JOIN USThe Empty Pedestal and Other Stories, the first book by R M Rajgopal, is a compilation of 21 short stories. The tales are individually thematic, ranging from nostalgia to satire. Each story is distinct from the tale that precedes or succeeds it.
The title story, The Empty Pedestal, from which the book borrows its name, is the tale of a leader whose ideals lead to consequences he may not have foreseen. They Listened focuses on an elderly pianist who seems to blend into the background; A Genuine Blond has its protagonist welcome a new daughter-in-law; Grass is Green is a rather humorous observation of a child’s preschool interview.
While Star Quality may be a tad predictable and All the People All of the Time might be verbose, both stories are interesting in their observation of true life characters and events. The star of Star Quality, for example, takes life too casually to observe it passing him by. Most of the tales have protagonists and side characters well sketched.
For example, the mysterious lieutenant in the story Full Circle is convincing and well-mannered, but who may or may not be who he claims to be. There’s the strange old man of The Oracle and the ‘rational’ protagonist who thinks he knows way better than to believe in oracles and the supernatural. The wealthy Mr Sawhney of The Burial has funny ways of disposing of excess food and equally strange justifications for doing what he does.
The pianist of They Listened cuts a sad and lonely figure, and yet for him there is a flash of hope when one day, someone does listen. The little boy in the story Grass is Green, despite his mother’s attention to detail, decides to take matters into his own hands.
That the characters of the collection may find parallels in the everyday make them intriguing. Ducks and Geese has at its core a hunting expedition, a proud hunter and an amusing conclusion. In Sharing a Berth, the elaboration of a train ride, the tragedy of a man and the protagonist’s confused feelings of guilt are interesting.
Amar in Slam Dunk is a boy of unusual fortitude who manages to mask the pain of his mother’s death. Their thoughts interweave with the flow of the narrative, either in first or third person, and sometimes in second person narrative.
The Empty Pedestal and Other Stories does bring to life the era and circumstances of its stories. Many of them have an air of mystery and nostalgia, others a sense of observation at the humdrum of daily life. And yet, at times, the writing itself is riddled with overlong sentences, strange usages and an overdose of adjectives. Editing errors are sprinkled over the prose. Tenses past, present and future converge in mysterious ways.
Dialogue moves more or less smoothly and is evenly paced. However, there are moments of awkwardness that make the characters sound stilted. Descriptions tend to grow cumbersome. More paragraph breaks may have helped.
Some of the stories seem to just end, without enough build up to support a satisfying conclusion. Some endings are explained in wordy prose. Stories such as All the People All of the Time while suffused with perceptive satire, manage to delve deep into philosophical musings that could have been trimmed, given the overall pacing of the narrative. As it is, there are instances of too many words, thoughts and meanderings to describe a single scene. There are also instances of missing or misplaced punctuation.
This is a readable collection of short stories. The tales are unique; some are humorous, poignant or even quirky. No two characters are alike, and the presentation of the stories themselves is refreshing. Had the editing been crisper and the writing more fluid, the experience of reading these short stories might have been significantly greater.