Word Wrestlers: time to write - UBC Creative Writing Camp, Vancouver, Canada

Last year was terrific. This year promises to be even better! Register for the Word Wrestlers creative writing camp today and we promise it will be LOT of fun! :) Visit www.wordwrestlers.com to learn more about the camp and to join. It's #timetowrite!
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Chicken Soup for the Indian Soul: On Friendship

Have one of my pieces published in the recently released Chicken Soup for the Indian Soul: On Friendship, and very, very excited. Below is an excerpt of my piece from the book:



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The first night in my new home, I couldn’t sleep and kept tossing and turning in the bed. I suddenly felt like a child who’d been snatched from the loving arms of his mother and sent to live with grouchy relatives.

The initial months were the hardest. I had no friends and no job. My housemates, all Australians, wouldn’t include me in any of their plans, proving to be exactly like I’d pictured them to be: boorish and stuck-up. They would invite their friends over and have dinner parties, while I’d quietly sit in my room with a bowl of Maggi noodles (one of the thing that was within my budget). No job meant no money to dine at a nice restaurant, or indulge in chocolates, or even a pint of beer (or anything I could do without). I was depressed and would often cry pressing my face against the pillow. I wanted to go home.

To stop feeling sorry for myself I’d take long walks. On one such evening, I saw a group of pigeons pecking at grains strewn around by passersby. Grays and whites, all cooped up in one corner and then, there was a brown one, on its own – much like myself, I thought. It reminded me of the way I had lunch at the University – sitting alone on one of the vacant benches, looking at others who always seemed to have someone to talk to. I bought a pack of popcorn and spilled it http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifin front of the bird. At once, the other birds swooped in, sidelining the brown one again. I stood there awhile wondering whether it too came from India and lost its way.

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You can buy your own copy here: http://tinyurl.com/3jnnxn2

What Happened to That Love: Book Review

Not for us the regular stands, we will only watch a cricket match in the VIP enclosure. Cattle class is for the herds, we travel business or first. Average is not an option when extraordinary is available as well.

When will this stop? When will this fascination with the remarkable take a turn towards the reality of our situations? When will we realize that we DO lead mundane lives? In fact, almost the same life as the person next to us.

Consider this. Playtime is supreme during childhood and late nights are a mysterious, out-of-reach goal. Then comes puberty and experimentations with our sexuality. And parents begin to turn dictators around this time. Closing the door of your bedroom can raise eyebrows quicker than a naked man on the road. College and university start knocking on that door very soon, setting the tone for future careers. Love happens in the middle of all this or after, and then marriage, kids and family life follow. Death, money troubles, divorce or disease – all make an appearance at some point. Peppering our mundane lives with a little flavor. In some lives, lessons are learnt. In others, they’re bypassed for the road more travelled.

One adjective remains constant, lurking in the shadows, ready to step into the light. Mundane never leaves.

Which is why, Kailash Srinivasan’s debut novel, What Happened to That Love, hits a chord somewhere. His collection of short stories is so commonplace that any of them could be your stories. Or mine. And he tells them too, in the most ordinary narrative.

In Anytime Now, an old couple on the brink of death clutches on to frail existence, each wanting to die before the other so that loneliness does not engulf them. Sounds familiar? How about the next story, Brownies? A man of Indian origin in Australia lives with racial prejudice and the threat of violence, wanting all the time to come back to his motherland. His turmoil and his helplessness at his situation play havoc in his own mind. Or the next – What Happened to That Love? Two people fall out of love and move on to other people. And are then struck with how fast they have been able to move on. Did they really love each other? What was their relationship about?

These are just three of the twelve tales that Srinivasan spins. With the delicate thread of life. His patterns are simple because their content is complicated enough. He doesn’t delve too far or get too creative, choosing instead a prosaic approach. He says things like they are. For instance, the protagonist of What Should I Do is a man whose ex-wife barges into his home and refuses to leave, terrorizing him and his second wife and children. He gets blamed and doesn’t know how to resolve the situation, because he loves both women. If we start counting how many real and reel life situations that have been based on that premise, we’d need several reams of paper!

