Book Review: Tall Tales and Short Stories, edited by Nimi Kurian, Nina Varghese and Theresa Varghese

 

South India usually conjures up images of lush tropical forests, humidity and warm beaches with golden sands. Hill stations like Ooty, Kodaikanal, Yercaud and Munnar are anomalies that stand out like silent, truculent rebels in the humid peninsula, their misty heights giving them the ability to cock a snook at the plains below them. Of these, Ooty is known as the "Queen of Hill Stations." Situated in the Nilgiri Hills at 2,240 meters, Ooty features the UNESCO-listed Nilgiri Mountain Railway, Ooty Lake, Botanical Gardens, Doddabetta Peak, and sprawling tea estates.  Coonoor (also spelled Kunnur) is the other principal town of the Nilgiris and lies about 19 km from Ooty on the road and rail line toward Coimbatore. Its elevation is lower than Ooty’s, at around 1,850 m (6,070 ft). A lot less crowded, and consequently much cleaner than Ooty, Coonoor’s residents believe they have the better bargain.

From out of Coonoor has come ‘Tall Tales and Short Stories’, a collection of stories by a bunch of people who are members of the Coonoor Book Club. There are eighteen stories and a few of the authors have penned two stories each.

I bought Tall Tales through Amazon in June, but couldn’t find the time to read it till now. My loss. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. Each of the stories is different, even those written by the same author, and I was reminded of a flight of different wines, some simple and rustic, a couple of them sparkling wines from Champagne or Asti, some light, some fruity, some heavy and a few port wines, sweet with very high alcohol content.

Many of the stories are crime stories or mystery stories. Between Hands, by Sridhar Doss, is one of the best of these. A crime is being planned by two men at the Coonoor Club, who talk using Bridge terminology. Unfortunately for them, the detective on their tail is also a bridge enthusiast. Not only will Between Hands keep you engrossed, it may also make you want to take up Bridge.

Single shot, by Theresa Varghese starts off like a simple, feel-good story. Three retired couples, Susan & Philip, Dippy and Mini, KP and Janini and Sandy (who is single), seem to be leading happy lives in the Nilgiris. The annual Christmas party hosted by Susan and Philip at Cherryvale is coming up. Enter Zara, svelte, good-looking, Sandy’s date. All men are besotted, including Dippy. Dippy’s wife Mini resolves the problem in her own way, which is rather unexpected.

Editor Nina Varghese has two stories, both of which involve crime. In Catching up, Thomas Cherian, a retired spook, deftly deals with a blackmailer. Later, when his task is complete, as Thomas Cherian stepped out onto the Verandah, the sweet, ‘half English, Neilgherry air’ wrapped itself around him, even as ‘Tall Tales and Short Stories’ wrapped itself around me.  In Nina Varghese’s second story, Not for the fainthearted, there’s a break-in at Bombay House, apparently a simple burglary which soon attains national importance since the famed Baroda Emeralds are in play. The Superintendent of Police is Craig Donaldson who rides a red Royal Enfield.  Nina wields humour with craft as Selvam, a common, but famous thief tears up on being questioned by the police since ‘what happened to me should not happen to anyone, especially a self-respecting thief like me.’

Some of the stories in this collection are subtle investigations into personality and character. The first story in Tall Tales,   Downfall, by Frances Darwin has rich and ageing Anita trying to cut down the tall trees in her yard, which is actually more like a forest. Why does Anita want the trees to be cut down? Frances gives us a vague idea of an old nightmare that plagues Anita and makes her want the trees to be cut down, for which she needs the permission of the forest department. Anita tries bribing the young and handsome DFO, who is unfortunately honest. Frances presents her readers with stark visual images and Anita’s nightmare grips the reader from the beginning, as Anita’s sweat drips off the pages. At the end, the trees stand strong and supple, swaying in the wind, cocking a snook at Anita and the nightmare continues.

In Daksha Bhat’s Door Days, a mountain house is built by folks who live far away, with remote supervision. Everything is customised to the liking of the owners, but the contractor won’t agree to the owner’s demand for a simple, ‘readymade’ door. Finally, the contractor has his way. After the owners move into their dream house, they find many things wrong with the house, as is usually the case, ‘but none of the things that went wrong in the house were as wrong as the front door.’

Editor Theresa Varghese’s Tea for One places Revathi’s life under a microscope. Brought up in Thiruvallur, Revathi works in Chennai as a teacher, until she marries the manager of a large tea estate in the Nilgiris. Life changes since her husband is an exacting person, one who wanted everything just-so. So, Revathi’s life does not improve after marriage, though she has a number of servants at her beck and call. Revathi grows to love the mountains, but struggles through life, until she gets back control of her life. How does she get her life back under her control? Please read this extremely well-narrated story, which runs to 14 small pages, to find out for yourself.

