Storywallah - Stories from everyday India ( Anthology)

I have been a fan of Nilesh Mishra's storytelling and stories from the beginning. And as an extension , I have liked his "mandali" too from the stories I have heard in FM, which were written by his mandali members.

With that expectation and memory I picked this book Storywallah. And it was a little disappointing. The depth and the details that one associates with short stories is some what lacking in the stories of the book.

The book has a variety of emotions - friendship , love , loss , pride , sorrow and a little bit of society's thoughts and working shown using characters of the stories.  There are incidences that one will relate to , moments that you feel one with the person in the story but I can perhaps count those stories on my hand.

My favorite story is "the overcoat" where a girl discovers the meaning of true love through other's life. Another story I will remember for a long time is "The seal" but only for the father dialogues in that one. Another gem is "together" for me as that's about true friendship and having to love someone a second time over.

 This book failed to excite me most part or make me feel strongly for rest of character. I understood the emotion but there was nothing to bind me there. Perhaps the book would have been better in hindi language and it's the translation that has taken away the shine from these tales of every day India.

My rating - 3.5/5