Stories at my doorstep. Extraordinary moments in ordinary life by Deepti Paikray is just what it says in the title. A collection of 14 Essays and 7 Short Stories.
Reading them, you are repeatedly reminded that every moment of life is part of many intertwined stories. Sometimes you are the character and many times just an active or silent observer.
Deepti has picked a few of these salient moments and shared them with us, weaving a magical narrative around them.
‘Stories at my doorstep’ has 14 essays. However, to me, they are stories and observations. And the 7 short stories towards the end are simple and touching. They all have a clear theme or character around which the whole incident is woven.
WHAT I READ
Deepti scores with her very fluid writing. She purposefully allows the reader to get a visual reference. Her style transports the reader to ground zero of the narrative. And then the reader can pick a seat in the arena and be an observer.
She has the unique ability to create a mental movie for the reader. The reader knows the house, the street corner, the saree, the lake and even the garden. Where the reader gets a guided tour. Where they can navigate and know, how the character looks and how they feel. This unification and inclusiveness is part of most of her work. There the writer, the character and the reader exist in the same space across different time zones. That to me is the epitome of storytelling.
Most of the stories, essays and characters are borrowed from real life. They have a common personal outlook and way of life. There is nothing hurried in life in her stories.
Deepti is from Uttarakhand married into an Oriya family. My only grudge with her writing is there is a clear bias or skew towards Odisha primarily Bhuvneshwar and New Jersey where she lives. Seriously I expected a lot more moments and vignettes from the hills of Uttarakhand. They are there but the Pahaadi in me wants more.
NET NET
Personally, I loved the short story of ‘The Crow priest’ of Badri village, ‘The Pipal Tree’ and the ritual and ‘The call’ – which I could comfortably relate to. She places 14 essays in the book- and to me, they were different kinds of stories. I loved ‘A wedding and the Ghost’, ‘Mother’s from two states’ and ‘Chumki- my sweetheart’.
In her book Stories at my Doorsteps’, Deepti serves you an array of relatable real-life vignettes. She takes you along and helps you understand the urge and demands of life navigation with everyday small incidents. I do hope she continues writing and serve more such nuggets. GO ORDER IT HERE. INR 251. Pages 268.
DISCLAIMER. I know Deepti as one of the winners of PAHAADI– the short story contest for writers with roots in Uttarakhand. And I do hope that she does participate in this year’s contest PAHAADI-II– which will open for registration on 3rd June 2022. And Deepti sent me the book for reading.
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