Between absurdity and pathos

These stories are about men and women making their way through a grim world filled with sharp corners.

Ruffled Feathers, a collection of 12 stories, is the fifth work of V Sanjay Kumar. The stories in the collection reflect the impact of his constant associations with artists, musicians and poets in the last few decades.

The content is rich and diverse. An old man is suddenly able to curse to death those who annoy him. A thief, who converses in English, carries out a long conversation with his tied-up victims. A forensic accountant becomes obsessed with a conspiracy to topple a start-up. An online troll suspects he is going to be shot dead by religious fundamentalists for his political views.

These stories attend to men and women making their way through a grim world filled with sharp corners. However, they do so with deep tenderness and wry amusement, exquisitely balancing absurdity with pathos.

‘Long in the Tooth’ is a thoroughly disturbing and heart-wrenching tale. The author, in a note after the story, clarifies that it isn’t based on the life of K P Krishnakumar, an artist from Trivandrum, who died by suicide.

‘The Writer’ is a response to the assassination of a journalist by extremists in Bengaluru. Forbidden, and unconventional in theme, it borders on the bizarre; its powerful look at eternal loss portrays the absurdities of human greed.

“‘Forbidden’ is more a dystopian kind of story. It looks into sometime in the future when things are scarce and labour has value,” Kumar explains.

Kumar combines the dark and the grim that make ‘Scarecrow’ and ‘The Magic Door’ somewhat disturbing, and supernatural. ‘Acid’ is a vibrant and engaging account of policing. Stories like ‘Penalty’ and ‘Old Vine Zinfandel’ leave a lot to the readers’ imagination, while ‘The Accountant’ brims with aching surprises.

‘The Forecaddie’ won the first prize in the Bridport Prize for Short Story (2018). ‘Old Vine Zinfandel’ received a special mention at the Gallery Beggar Short Story Prize (2020-21). ‘I Believe’, the earlier version of ‘Looking For A God’, was one of the five commended stories in the Elizabethan Jolley Prize in 2020.

Deeply unsettling

Set in various places in India, these compelling stories describe the journeys — both emotional and physical — undertaken by an intriguing array of diverse people. They are overwhelmingly about urban dwellers and people with means and privileges. The pieces have no common anchor, as the plots are diverse, concerns are varied, and so is the narration of the individual stories. The author derives sources for his compositions from his experiences, professions and associations, reliving memories that in many ways also constitute them.

The tales portray dark human behaviour and appear to be a disturbingly real study of life. The feelings and experiences of the characters are relatable. Once the reader delves into the stories, a whole new world unravels. Multilayered, they invoke in the reader a deeply unsettling feeling.

Human journeys of love, hatred, abuse, frustration, loneliness, sense of loss, futility, regret, repentance and introspection make the anthology an engaging read. Stories are rich and symbolic but remain grounded in place and time. They capture the nuances of conflicts of our times. A pall of gloom marks the climax of some stories though. Kumar justifies this: “I find melancholy interesting. I feel it has more depth than happy characters and joyful situations.”

What is arresting is the slow, subtle peeling of layers. They begin with a routine scene in everyday life and then shift to myriad, complex relationships. The title catches the attention.

“The title has no obvious reference to specific stories. We live in sensitive times. The characters in the stories seem to be in a state where circumstances are playing on them, affecting them in different ways, and they are learning to cope/respond in ways they can,” the author points out.

Kumar’s amazingly powerful prose transforms reading every story into a joyful experience. While his narrative technique is captivating, his style lends special appeal to the stories, all of which are tightly structured and pacy. The storytelling is straightforward, simple, and accessible and their narration, honing on powerful images, has rewarding effects. He reveals, yet withholds, making the readers his fellow travellers in the journey of the narrative.