Vengeance- A sting in every tale. (A WRIMO India anthology)

At the onset, I’d like to thank Neelesh Inamdar- a contributing author in the anthology, ‘Vengeance’- for giving me an opportunity to read it and review it on my blog.

Confession- Not being a fan of anthologies, this was only the second one I got down to read; and I didn’t much enjoy the first. Having said that, Vengeance came as a surprise and a pleasant one at that. One of the reasons I can think of is that each story is bound around a common theme of revenge and vengeance (but then, you had already guessed that, didn’t you?)

I would not be doing justice to the book, if I don’t talk about each story separately. So, here goes:

1)      ‘The beautiful ratio’, by Shweta Rao Garg:

I liked her choice of words and her use of Syntax. What also stands out is her keen observation of the real life around; right from the weirdly spelled local sign boards (Manchuri rais and Oneon Garlik), to the cinematographic description of a middle class Muslim neighborhood, to the logic behind 1:1.6. The story flowed effortlessly.

2)      ‘The murder of a dying man’, by Archana Sarat:

Once again, the story flowed pretty well. I liked that Archana has managed to keep it short (the quintessential for an anthology), crisp, and sharp.

3)      ‘That which does not kill you’, by Neil D’Silva:

Neil has portrayed some really deep and relatable emotions, quite so well in the story. What I liked the most- as was expected of him- was the almost unsuspected end.

4)      ‘I will teach you yet, America’, by Balakrishnan Rajamani:

I sincerely hope Mr. Rajamani intended to give the story a humorous touch, because I found a dormant funny side to it (mind you, this is neither a bad nor an easy feat to achieve). I liked the way he has handled the schizophrenia issue.

5)      ‘Karmic Vengeance’, by Shail Raghuvanshi:

A man dumped by his lover, takes revenge by enticing and ditching other woman. Enter the old flame in a new avatar, while this dumped woman sets out to avenge her life. As confused and twisted the plot sounds, the writer has somehow managed to streamline the events and present us a story worth a read. Kudos, Shail Raghuvanshi!

6)      ‘The Sting’, by Sini Mathew:

This one is a good example, of how a simple enough story can be so told that the reader feels almost every sting and pain, both physical as well as figurative.

7)      ‘Priya-Praneshwari’, by Mahesh Ramani:

It takes a lot of courage and more than that, absolute control and command over the language, if you chose to write your story in First person, Present tense. Mahesh Ramani has managed to put forth a good, crisp and a sharp such story. If anything, I’d rather there somehow was an element of surprise in the end.

8)      ‘Liberated in love’, by Piorre Hart:

Engrossing, captivating, and brilliant; need I say more after these three adjectives for the story? Congratulations to the author (the ordinary Indian doctor)!

9)      ‘Song of the broken’, by Prashanth Srivatsa:

The writer has taken us to an extraordinary journey through a fictional, mythological world, and what a journey it was. Good going, Prashanth Srivatsa.

10)   ‘The music of death’, by Neelesh Inamdar:

Ghazals, Pakeezah, Meena Kumari, Kotha, Courtesans, Shehnaaz, Aftab… If these are a few words from the glossary, it can’t be too hard to imagine the whole musical world unfurling right in front of your eyes. For once, I was angry at the writer for writing a short story. As a reader, I wanted it to go one, and on. Throwing in a few lines from famous songs (Inhi logo ne le leenha dupatta mera) was a masterstroke. Thank you, Neelesh Inamdar!

11)   ‘It’s somewhere around you’, by Sreeja Harikrishnan:

One man taking vengeance on five people, who according to him were the culprits behind the death of a loved one; the story seems simple, yet the writer has presented it in an engrossing way that does well to keep the readers bound.

12)   ‘The singers’, by Destination Infinity:

The story reminded me of an old Hindi movie called ‘Abhiman’, albeit with a totally unsuspected end. That it was vengeance, is a completely different topic of discussion. I found it to be more like ‘sacrifice for love’. An excellent read, nevertheless.

13)   ‘The vengeful bride’, by Mamatha Kamireddy:

I can only thank the writer for treating a delicate issue, with the sensitivity it deserves. A brilliant story, with an apt ending.

14)   ‘The sneaky blogger’, by Sudha Nair:

A story of revenge, with all the central characters being kids; this story could easily have gone haywire or over the top. Congratulations to the writer though, for maintaining the balance and giving us a worth-reading one.

15)   ‘Shadows of the past’, by Pritesh Patil:

I would have been surprised (read disappointed), if in all the 21 writers there wasn’t a single one with an evident ‘Harry Potter’ influence. Magical community, the irregulars, the devourers, the beatmaster…this one has got all the elements needed for experiencing the world of Hogwart. Job well done, Pritesh Patil!

16)   ‘The game changers’, by Ruchi Singh:

They say, every writer has got a defined and evident style of writing; one that goes on to become their signature style. It looks like Ruchi Singh has found hers, quite early in her career. Movie starlet, a philandrist Producer, a typical high-society world of love, cheating, murder, and vengeance. The writer has once again proved to be a master of her art.

17)   ‘Alheims (Al-hey-imz)’, by Dola Basu Singh:

The relatable, interesting, quick and easy-read story besides, I appreciate the writer for taking us through a language class, teaching us a few words in languages like Icelandic, German, French etc.

18)   ‘The hunt’, by Debashis Deb:

Not many could have portrayed the world of Naxalites, the sensitive way Debashis Deb has done. I’m sure the story is backed by an extensive research.

19)   ‘Let there be no guilt’, by Smriti Verma:

PTSD and schizophrenia, two still-not-so-well-understood terms in India, and yet Ms. Verma has done full justice to the issues. Revolving around the psyche of soldiers in the line of duty, this story is a binder for sure.

20)   ‘Damned for eternity’, by Karthik L:

I had been longing to read a good futuristic, science fiction, just when this one came along. What can go wrong if the story has elements like Phase shifting, Humanoids, inter-dimensional Hovercrafts, and mutation? Not much evidently. Needless to say, I liked the story ab-initio.

21)   ‘Shattered melody’, by Sonia Rao:

If ever there was a story with a done-to-death plot of deceit by a philandering husband and silent revenge by the wife, and yet the reader’s pizza gets cold and the beer warm, it’s this one. But then again, did you expect anything less from the WRIMO India ML, Sonia Rao? She has not only lived up to the expectation, but has surpassed it with élan.

My Verdict:

All in all, ‘Vengeance’ is an excellent, not-to-be-missed anthology. Word of caution: once you start reading it, it’ll take a lot of determination to put it down before you reach the last page. So, finish off all your mundane daily chores, before grabbing a hot coffee (or a chilled beer, as the case may be) and settling down to read it. Enjoy!!!