Extraordinarily Ordinary

There are many who find life dull and devoid of meaning these days. A few, in fact, fear that we are heading for the Crack of Doom. All this is due to a strong feeling that the human species is becoming more and more inconsiderate and self-centered over time. This little bouquet of short stories is bound to change such a view and create a feeling that all is not lost yet. This is so because these stories involve common people in the hum-drum of life. They describe situations to which one can easily relate. A perusal of these will make one love and live life and laugh through it with the author The sixteen stories in this collection are mostly based on incidents that happened to the author in his journey of life. It is therefore difficult to identify any particular theme underlying all of them. But eight of these stories clearly bring out the strong prevalence of the bond of love even in this age of rabid greed. This finer, deeper and more emotional aspect of husband-wife, parent-sibling and employer-employee relations come under the scanner. The fact that this bond can extend to human relations with non-human beings like pets and even with inanimate objects is vividly and interestingly portrayed. In the other eight stories, five have an under-lying streak of humor. Hilarious and even embarrassing situations, considered highly improbable, emerge and are described in vivid detail. The remaining three almost smack of the supernatural- two covertly and one almost overtly. This collection gives a bird’s eye-view of India in transition. This land of Buddha and Gandhi is famous for the bond of love among its inhabitants- both human and non-human. It now witnesses a feverish trek to towns and is on its way to become part of the globalised economic network. There is spread of education particularly among women. Fast-changing technology in all fields of life is making people to run even to continue to remain where they are. Human relations are thus on the boil - be it in the field of marriage, in the attitude towards the aged, at the work place or even in the treatment of pets. The basic issue is whether the sublimity of love can survive the Gospel of the Mammon. The changes taking place in India are also such that one can visualize situations, at times quite incredible, and some other times, somewhat embarrassing. The author tackles the issue head-on in these sixteen stories creating also improbable situations all of which look eminently possible, smacking of the super-natural even. The fact that all this has been done in a lucid and charming style and that too with a touch of humor makes the volume richly merit its title “Extraordinarily Ordinary”. In terms of language and stylistics, this collection is like music of varied, soft notes and chords which is soothing and pleasant and has a simple beauty. The delineation of characters and emotions has no sharp strokes or harsh lines. Ordinary people go about their daily business and yet manage to find narratives hidden in the hum-drum of a daily routine. These stories celebrate the ordinary fears, anxieties and joys of the common man. Trivial fragments are defined with clarity and their very placidity and reality startles the reader. They do not shake our sense of security or safety but in some reassuring way intensifies it. Fourteen of the sixteen stories are in the first person narrative and this adds a certain candor and poignancy to the emotions. The sagacious narrator foregrounds in his subtle understanding and wisdom a penetrating vision of compassion and sympathy. The style of narration has no philosophical complexities or psychoanalytical exploration. Avoiding frills or gimmicks, it uses implication and understatement to make its point. The order in which the stories are presented in the collection makes a big difference to the impression it creates on the reader. Actually, the presentation of stories in this collection is not according to any classified thematic order. If at all any ordering has been done in the presentation, it can be said that the stories have been deliberately jumbled up theme-wise and the collection is hence more life-like. Further in view of the adage that well begun is half done, one had to take extra care to see that the best story of the collection in terms of having maximum emotional content is the very first story. And this seems to have been done. In the same vein it can be said that the concluding story of any collection of stories should be such that it should not leave any bad taste in the mouth. If it does so, the reader will not have any incentive to open the volume again or recommend it to other readers. In this volume, the concluding story has a happy ending despite hilarious and acutely embarrassing situations emerging in the beginning. It thus fits the bill admirably on this count too. ‘Extraordinarily Ordinary’ can hence be looked upon as a must read for all those people who must have had similar simple and interesting experiences in the process of their life’s pilgrimage.