The smell of wood fire permeates through this collection of short stories as does an earthy flavour reminiscent of food cooked with love and heightened emotions. Author Bulbul Sharma is a familiar name, having delighted many a reader with her mountain tales and hauntingly beautiful illustrations. She now returns with
Eating Women, Telling Tales, a collection of nine insightful stories.
Set mainly in small-town surroundings, the stories transport the reader to a land criss-crossed with myths, superstitions, convoluted relationships and gender politics. Death stalks constantly in these stories which are diverse and engaging, spreading across the entire spectrum of emotions ranging from the chilling to the ludicrous. Thus, we learn about the goat that narrowly escaped being sacrificed, female spirits and their celestial squabbles, the breaking in of a wilful young bride, the feisty woman who thought nothing of leaping across the terrace wall to spend the night with the neighbour.
There is a charming unhurried air to the pace of the stories as the author weaves a vivid world of sights, sounds and aromas. Sharma is at her best when describing vegetables, flowers and silent gardens dreaming on in the shade of old trees and equally evocative are the pictures conjured of smoke-filled homely kitchens where a whole lot of things besides food keep simmering.
Full report
here Asian Age
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