A superb collection of stories from a modern Indian master!
One of the most versatile and innovative among contemporary Tamil writers, Sundara Ramaswamy’s early stories, written between 1951 and 1966, focus on ordinary people leading ordinary lives and are full of gems by way of characterization: the policeman and the priest of the Nadi Krishna temple in ‘Prasadam’, and Varadan and Joswyn in ‘True Love’ remain unforgettable, in spite of their pedestrian lives. Written in the 1970s, clouded by the aftermath of the Bangladesh war and the Emergency, in the later stories—‘Intoxication’, ‘Waves’—the plots turn darker and more complex.
Surprising us with their twists and turns, raising uncomfortable questions, and yet touched by a fine sense of humour and humanity, the stories in this collection belong with the best in the genre.

Shortlisted for The Hindu Literary Prize!
A solitary economist drives from France to Sweden to try and redeem a tragedy; a boy fervently hopes his father will not miss his appearance in a school play; a painter on the way to Europe is about to board the wrong flight; a village boy leaves school for the bright lights of Bangalore; a man tries to stop time.

‘A delightful read’—The Hindu

The first woman Chief Justice of a High Court in India, the first woman Judge of the Delhi High Court, the first woman to top the Bar examinations in London: Leila Seth has led a full life. In this autobiography, Leila talks about its joyous as well as its difficult moments. Figuring prominently are her early years of homelessness and struggle, her straying into law while in England with her husband Premo, and later practising in Patna, Calcutta and Delhi; and her happy marriage of over fifty years, including the experience of bringing up three remarkable children: writer Vikram, Zen Buddhist dharmacharya Shantum and film-maker Aradhana.

Intertwining family life with professional, Leila movingly describes the years after her father’s premature death when as children they were obliged to live with friends. There are also delightful vignettes: Premo and her turning an old mansion into a splendid home in Patna, Vikram’s writing of the novel A Suitable Boy, Shantum’s ordination as a Buddhist teacher by Thich Nhat Hanh and Aradhana’s marriage to Peter, an Austrian diplomat, and work as art director on films like Earth and Water.

Intimate, intricate, charming and often amusing, On Balance presents a rich and heart-warming portrait of an exceptional woman, her family and her times.

This is a sequence of stories set in the restless swirl of a Bombay where dream-shuttles speed through the rain and men fall prey to dirty love. Reeking of sewers, fish markets, slaughtered meat, and peopled with loners, misfits and drifters, these tales prise open the surface of everyday existence. We encounter a mother inexplicably estranged from her infant son, an Insectboy with a gift for fantasy, Night Rat Killers who prowl through the dark depths of the metropolis, and umbrellas that find refuge in their very own heaven.

Gritty and surreal, tender and terrifying, these stories, together with the chorus of voices running through them, convey the energy and ennui that lie at the secret heart of modern urban life.