Note 27
Out of Print 27 is being released under extraordinary circumstances that have made Indira Chandrasekhar contemplate the miracle of the brain in articulating word, and the elegance of structured language.
The issue features five works.
In Tanuj Solanki’s ‘The Issue’, a young couple must confront a change, one that is an opportunity for her but that he, however, views with sadness because it will ‘unsettle their current life’. Narrated, skilfully, from both their perspectives, their thoughts weave in and out of the intimacy and aggression of a conversation that culminates in bizarre, unexpected, telling violence.
In contrast to the mutual dependence of ‘The Issue’ above, Natasha Gayari’s ‘Chennai Summer’ examines a skewed relationship. He wants to see her, pleads for her to visit, while, she is in a limbo that resists his love. Unable, or maybe reluctant to end it, unable to commit, she reasons about love.
Swapnil Bhatnagar’s story of a small vengeance, ‘The Fuse’ examines the rituals that can frame a marriage. It follows a couple who have been married for ten years. As his stomach gives in to stress, he turns from an eager young husband dashing home early from his job at the Burdwan Municipal Council to someone who falls asleep exhausted on the sofa. The snacks from the halwai shop downstairs are a measure of this evolution.
Neera Kashyap’s ‘Supplication’ delves into a woman’s desperate fear when she suspects she might be very ill. Driven by a vivid and mysterious dream, she seeks out the dargah of Mai Sahiba. The reader is drawn into the woman’s profound distress and complete and cathartic supplication at, what she must believe, is the saint’s healing strength.
A dog goes missing in Jason Zeitler’s ‘The Water’s Edge’. Set in beautiful Sri Lankan landscape near Yala National Park, the shadowy and macabre lurk in the air and darken the narrator’s imagination as the hunt for the missing animal goes on.
The art on the cover of Out of Print 27 is by Dhruvi Acharya.