Chaiya, Chaiya, by Stanley Varghese could be a developed into a movie, provided one has a time machine and can go back by around forty years.  Set in 1985, Rahul, a bank employee in Madras marries Rajani, a girl working in the Accountant general’s office. Is Rajani an accountant? We don’t know. She probably is, since Stanley Varghese tells us that both spouses were practical people with practical jobs. Isn’t an accountant the most practical person in the world? However, the practical couple with practical jobs face the expected practical pressure to have children. Rajani, being very practical, is worried that her mother-in-law would convince Rahul to divorce her and marry again. She is very upset, but a friend convinces her to consult a gynaecologist who tells her that she is fine. Rahul is good to her, but her mother-in-law makes her life miserable. Finally Rahul decides to take the family on vacation, to Coonoor, where he had spent his childhood. Since this is 1985, it is taken for granted that the parents who are making Rajani’s life miserable will go with them. Can the trip to the Nilgiris solve Rajani’s problems and give her back her peace of mind? Please read the story to find out for yourself.  The story has a sting at the end.

Ram Kumar’s Horse with no name, is a study in kindness and humanity. A decent human being takes in a homeless horse and shelters it. Unexpectedly, the benefactor becomes the “benefitted”, what seems to be a simple tale of kindness delivers the reader a kick with its hind legs.

Missy Ma, by Shernaz Sethna, is almost on the same lines as Ram Kumar’s tale about the homeless horse.  A Parsi girl brought up in Nagpur marries into a Parsi household living in the Nilgiris. West Croft is palatial, a colonial era building with a beautiful garden. Devdas is the cook cum butler and the de facto lord of West Croft. When he is told that Missy is a good cook and that he would have to take instructions from her, he is not too pleased. Does Missy get along with Devdas? I assure you that at the end, you will have a smile on your lips and reach for your phone to order some Parsi food using a food delivery app.

Editor Nimi Kurian has two stories and both are really, really good. Home at Last, is a ghost story. I don’t want to say anything more and give the story away. Nimi’s second story Coffee’s Ready, is set in an era of bell bottoms, ABBA on vinyl etc. when Richard Nixon is in the White House. In Coonoor, the colonial hangover continues. Mrs. Claire Williamson is hosting a dinner for a couple of friends visiting from London. The dinner is carefully arranged, four local couples are carefully invited and everyone lets their hair down and has a lot of fun, until one particular thing goes a bit awry.

A number of stories are not pure fiction, but combine descriptions of the Nilgiris with something else. In Cup of Strength, Rajesh Thomas tells us about Purnima Oraon, a widow from Jharkhand, eking out a livelihood at a tea estate in the Nilgiris, plucking tea leaves. Purnima has three kids and she works hard to look after them. Then fate deals her a cruel blow, but she recovers and continues working, plucking tea leaves, getting paid on the basis of the quantum plucked. When Rajesh ends the narration by saying ‘every sip will carry a little of her strength’, one is forced to offer Purnima a silent salute.

In Abode of the Gods, Anita Davaram gives us a detailed description of the Nilgiris, its flora and fauna. After Trek Tamil Nadu threw Devarbetta open to the public, Anita and four other women set out to climb Devarbetta. At its summit sits a tiny windswept temple, believed to be the abode of the deity Kwnttaihh, the presiding god of one of the largest Toda clans. Terrific view on top and there are more adventures on the return leg. Anita enthusiastically tells her readers that this is a trek no enthusiast should miss.

Stanley Varghese offers a peek into the secretive world of freemasons and how freemasonry came to the Nilgiris.  Author Stanley Varghese is a freemason and a proud one at that, as is evident from Journey of Discovery. 

Johnny John’s Nilgiris – Scapes and Scaped, is poetry and at first, seems to be just a lyrical description of the Nilgiris. Then Anil opens his eyes suddenly. It is 1977 and Anil is home for the weekend, after which, he has to go back to his hostel in the city, where hazing awaits him.

When the Tree Awakens, by Sridhar Doss, his second story in this collection, is not only very different from his first one, but also very different from the rest of the stories in this collection. There is Arumugam, a labourer with corded muscles, who works hard at the blue granite quarry on the outskirts of Kunjapanai. Munishwaran is the local deity to whom the workers and locals offered alcohol and bidis. Enter Annamalai, the overseer, who exploits the workers and cheats them of their fair wages, when he can. Arumugam is initially not too keen on making any offering to Munishwaran, but things change suddenly, in a manner that would make a Tollywood scriptwriter sit up in surprise. Written in vivid prose, When the Tree Awakens transports the reader to a different planet, where the value systems are very different.

Last but not least, there is Box Seat by Maya Sara Matthew, the last story in the collection. The writer (a fibre artist for whom repurposing and recycling are a way of life) spends all day on her balcony.  A table is set up on the deck with tools and materials of her current project. Dog food in a repurposed curd container.  The writer gets a ringside view every day to so many things going on. Tea pluckers arrive, put on their work clothes and get going. A gaur or two graze by. The mist comes and goes, with varying degrees of intensity. Maya’s ringside view is not very different from the ringside view that Tall Tales and Short Stories gives its readers of the Nilgiris.

I purchased Tall Tales and Short Stories from Amazon