Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from April, 2023

"The Remains of The Feast" by Githa Hariharan

 "Remains of the Feast" is a short story about a woman's relationship with her grandmother in the final days of her life. The narrator describes her grandmother's physical decline and the emotional toll of watching someone she loves suffer. The narrator describes the room of her great-grandmother Rukmini, who recently died at the age of 90. The room still carries the smell of her, but it's not the same overpowering smell that clung to everything during her final days. Rukmini had been in a nursing home for ten days before she died, with a cancerous lump in her neck that spread rapidly throughout her body. The narrator reflects on her relationship with Rukmini, who had survived her only son and daughter-in-law by ten years. Despite being a village-bred woman who signed papers with a thumbprint, she outlived her city-bred and ambitious descendants, which she found slightly hilarious. Rukmini had a sense of humor that was quaint, yet embarrassing at times, and would

"Unfaithful Servants" by Manjula Padmanabhan

 The story is set in India and revolves around the lives of domestic servants who work in a wealthy household. One day, the memsahib (lady of the house) receives a call from someone claiming to be a reporter, asking about the behavior of the servants. Suspicious of the call, the memsahib asks Ramu, one of the servants, to keep an eye on the other servants and report anything suspicious. Ramu starts to observe his colleagues and becomes suspicious of Munni, who he believes is not working diligently and is engaging in suspicious activities. Ramu decides to inform the memsahib about Munni's behavior, hoping to protect the other servants and their jobs. The memsahib listens to Ramu's concerns and investigates the situation. She discovers that Munni has been making anonymous calls to the memsahib, spreading rumors about the other servants and their work ethic. The memsahib confronts Munni and gives her a second chance, warning her that any further misconduct will not be tolerated. R

Kullark (Jack Davis)

 The play begins with two intertwined plots. The first plot is about Alec, a native Australian who struggles with his identity as a mixed-race person, and the second plot is about the history of colonization in Australia. The story of colonization begins with the British settlement in Australia, where they meet Yagan's parents and establish a colony near Swan River. Yagan is an aborigine who later becomes friends with Will, a white settler, but is threatened by another officer, Jenkin. As time passes, Will and his wife Alice discover that Yagan has killed two whites for killing his brother, and Yagan escapes from prison. The government offers a reward for anyone who catches Yagan, and he is eventually shot and killed by a young boy who pretends to befriend him. After colonization, interracial marriages between natives and settlers occur, resulting in half-aborigine children struggling to establish a single identity. In the second act, the story focuses on the life of Alec's fat