The collection contains the author’s well-known stories Kumkumam Vithariya Vazhikal, Prakrithanaya Thottakkaran, Thimarpur, Maniyarayilninnu Odippoyavar. The story Maniyarayilninnu Odippoyavar is about a couple plotting to run away on their wedding day. It could be a dream, dreamt by both the bride and the groom, but that haunts them throughout their life. He leaves his wife for delivery after 7 months at her home and leaves for Delhi which is 2000 kms away. On reaching home he finds the sari lying on their bed, and remembers the dream dreamt together....

A closed door came to her memory. She realized the turmoil that was brewing in her mind, but hardly knew that it had started some time now. The flowers that were kept in a flower vase were hostile to her. She remembered the loneliness in the evenings when, after leaving all her friends waiting alone for the bus . Her heart swelled with a whimper, and in a moment she could not control her sobs. She kept her face down on the pillow and started sobbing violently. The soothing words of her father or mother’s question as to what happened did not help her. So great was her loss. (Kumkumam Vithariya Vazhikal)...

Stories: Kumkumam Vithariya Vazhikal Malakalude Sangeetham Prakrithanaya Thottakkaran Aswasam Thedi Thimarpur Eiswarathilekku Veendum Mattoru Thottakkaran Chumaril Chithramayimariya Achhan Yathra Parayathe Poyaval Kadalkkarayil Oru Pakshikkaran Maniyarayilninnu Odippoyavar...

Human relations interest the author. The intricacies of life, the struggle for existence are all raw material for him. The last story Aa Paattu Nirthu (Stop that Song) is about a 5 year old girl who has an HIV infection, and is being boycotted by the inmates of the flats in the building. A really sad story....

It was her 5th birthday. Waiting at the open door for her friends, who never came, she got tired and fell asleep. When her father came from office she was woken up. He took her in his arms and went to the decorated sitting room, where the birthday cake with her name inscribed on it was kept. The cone shaped caps she had bought for her friends to wear for the party were heaped on a table without any takers. The small carry home packets containing chocolates and balloons for the little guests lay slumbering on the table. He pulled a chair in front of the teapoy on which the cake was kept. The knife with a red ribbon tied on it was kept by the side of it. He took the knife and handed it over to Suji. Her mother Malathi switched on the tape recorder, and stood ready with the camera to click. The song Happy Birthday was heard from the tape recorder, like an obsolete message coming from a strange unknown world. Suji raised her head and asked her mother, ‘Mom, please stop that song.’ (Aa Paattu NIrthu...)...

Stories: Karutha Thambratti Kalikkalam Oru Onathinte Katha Ayalkkaran Avasanathe Whistle Parichunadanavatha Nadan Swapnam Choochiyum Inambichiyum Valiyoru Album Vaikiyodunna Vandikal Engine Viplavamundakkunnu Kunhimathu Chirichukodirikkunnu Kathayilekku Nadannupoya Stree Theevandi Kayariyittillatha Penkutti Mattoru Vathil Oru Pappakkadakkariyumayi Pranayathilaya Katha Aa Paattu Nirthu....

Five year old Gabe runs away from home. While in the forest he meets Lep and Elita and climbs a rainbow. On Top of the Rainbow he must make the decision to cross over to a land of delight or go back to his family that he loves. Come and visit with Gabe, Lep and Elita as they discover the importance of family love....

This book is about a cow that is a spy and has to save the world.

Story of an orphanage for girls, their miserable life under a warden. Finally the Church realize their folly and appoints a new warden, who is young and energetic. The reforms he made changed the atmosphere so drastically that the countenance of the inmates changes. The Church is happy with him, but then the new warden has his share of problems and the priest helps him solve it....

They were playing jigsaw puzzle, and finally it was Jisy’s turn, and when she picked up the last piece, Shijo said. No Jisy, wait.’ Jisy looked at him puzzled. He said. ‘The picture is already complete now?’ ‘No.......?’ looking at the picture she said, ‘the middle of the roof is blank.’ ‘What does it mean?’ Shijo asked. No one answered. Shijo continued. ‘See the building will be complete only if all our pieces are put together and kept in place. Similarly our home will only be complete if all of us are together. If any of us is missing, that gap will remain forever. Do you understand?’ The children nodded solemnly. ‘Now Jisy please complete the picture.’ Jisy kept the piece she was holding in its place. Turning back her eyes were filled. Everyone clapped in applause. ‘We all will remember this game for ever, won’t you?’ ‘Yes, Sir....’ Everyone said in a chorus....

