Extraordinarily Ordinary

This collection of sixteen short stories 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 its 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 candour 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. It is a must read for all those people who have had these simple experiences in the process of their life's pilgrimage. -Mrs. Kasturi Kanthan, Former Associate Professor, Department of English, Lady Sri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi