Logo image
  • BookDragon
  • About
  • The Blogger
  • Review Policy
  • Smithsonian APAC
 
46985
post-template-default,single,single-post,postid-46985,single-format-standard,stardust-core-1.1,stardust-child-theme-ver-1.0.0,stardust-theme-ver-3.1,ajax_updown_fade,page_not_loaded,smooth_scroll

BookDragon Blog

24 Jun / No Presents Please: Mumbai Stories by Jayant Kaikini, translated by Tejaswini Niranjana [in Booklist]

Seemingly quotidian lives centered in Mumbai fill Jayant Kaikini’s second translated collection, the first book in translation to win the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. These 16 stories, written from 1986 to 2006, were selected and translated by the award-winning Tejaswini Niranjana, who in her enhancing translator’s note writes of Kaikini’s “gentle narrative trick” of turning the “extremely ‘ordinary’ person or situation” into something “surreal.”

Standouts include “Inside the Inner Room,” about a man, his wife, his lover, and their unexpected re-pairings; “Dagadu Parab’s Wedding Horse,” in which a bridegroom on a rented horse gets dragged (rescued?) away to a whole different life; “Toofan Mail,” about a film stunt artist recalling childhood glimpses of her father throwing a package to her mother from a moving train before disappearing; and “Tick Tock Friend,” in which a hospital runs a television studio in its basement.

Most affecting are “A Pair of Spare Legs,” which portrays an incorrigible six-year-old, and the title story about young lovers in the midst of wedding plans. Intriguing, albeit somewhat uneven multi-culti fare for the internationally inclined.

Review: “Fiction,” Booklist, June 1, 2020

Readers: Adult

Published: 2020

By Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in Adult Readers, Fiction, Indian, Repost, Short Stories, South Asian, Translation Tags > Anthology/Collection, BookDragon, Booklist, Cultural exploration, Family, Friendship, Jayant Kaikini, Love, No Presents Please, Parent/child relationship, Tejaswini Niranjana
No Comment

Post a Comment
Cancel Reply

Smithsonian Institution
Asian Pacific American Center

Capital Gallery, Suite 7065
600 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20024

202.633.2691 | APAC@si.edu

Additional contact info

Mailing Address
Capital Gallery
Suite 7065, MRC: 516
P.O. Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012

Fax: 202.633.2699

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

SmithsonianAPA brings Asian Pacific American history, art, and culture to you through innovative museum experiences and digital initiatives.

About BookDragon

Welcome to BookDragon, filled with titles for the diverse reader. BookDragon is a new media initiative of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center (APAC), and serves as a forum for those interested in learning more about the Asian Pacific American experience through literature. BookDragon is inhabited by Terry Hong.

Learn More

Contact BookDragon

Please email us at SIBookDragon@gmail.com

Follow BookDragon!
  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Looking for Something Else …?

or