The story Vrishabhathinte Kannu is about an accident in which a four year old boy gets killed together with his paternal uncle. The story centers around the sub-tenant of one of the flats in the building, who was so friendly with the child. He is moved by the incident, and decides to go to the hospital to see the child. It is the traumatic experience of this man the story is about. ...

Behind him was the security guard of the morgue, and still farther behind in the dark cold room were the cold bodies wrapped up in white linen. He remembered what Hiren Mehta had said, and what Mehta’s son had said. Beyond the eyes of the evil planets, fatalist beliefs, and lives predetermined in a four dimensional field of the world, he saw the indefinable, and unforeseeable, but definite death. Back in the building he was climbing the staircase, and when he reached the second floor he saw Aditya’s house still locked. On the latch of the door was kept a packet of flowers. He wondered where have they all gone. They might have gone to her husband’s home. They might come only after a few days. The flowers will remain there until they come back. After all, what is the relation between flowers and death? (Vrishabhathinte Kannu)...

Stories: Meghangal Panjikkettukalpole Vrishabhathinte Kannu Komali Roopam Nashtappetta Mrigangal Bheeru Oru Nashtakkari Ayalkkari

The story Amme Avar Nammude Akaasam Katteduthu is about women laborers, who over the past few decades were being phased out of work, mainly by automation, and then by influx of cheap labor from neighboring states. In this story the houses where women from the colony across the road works as household help, are being razed to the ground to give way to four colossal multistory buildings. The women lose their job and find life hard going, especially when their drunkard husbands do not help them, instead try to fleece them. They are pinned to the wall, and naturally finds way for a living, which is not very desirable, but unavoidable....

Making sure that Arun doesn’t hear her, Jyothi asked Mathu. ‘Your husband does not come any more, eh?’ ‘No,....’ She said with visible comfort. ‘I wish he does not turn up any more. What about your husband?’ ‘He came last month, and then I said I am jobless and that I need money. He went back immediately and never again turned up. I never said I got a job in the building work.' (Amme, Avar Nammude Akasam Katteduthu)...

Stories: Vellithirayilennapole Lavanya Kelan Oru Chocolate Viplavam Kalathinte Adayatha Vathilukal Stree, Avasanarangathil Mathram.... Oru Santhushta Kudumbam Sreeparvathi Iniyum Maduthittillatha Oru Samakalika Katha Daivathinte Swapnangal Amme Avar Nammude Akasam Katteduthu Kurey Chithrangalulla Oru Rathri, Athil Oru...... Ee Nirathil Thavalangalilla Oru Nalu Vayassukarante Prasnangal...

This anthology of short stories won the Nalappadan Award (instituted after the famous poet Nalappat Narayana Menon) in 1998. The story Alakkuyanthram is about the plight of child labor in India. A ten year old girl is forced to do menial job in a wealthy house because her mother falls ill. It is about her interaction with the 4 year old daughter of her mistress. One day she takes the little girl to her shabby looking hut much to the chagrin of the little girl. She faces reality hereto unimaginable in her wealthy surroundings....

‘How come you didn’t get even a single order?’ John Mathew could not get it. ‘You say you have visited 10 - 15 houses, and yet no order. You have gone to a wealthy area. Venu closed his eyes without having to utter a word. And slowly he drifted into a slumber. In sleep, he saw dark skinny children with small chests and big unhealthy belly. In front of them poverty was strewn around like dirt in carpet of affluence, and he with his machine with unlimited capabilities sweeps the poverty and the children become handsome and pretty. Watching the smile on his sleeping friend, John Mathew became thoughtful. (Aparasadhyathakalulla Oru Yanthram)...

Stories: Pazhayoru Bheeshanikkari Sookshichuvacha Mayilpeeli Sultante Makal Aaro Oraal Pinnil Alakkuyanthram Oru Tapdancer Amma Valeduthavan Bhagyathinte Vazhikal Theeppettikkollithumbile Jeevitham Oditta Oru Cheriya Veedu Oru Urula choru Nair Magnanimity Aparasadhyathakalulla Oru Yanthram Kallichedi...

Dr. Gourami’s Hospital is a delivery ward for fishes. The story deals with a motherless child of five and his sorrowing father, both of whom finds solace in the aquarium. The new born babies that swim in the tank give cue to Biju about his own mother who left him couple of years ago. The Sunflowers is the story of a boy who was destined to toil at the age of 17 in a far away city, i.e. Calcutta. He supports his mother as well as the family of her brother too. Though unwilling Dasan finally finds his sacrifice most rewarding, as he finds a garden of sunflowers in a mountain valley he saw on his way home....

