Dangling Gandhi by Jayanthi Sankar

Author: Jayanthi Sankar

Publisher: Zero Degree Publishing

Price: ₹220

Pages: 154

Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Book Review by P. Muralidharan

Be it the backdrop of Singapore or any hill station in India, we traverse through Jayanthi Sankar’s 12 short stories from contemporary life into the histories, cultural and political divides between classes and races reaching far beyond gently raising questions for readers to ponder opening on the new windows to the life and culture of various ethnicities of Asia. In the first reading of ‘Punkah Wallah, truly a Singaporean story, I was engrossed in the changing face of Singapore and the storyline as it is. The main characters unfolded only in the second reading, the two worlds of authority or the affluent vis a vis the oppressed or helpless folks were evident. I could identify myself with Herman, who symbolizes the affluent world. Herman and Mani’s maternal uncle are comfortable in their activities of exploitation. And the entire Indian society is deaf and dumb to the plight of widows. So many metaphors naturally fall into the narration.

Not just in the formats but also in the varied themes, the author in her ‘Dangling Gandhi’ artistically breaks the conventional trends of storytelling that often miss the nuances and depths of humanity and culture. The characters and their culture and the never-ending questions of human values are intricately woven in a wonderful narration. Through her interesting experiments of connecting characters and lives, the stories acquire their unique flavors. The author’s presence is absent in the stories themselves and creates a breeze like magic in the reading experience. She excels in capturing the cultural diversities of different eras and generations, finely weaving facts through them. Whenever this strength of hers that is unique compared to any contemporary writer, manifests to bring about a very wonderful reading. The author holds up a mirror shining the focus on different perspectives with not the slightest intent to tarnish but only to raise all the awareness in us, readers. With more than two threads ‘Peacock feather fan’ reminded me of Italo Calvino’s narrative style of fiction.

Can an Editor be ornamental to the office, never appearing, control the office? With an illusion, controls the middle-level posts, which in turn bite at the lower-level posts treated akin to roaches! How far can love towards pets be considered genuine love towards nature? Why do we have some conditioned mindset on these?  What’s the psychology behind it? A person’s love for pets and children is giving rise to several questions. Ecological balance also applies to the office just as any human community. The animal lover treats her children indifferently and relishes the meat of almost all animals. The big cat tiger gets shot because he attacks humans, whereas humans attack cats and eat animals. The aging population of Singapore represented by the lonely older woman, Aziza tends to think police can be called for mundane errands.

Author’s dedicated editing while crafting brings about a meticulous depiction that is appallingly sharp. Not a word is wasted as she paints her fiction ‘beyond borders,’ fascinatingly merging and beyond, stressing that the world, with its natural landscape, doesn’t belong to humans, but only the humans belong to the Earth.