A little laughter, a little pain

The English actor Peter Ustinov once described comedy as “simply a funny way of being serious.” It’s true. And it's extremely hard to do. So, in 2005, when the Web site Sulekha.com decided to invite humorous pieces from writers for a contest called India Smiles, they weren't sure about attracting many entries.

Turns out they did. 5000 of them.

Readers of the site short-listed 60, and a panel of judges narrowed it down to the best three. The winners got some prize money and, along with the others, have just been published in a book called, well, India Smiles.

And it really is all of India smiling. There's Manjul Bajaj (The Adult Mind), a freelance writer from Gurgaon; Madhulika Liddle (A Suitor for Saraswati), an Instructional Designer from New Delhi; Diptakirti Chaudhuri (24 Frames Per Second), an MBA holder from Mumbai; John P Matthew (Flirting in Short Messages), who works at a BPO outfit in Mumbai; Vinod Ganesh (Jingle Most of the Way), a software engineer from Chennai; Sunanda Mehta (Knot So Soon, My Dear), a journalist from Pune; Bijaya Ghosh (The Un-Blossomed Bud) who teaches pharmacy in Bangalore ' truly, a nationwide effort.

The stories themselves range from rants about desperate parents to problems faced by potential sons-in-law, to tales of young mothers, technology and, of course, tradition. A good way to start your day, really.

For weekends comes a far more interesting release from Penguin — Selected Short Stories by Mulk Raj Anand.

Anand (1905-2004) often complained to friends that his short stories were not given enough attention. Which is a valid complaint, considering his longer works of fiction ' Untouchable, Coolie, The Village, Across The Black Waters — were so memorable that they initiated a great deal more critical debate.

This volume brings together some of his most outstanding stories, each a portrait of sections of society he was most concerned about. The craft is obvious, as is the feeling of reaching out towards the underprivileged that occurs in so much of his more popular work.

An excellent introduction by Saros Cowasjee ' Professor Emeritus of the University of Regina in Canada ' helps place Mulk Raj Anand firmly among other Indian literary giants. And the stories speak for themselves.

– India Smiles (Winning entries from the Sulekha.com Humour Contest), Penguin Enterprise, Rs 195.
– Mulk Raj Anand, Selected Short Stories, Penguin India, Rs 250.