After taking bath he got dressed up fast. Renu announced breakfast. He went to call his son Viju. He was standing in front of the aquarium, the same way he left him when he went to the bathroom. ‘What happened Viju?’ He asked. He didn’t say anything. He was just watching the newborn fish babies. He was thoughtful. Finally he asked: ‘Dad do these fish babies really get the smell of their mother in the water?’ ‘Yes dear, all living beings are like that. Children can recognize the smell of their mother.’ Suddenly he stopped. He saw Viju’s face darkening and his eyes becoming watery. He was incapable of wiping those tears or soothing the boy with words of solace; he just hugged him. His eyes were also filling. Then in between sobs, Viju said. ‘Dad, let’s not change this house. We will continue here only.’ (Dr. Gouramiyude Asupathri)...

Stories: Gouramiyude Asupathri Sooryakantipookkal Kattikombu Cheppadikkaranum Njanum Canadayilninnoru Rajakumari Oru Viswasi Puthiyoru Velipadinuvendi Muzhumikkatha Yathra Nagaram...

There is no good war. All war is hideous. munir is a novel about Baghdad under Occupation. It is a story detailing the tragic intersection of intelligence personnel, militants, and Iraqi millennials....

“Ah!” Majid exclaimed, realizing where they were. Spying their favorite nook in the city, Majid approached the cozy concrete to kick back. Munir had noticed this quotidian wonder many years ago when he was working part-time as a delivery boy. One ‘precision’ strike in 1991, courtesy of a 35-year-old B-52 bomber, had taken out a homeless shelter. The blast had also carved the ideal reading nook out of an adjacent wall. The shelter was eventually rebuilt, but the wall remained damaged and crumbling....

science fiction at its finest

a voyage of epic proportions

Ya just gotta read it to get it

Beware of train riding hobos

The best description is Have a look see

Three Tales To Thrill You By Donald Harry Roberts

The story Pachhappayyine Pidikkan (To Catch a Grasshopper) won the Padmarajan Award in 1997. Padmarajan was a well-known film director and film maker. The story is about a five year old girl who goes out to catch a grasshopper on her elder sister’s wedding day. The situation in the family is so desperate that the girl thinks she should do something to have more money. There is a belief that if a grasshopper enters your house, it brings wealth also....

The impatient horn of the car was heard outside. She said, ‘Raju I never expected all these.’ She took her suitcase and walked to the door. She kept the suitcase on the floor and turned to Rajasekharan. He was standing motionless. She went to him. ‘Are you sad ?’ Again the car horn was heard and he did not say anything. ‘They’re calling, shall I go?’ She went through the door, and stood for a moment holding the door; then taking out a key from her hand bag said. ‘This key........’ She stopped abruptly. That key for her was a private property. She has never felt it that way before. The quarters allotted to her in the hotels never gave her this intimate feeling. There is intimacy, privacy and solace in this key. ‘This key.......’ she asked, ‘shall I keep this with me? Whenever I feel extremely unhappy and sad I might need this.’ (Santhwanathinte Thakkol)...

Stories: Nishaadam Ammu Paranja Katha Ettavum Mahathaya Kazhcha Asramam Urangukayanu Moolode Urappikkunnathile Vishamangal Desatanakkilipole Aval Oru Thanutha Kattayi Avan Pachhappayyine Pidikkan Veruthe Vanna Oral Santhwanathinte Thakkol Arunthathiyude Painikili Kavithakal...

The story Koorakal is about a middle class family. A wife, husband and two children. The unwilling wife is forced to terminate her third pregnancy much to her wishes, since their financial background does not allow them to have one more child. She is in a dilemma, and finally had to give in....

It’s the conscience that troubles me, she thought. I now have a guilty conscience. But it has got to be done. There is no other go. These days you have to live, and live happily too, for which, at least, you have to pay a deaf ear to this beat of the wings. You will be happy tomorrow when memory of this nightmare ceases to haunt you. We should bring our children back, she thought. I am missing them very much. Fifteen days seemed longer, and I can’t stand this solitude any more. I should have them around me. .........She overslept, and when woke up sunray crept into the room. On the floor she saw the dead cockroaches, hundreds of them lying on their back. She thought of the crumbled leaves which fall dry in the cold winter mornings from trees in her native home, and of her mother who passed away years back, and of her children, and of the tiny particle of life brewing in her womb, which was deprived of its right to exist, and she was sad. (Koorakal)...

Stories: Koorakal Unakkamarangal Parunthukal Vattomchuttumbol Sisiram Iruttilude Mazhayulla Oru Rathriyil Kariyaduppu Iruttinte Makal Madhuvidhu Njan Ninnil Ninakkuvendi Vellakkuthirayude Rajakumaran Daivam Jnjaniyavunnu...