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About This Book
Shanta Gokhale, award-winning writer, critic and translator, brings her sharp understanding of the human condition to this collection of her finest short fiction. Humorous, tragic, wise and honest, these stories will move the reader deeply. In the title story, an elderly man navigates his final days with his wife as she sinks deeper and deeper into forgetfulness, fading away with each day. With his love and his gentleness, he holds her close, recalling the early days of their relationship—of finding love for a lifetime. In ‘The Swimming Pool’, two women strike up a conversation on the Mumbai-Pune bus and in the minutiae of the story of one woman’s life, the other finds a way to move forward with hers. ‘Daybreak Over the Gandaki’ is a powerful examination of grief, and the torturous path to expiation. While ‘The Bhikbali’ is a charming tale of a couple finally finding the time and space in their tiny Mumbai room during the Covid lockdown to explore some generational anecdotes—and each other, ‘She Came to Stay’ is a delightful story of contemporary love and the creation of a modern composite family. A deep knowledge of, and a sympathy for the lives of ordinary women and men permeate every word of these stories. In each of them, Shanta Gokhale unpeels the layers till she reaches the very core of what makes us human— flawed, brave, foolish, brilliant.
About The Author
Shanta Gokhale Shanta Gokhale was born in Dahanu and brought up in Mumbai. She has worked as a lecturer in English at Elphinstone College and H.R. College of Commerce, as a sub-editor with Femina, as a P.R. Executive with Glaxo Laboratories and as arts editor with the Times of India. Gokhale has written two novels in Marathi, Rita Welinkar and Tya Varshi. Both won the Maharashtra State Award for the best novel of the year and have been translated by her into English. Her most recent book is her memoir, One Foot on the Ground. She has translated Smritichitre: The Memoirs of a Spirited Wife by Lakshmibai Tilak and the novel Kautik on Embers (Dhag) by Uddhav J. Shelke. Apart from these she has also translated plays by Vijay Tendulkar, Mahesh Elkunchwar, Satish Alekar, G.P. Deshpande, Premanand Gajvi and Makarand Sathe. She has also translated from English into Marathi the play Mister Behram by Gieve Patel and the novel Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto. She is the author of Playwright at the Centre: Marathi Drama from 1843 to the Present; and the editor of The Scenes We Made: An Oral History of Experimental Theatre in Mumbai, Satyadev Dubey: A Fifty-Year Journey Through Theatre and The Theatre of Veenapani Chawla: Theory, Practice and Performance. She has been a culture columnist with The Independent, The Sunday Times of India, Mid-Day and Mumbai Mirror. In 2016, she received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for her overall contribution to the performing arts. She has also received lifetime achievement awards from Thespo, Ooty Literary Festival and Tata Literature Live!.
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