Srinivasan’s other stories are similar – a village woman sells her body to feed her children when her husband is away working in the city; a couple sacrifice everything they have to educate their son and send him abroad to study and make a fine living, only to have him forget them soon after; a little girl faces physical abuse at the hands of her father; a young girl is so traumatized by her father abandoning her mother that she develops a psychological block against men, remaining a spinster all her life; a cruel and miserly village landlord organizes a feast for the villagers in order to overcome an illness, and then charges them heavy fines once he recovers; the stories go on.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

There are no frills anywhere, the stories are heart-wrenching enough on their own. Srinivasan’s simplistic and lucid writing becomes his biggest weapon. He stabs you with each word. Quick incisions that aren’t deep but draw blood. The saltiness of the warm liquid fills your senses, as you realize that these stories are nothing new, but their portrayal leaves you dizzy with reaction. Hurting not just for the characters in them, but for yourself. Their mundane-ness is familiar, and you suddenly realize why you run towards the different, the exotic, the special.

It is the mundane that wrenches your gut, churns your soul. Maybe that’s why, you and I want no part of it. Absolutely none.

SOURCE: http://blog.uprack.com/

What Happened to That Love Review

by Adeena Jamal Ahmad on Jul 8, 2011

what happened love Review: What Happened to That Love? by Kailash Srinivasan
Price: Rs 125
Publication: Pustak Mahal

Verdict: Srinivasan’s understanding of love has many shades and they’re evident in his debut collection of 12 short stories.

Rating: 3/5

Kailash Srinivasan, with his debut novel, has surely created ripples with a collection of twelve stories that pertain to Love. The preconceived notion about the book could be how it will probably deal with cheesy romantic sagas. But no, the book has interpreted a different meaning of love altogether. Srinivasan has seen the several aspects of the word love that has many shades to woo you.

The language of the book is light. No flamboyant writing to show off. Simple words that perhaps express the true meaning of emotions. The beauty of the book is that every short story has touched a different aspect of love. There is no deep psychology that one has to interpret. It just highlights little felt emotions that one feels everyday but doesn’t really realize. Srinivasan has taken a sarcastic look at certain situations, interpreting the irony in many of them.

The only point that might not appeal to a reader is the cover of the book. Keeping in sync with the emotions it deals, the cover could be a little more appealing. However, the page quality and print is fine.

The set up of the book is based alternatively in India and Australia. The stories are breezy. The USP of the book is that it is an easy read. There is no unnecessary stretching. Precise is the operative word.

For a debutant writer, Kailash Srinivasan has hit the bull’s eye. His brief stories have delivered the right emotion. It is a relief from the recent genre of books that fail to click with readers. This quick read will not disappoint you.

New Story in BluSlate Magazine

BluSlate Magazine, based in Pune, has published one of my short stories, titled, Is Umra Mein. The issue should be out in first week of February. Very Excited!!

Praise for the What Happened to That Love

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Review by ajay
the cover: brilliantly dark and intriguing.
the stories: deliciously dark. I am still smacking my lips. The synopsis and the cover is what got my attention. I am so, so glad I picked this up. Can't wait to read your second book.
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Wow. what beautiful writing.
Review by kala
I cried my eyes out after I read the first piece, Anytime Now. So moving, so nicely written. I love the way you write. Can't wait to read the other stories in the collection. ; )

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Review by swarita
engrossing...kept me hooked for as many dayz as it took to finish it..each story amazingly different n unpredictable. d only grumble- its a lil stark..a lil bleak. more happy endings plz!

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An excellent read!

Review by Gopi
A fantastic effort. Surprised to see a first time author display such maturity in handling complex themes. A must read and a must have for every short story aficionado.

What Happened To That Love? by Kailash Srinivasan, ISBN: 9788122311617 | Pustak Mahal

What Happened To That Love? by Kailash Srinivasan, ISBN: 9788122311617 | Pustak Mahal