Read a short story - Rasgulla, by Abhishek Atul, compiled in Moonlit Matinee - by Pulkit Gupta, edited by Harshita Srivastava. “A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film,” here, I remember the words of Lorrie Moore! I really appreciate when few young writers try to portray the black side of our society, but I really need to say something at this juncture. All of us have some story... something different, which we want to convey to the mass... To communicate our story/experience, we choose a medium, called short story. Why short story? Of course, because short story is a form with which maximum number of people/readers are comfortable with. Why most of the readers love to read short stories? Short story is less time consuming, it is short enough to get read in single sitting. And above all, it is like an arrow, which pierces exactly at the right spot, leaving its mark for a long-long time! Here, to fulfil the purpose of this form of literature, one must not forget that the word - short is of prime importance. Of course, the term, short, is a relative one. It is not about something abbreviated or cut shorted, just to control the number of word counts; or not expanded, just to make it fit according to demand of a compiler/editor/publisher! Then, what a Short Story is all about? Short story is a way of story telling. A way,not just short in length, but a way without any diversion - straight to the destination... just like an arrow reaches its target in lightening speed. Here, the time taken by a arrow to reach its target, may vary according to the distance! Short story writer is like Arjuna, who has to see only the pupil of that revolving fish, that too, as a image, downwards in the water... to win Draupadi! Edgar Allan Poe said: “A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build towards it.” After writing too much on this, let me come to the story - Rasgulla. Writer has titled the story, rightly... interesting enough to initiate an interest. Though the theme of the story is ages old, rasgulla is used as an excellent metaphor to address the old but still much needed issue. I guess, writer has more or less succeeded in his purpose. but still, I wont put it in the category of a good story. The same story could have told im maximum 50% of word-counts used by the writer! Moreover, climax of the story is not a justified one. A good writer must indicate some digestible hints before imposing a verdict upon his/her readers. Let me clarify, I love the way writer has attempted to deliver his best, but, still, understanding the basics of the form can help him getting more and more readers. Pulkit Gupta, Ila Garg, Harpreet Makkar, Ayaan Basu, Ashish Sharma
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 06:34:03 +0000