Real Time

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 4 FEB 2002

Small slices of life in Bombay and Calcutta, intensely observed and exquisitely described, characterize the stories in Chaudhuri's first collection, after the highly praised novels Freedom Song and A New World. These vignettes, rendered in minute, sensuous detail, rarely relate a dramatic event; rather, they illuminate a moment in time. It's a measure of this talented writer's skill that on the small scale of 16 stories he is able to conjure, with sunstruck clarity, the different qualities of these cities and their inhabitants. Most of the tales are set between the 1970s and the present day (with the exception of two based on the Ramayana), and the characters are generally upper-middle-class. Some are minor administrators, others are employees of British industries; most appear content to adopt British language and customs. The incongruity of grafting Western standards on an ancient culture is central to many of these tales, and in the title story and elsewhere, Chaudhuri subtly mourns the fading of tradition. In other stories, and in two autobiographical selections, the protagonist is a would-be writer, and it's clear that many of Chaudhuri's themes come from his pampered upbringing in Bombay. In the affecting "The Old Masters," the narrator realizes that the financial and social success his ambitious father had achieved for the sake of his family will be "leveled out" by a son who vows to make a living through literature. "The romance of literature," the quality of being "enveloped in contentment of reading," is summoned with both concrete detail and mystical yearning. One wishes, however, that some of the Indian terms and other references had been explained. For instance, David Davidar is mentioned but not identified, and it's unlikely that the average reader will know that he is India's most famous publisher.