A short -stories collection, “Every Sky is not blue”, portrays the trivial mentality that an Indian is obsessed with. It captures the Indian idiosyncrasy and mannerism in an envious fashion. An amalgam of emotions, elation and empathy, the collection makes the reader delve deep into our social fabric and come out with wailing eyes. The author leads the reader’s mind and makes the latter acquainted with our eccentricities and oddities. Barriers of distance notwithstanding, the anthology pilgrimages the reader across the country veins readying the later to believe in our simpletonish character.
Ali Jan, a retired teacher, never believes that his son will fall prey to the sermons of fundamentalists only to get killed. He has never imagined his daughter getting raped by a Jihadi and turning pregnant. This state of affairs stimulates Ali Jan to end life like a simpleton Kashmiri leaving behind a futureless daughter and a widow who still hope against hope.
Radha, a little girl, is a domestic help in an aristocratic urban family. Her presence brings charisma in this city family. She, however, lands in jail for alleged involvement in a robbery incident. Radha is released. Back home she ends her life. Her photo on the shelf turns the aristocrat guilty conscious eventuality.
Padmavati, like other Indian womenfolk, has staunch belief in astrology. She trusts in the astrologer, Tota Ram wholeheartedly. However, her faith is shattered when the prognosis of the astrologer turns false and her son elopes with none other than the daughter of Tota Ram.
Contrary to the antique mindset, an Indian mother allows her son to live a nuclear and blissful life in the bosom of his spouse. Her only concern is that the son should consummate the marriage ensuring continuity of the clan.
Fond of fathering a child, an impotent couple fetches a girl child living with a mendicant for adoption. This is indicative of parental loyalty and enthusiasm as prevalent in our social structure.
In order to conceal his impotency, Bunty blames his spouse and declares her barren. Rano is divorced. She is remarried to a widower, a father of three children. When the reality of Rano turning a mother comes to fore, Bunty is rebuked by his mother. Thus, as usual, the brunt of childlessness is faced by a potent bride rather than by an impotent groom.
We Indians still abhor allopathy and rely on talismans given by Babas. We lose battle against diseases. Ramesh, while relying on the admonitions of a Baba, loses his only daughter, Ruhi, to a common ailment.
The ordeal that a family living close to the Indo-Pak border faces amidst cross-border firing is heart wrenching. People are forced to inhabit makeshift camps in the hinterland even during harsh winters.
Teacher-student relationship has always been sacred in our society and it gets proved even during court trials. Rhea, in order to take revenge of her insult in the classroom, slams rape charges over her teacher. The teacher goes behind bars. Rhea, however, speaks for her teacher’s innocence in a court of law and Mr. Hari Prasad is set free. The teacher regains respect and esteem both in the college as well as family.
Indian couples on the pretext of enjoyment delay baby births. This idea sometimes proves fatal. Kamini suffers miscarriages one after another. She loses the two adopted kids to diseases too. This tells upon her heart and sighs last breath in the lap of her spouse.
A young woman, against the wishes of her clan, leaves to study abroad. She develops relations with an alien. She returns to India to lit up the pyre of her father. This is what is considered sacrilege in our society even today.
This collection of stories by a Jammu-based bureaucrat is a saga of love, lust, acceptance & escape. The anthology focuses on realities of life and is a good read for literarians.
The Writer Works as Chief Accounts Officer at Government Medical College, Baramulla
