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Time to let your mind go asunder!

Kafka in Ayodhya and other stories (2015, 2018)
Author: Zafar Anjum

Perhaps not many would appreciate the significance of the illustration of the insect to the title of this book. Of course, it is related to Franz Kafka's 1915 original novella 'Metamorphosis' where the protagonist transforms into a beetle-like insect overnight. It is a strange tale with many concealed messages and has been hailed one of the most fabulous fictions of the 20th century. It questions the purpose of our existence and our relationship with the people around us.

This potpourri of short stories immerses our thoughts into the daily lives of the characters in their contemporary Asian lives. From a journalist, Herr Kafka, who turns up around the time of the court's announcement of Ayodhya's 'Ram Mandhir- Babri Masjid' legal wrangle to a name-dropping self-proclaimed broke 'writer', there many more chronicles in this book to let your mind to go wild.

Another interesting short story is the tale of a grumpy salary earner as he goes through his routine of getting ready for work. He discovers that a rat is menacing his household. Unknown to him, the rat also has other plans. One more is a sad tale about a lonely and grouchy mother who is left behind to fend for herself as her adopted-daughter and her son stays overseas. There is also a dark tale of a soon-to-be-married Hanuman devotee who suffers from erectile dysfunction. Imagine the words that you write revolt against the writer for scripting them in a bad light.
Two other narrations bring experiences outside India. A sister cannot accept the death of her brother after being gunned down by an Israeli soldier. The grand finale tells about an Indian businessman who comes to Singapore for a weekend rendezvous ends up heartbroken as his confession of love to an immigrant social escort is rejected!

An excellent and easy read. In this world where communicating with fellow human beings becomes increasingly more difficult where political correctness and care not to offend has reached absurd levels, fictions remain a safe, harmless outlet. One can create his own world where his heroes can comprise of himself and the people he likes, and the evil demons can be all the annoying species that he meets in his worldly life!

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