Not easy to cut a story short!

Just finished reading ‘The Plot Thickens’. It is a collection of short stories by 11 mystery and suspense writers. Not a great read though! Except for one or two stories, the rest are average.

I have come to fascinate short stories only in the last few years. The more short stories I read, the more I realize why it is such a specialized art form. It can’t be too long, it can’t have too much of a monologue, it can’t have too many characters or too many events, it has to be going somewhere (more continuously than a novel) and most importantly (to me at least), it should have a brilliant twist in the end!

In my teens, I thought writing poems needed most skills when it came to writing; prose came easier. Then, over the years, the more I read, I realized writing non-fiction was easier than writing fiction novels. Now, I think writing fiction short stories is the toughest!

I think good novels and good short stories are like good meals and good desserts respectively. You can have enough of a good meal; you can never have enough of a good dessert!

Train of thoughts!

Taking a local train in Mumbai can be fun; if you travel only on weekends and at non-peak hours. Last Saturday, the travel house in my horoscope was very active and one certain journey in the evening was particularly enjoyable.

I boarded the train from one of the western suburbs to go to Dadar. This must be about 6:15 pm. I got a place to sit and in the opposite bench, a young, decent looking gentleman took seat. He looked like one of those insurance company sales agents. No sooner was he settled, he took out his flashy mobile and started viewing a video of a Hindi movie song at a loud volume. The song wasn’t all too great and coming through his not-so-great speakers, it was nothing short of screeching sound. Why the hell he didn’t use a headphone? Sometimes, in this great city, I have seen people so oblivious of their surroundings, it is unbelievable. Over the past few years, I have come to believe that civic sense is drastically going down in this city. [This is a topic by itself. Will talk about it some other time.]

The train was reaching Dadar and almost everyone was getting down. The passage near the door was so crowded, I was standing in the aisle between the benches. (How can anyone call them seats?) The person behind me had a shoulder bag. However, he still tried to move himself and his shoulder bag encouraging someone to take the place he vacated. And then with the typical nonchalance of a Mumbaikar said what is probably the most used line in the trains and buses of Mumbai; “Thoda sa to adjust karna padta hai na.” What gives this man this spirit after traveling for about 40 minutes with luggage in a reasonably crowded train?

Getting down at Dadar was another experience. In Mumbai trains, you just stand in the rush and they make sure you get down where you want. It is a free-flowing, zero-gravity ride wherein before you realize that you are moving, you are not only out of the train but also a few yards away from it. I got out like that and then found that the staircase was really packed. Of course, people were moving at a steady pace but you couldn’t help nudging an elbow here and there. I joined the mayhem and mid-way through the stairs, someone yelled; “Chalo Bhai”. Such shouts are meant to ask people to move faster. Now, the stairs were packed and everyone was moving as fast as possible. How can anyone move faster? The same yell again. By this time, I had almost reached the end of the stairs. Just then, I heard the same voice murmur, “Yahan chillao to sab fatafat chalte hain.” [People move faster here if you yell.]. Nobody had really cared for his yells. In fact, even if they had cared, they couldn’t have moved faster. This fellow probably felt people were moving because of his yells. Some illusions people live in!

I think if I traveled in the Mumbai trains with an open eye, I would have enough material to write a book. (Someone might already have; you never know!). I was looking for something to write on this blog and this journey gave me exactly that. I am not a professional writer but to all those who are, here’s a piece of advice: If you ever hit a writer’s block, you can give Mumbai trains a try!

Back to Routine!

The festive season is long gone. Life is back to routine. Work is picking up. Writing hasn't picked me up this new year so far and hence no recent posts!

Meanwhile, a couplet from Mirza Ghalib; He has written it in different context but this is exactly how I feel after getting back to routine!

"phir usii bevafaa pe marate hain,
phir vahii zindagii hamaarii hai "

Bye, till something worth writing picks me up!