Elvis and a bit of humour

Born in Kenya and raised in Tanzania, M G Vassanji’s work has been rather well-received in India. There was The Book of Secrets (1994), which won the inaugural Giller Prize, Amriika (1999) and The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, which won the Giller Prize in 2003 and was published here a year later.

He’s back, and with more stories described, by the publisher, as “a portrait of an increasingly modern condition, of lives caught in our swiftly changing, often contradictory world.”

The title comes from a story about Diamond, who meets his college friend Rusty after years. Haunted by the memory of his wife’s betrayal, Diamond finds himself trapped in Rusty’s world -' a shrine to Elvis. It is a strange kind of prison, until Diamond find helped from an unexpected source.

In the tale ‘The Expected One’, a young African-born Indian visits his ancestral village in drought-stricken Gujarat in search of a wife, and comes across an unexpected destiny instead. In ‘Is It Still October’, an insulted man lays bare an horrifying plan of revenge on the night of Halloween.

Good stuff, this.

– Elvis, Raja, stories, M G Vassanji, Penguin India, Rs 250.

From Chennai to Canada, author Srividya Natarajan has made sure her life is full of change. She teaches English, is interested in India's caste politics, has illustrated children's books, co-directed a documentary called Silambakoodam (2002), on the hereditary dance teachers of south India, and co-authored a book called Taking Charge of Our Bodies (Penguin India, 2004). She has also taught and performed classical dance for over 22 years in India and abroad.

With a history like this, it comes as no surprise that this lady has a few tales to tell. You can find them all in No Onions, Nor Garlic.

Amandeep, Murugesh, Rufus and Sundar are boys who talk dirty because it makes them feel like men. Like their worst nightmare come true, they are cast as fairies in a college professor's remake of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The farce that follows gradually takes over their lives. There are other interesting characters thrown in for good measure, along with dollops of humour at every turn.

This is what the publishers have to say: “Tailing the characters around this plot is an unseen but all-seeing spectator. You may never guess who that is, but will laugh all the way to the answer.”

– No Onions, Nor Garlic, Srividya Natarajan, Penguin India, Rs 295.