Book Review: Urban Shots - Crossroads

Urban Shots - Crossroads
Ahmed Faiyaz
Grey Oak/Westland
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 978-93-81626-42-9
Pages: 228
Price: Rs 199

All of us living in the cities are caught in the mad whirlwind of a fast life, throat cut competition, complex relationships, peer pressure and the constant fight between the heart and the head. Any big city consists of skys clouded with pollution, crowded parks and buses, streets jammed with people from all walks of life, all kinds of smells in the air, and the constant urge to be ahead of all. Be it a hawker, a cricketer or a beggar struggling to make both ends meet, everyone has a story to tell.

Depicting the same is the Urban Shots – Crossroads, a collection of 30 urban stories by 26 authors. Edited by bestselling author Ahmed Faiyaz, it delves into the commotion, conflict and upheaval in the lives of interesting and colourful characters in urban India.

The book boldly reveals the good, the bad and the ugly that exist in our society. Though it’s a work of fiction, the stories expose the very realistic world of urban lives and talk about different aspects like relationships, love, depression, friendship, infidelity and longing.

There are stories about a reclusive kid with a beautiful bicycle, a migrant to Mumbai with Old Monk on his breath trying to get off a Virar Fast at Borivali, a playstation loving spoilt brat who is smitten by his mathematics tutor, an old widower who longs for some intimacy with the opposite sex, the gargoyle who is the boss’ pet at a call centre, a project manager who hates handing out the pink-slip, the baraat on a silent night in a one-horse town in Rajasthan, a neighbourhood didi with dark secrets of her own, a man divorced from his wife who yearns to build a stronger bond with his son, a Maharajji who loves to eat and a maid who always ties her hair in a neat bun so that no loose strand escape the discipline she enforces on it with bob-pins.

Some of these stories deserve special mention however.

The Gap by Saritha Rao narrates a story of a single mother and her daughter that deals with generation gap and also the gap in their lives.

Crossroads by Ahmed Faiyaz about an author who is confused between his wife and a seductress.

Mind Games by Manisha Dhingra: a tale of a loving husband and his mentally unstable wife, with a terrific twist in the end.

Tainted Love by Rohan Swamy: about an emotionally scarred woman in the bazars of Kamathipura. The protagonist - a sex worker – talks about love, hope and longing.

Footsteps in the Dark by Mini Menon: the leading lady Alice has a troubled past, her father died long ago and her mother is in an asylum.

Song of the Summer Bird by Anita Satyajit: a tale of a misunderstood watchman at the library who befriends a little girl whose love for books leads her on to explore new territories.

Premanand’s Yoga Class by Paritosh Uttam: about a mild mannered doctor whose love for yoga makes him infamous on TV and the writer also takes a dig at the mob psychology and yellow journalism.

Other people who have contributed to this anthology are Malcolm Carvalho, Chandrima Pal, Reeti Gadekar, Rohini Kejriwal, Vrinda Baliga and others - a variety of people ranging from popular writers, bloggers, and journalist-cum-writers to debutant writers.

While some stories are fascinating, some are shocking and heart-rending and some leave you asking for more, they will linger in your mind for days even after you finish reading.

The stories are set in urban Indian cities but are different from each other in terms of their time period, the age group of the characters, the narrative, the ways to deal with their lives and the flavour added by the authors.

The urban world has been shown the way these writers see it; no preconceived notions and no clichés adding to the baggage. One can easily relate to the characters in the book. They have been sourced from our everyday lives; the common folks like you and me – there are stories of them and stories of us. The urban India is representative of everyone who is living here now.

Urban Shots – Crossroads is a must read for all those who have a fondness for good short stories. It is not easy to pick a best story here as we have different writers with different themes. The book engages readers and the stories have a soul to them.