony of the stories lie in these aspects.
Out of Time and Carom Men are extraordinary stories as well. Carom Men is very finely and sensitively crafted, portraying the turmoil of a child in quest of the truth about his father. Stung by the duplicity of adults, the lies they tell, he observes:
“When I asked them, they brushed me aside with, ‘oh you’re a child.’ Strange were the ways of these adults. Why couldn’t they decide for once whether I was a child or not”.
Growing Up is a telling portrayal of a girl’s dilemma when she finds herself feeling repelled by her once favourite aunt’s growing fondness for her. Was she over reacting, or...
The end of the story, Fish Curry, is open for the readers to comprehend whether the mustard oil in which the fish curry was cooked was contaminated or not. The readers who are with Roopmati wonder whether she could really take revenge on Hiralal by serving him fish curry cooked in adulterated mustard oil. Very fine ending of yet another story.
The storyCheckmate unites tragic and comic without losing the fine thread of humour, though it is sometimes ironical and unnerves us. She makes ample use of literary devices in her stories, predominantly with irony and dark humour.
In the titular story Eye Contact, Shibani desperately tries to make eye contact with the people in her life, but fails. And just when she succeeds, things go awry. The poignant painting by SG Vasudev on the cover of the book, further deepens the intriguing pull of the stories in this collection.
Primarily a short story writer, Bansal was born and brought up in Delhi. It was much later, after a nomadic life — being married to a railway man — that she returned to Delhi and took to writing. Her stories have been published widely in leading Indian dailies and journals. Some have been translated into other languages. Skrev Press published her short story, Out of Time, in its Indian sub-continent collection, Thanks, Anyway, originally published in an Indian anthology, was later published in the UK, US, and Germany. She has published three collections in English, Once A Year It Is March, Ace Upon King and Checkmate. We want the author to continue writing and wish her all the best.
The reviewer is a poet, and the author of nine books including Aroma, New Sun, Song in a City, and The Cosmic Dance of Shiva