Observant storyteller

With his short fiction being republished recently, well-known poet and author Keki Daruwalla looks back on his literary career.

In his simple sentences you discern life's depths. In his humdrum world you come across people with stories quite special, their moments worthy of being wrapped in muslin.

Well-known poet-writer Keki N. Daruwalla's short stories are of everyday life. A quirk of a character, a sudden twist in routine life, a twirl of chance or crumbs of a tailing past... some sourced from real life, some the products of his imagination are triggers that shape his tales set in a style quite distant from what a short story looks like today.

Distinct sub-text

Daruwalla's stories also almost always come with a distinct subtext to modern history. Blending the general with the individual in a seamless manner, this retired IPS officer has succeeded in giving readers a pleasing literary experience over the years.

Take for instance, his 1979 short story, Love across the Salt Desert. Generations fed on NCERT books have read and remembered this extraordinary story of a young, unlettered couple who defy man-made borders. Hinging on the universal idea of the quest of a lover's heart, the story has travelled the times with ease.

Full report here Hindu