Stories at the Coffee Table

For comments on specific stories, please scroll down to the relevant title below.

This space for comments on the book as a whole.

If you're writing a review on your own blog, please link to this post.

Play it again, Sam

by Janhavi Acharekar

The ad agency's resident raconteur tells the young 'uns about the new Creative Director's past.

Roukas, in bits and pieces

by Anoopa Anand

Roukas makes breakfast.

Arachnophila

by Amitabha Bagchi

Professor Roychowdhury goes spider-hunting.

The biography

by Tanmoy Chakrabarti

Anupama's editor does not like her review of Karna Sen's autobiography.

The gift

by Arjun Chandramohan Bali

Yama comes home to find young Nachiketa waiting for him at the gate.

The inevitables

by Albert Barton

An aging warrior prepares for his last battle.

Love, probably

by Saugata Chatterjee

A corporate warrior bumps into a pizza delivery guy...

Mrs Blarsingdale

by Gouri Dange

12-year-old Anandi befriends the Chinese lady with the two Pekinese dogs.

The masterpiece

by Atreyee Day

The narrator tells the tale of the day her litte brother used up all her crayons.

Five litres of kerosene

by Minakshi Desai

Ridhi suspects that her mother-in-law is going to kill her.

The snake and the stick

by Salil Desai

A husband decides to kill his nagging wife.

High speed chase

by Ramgopal Divakar

The narrator and his buddies do a spot of street racing.

As real as it gets

by Vinod Ganesh

Khalid and his friend Mohammad are on a crucial mission.

Fortune Cooking

by Arjun R Kolady

A TV crew drops by Tashi's little restaurant, to film an episode of their food show.

Reluctant Revelations

by Vineeta Malkani

Sonia, a single, successful banker, decides to have a baby.

Finding / Losing

by Anahita Mohile

The narrator goes in search of the father who deserted her family.

The long shirt

by Deepak Morris

Little Bandu gets a gift of an over-sized shirt from a visiting stranger.

Song of the cuckoo bird

by Amitabha Mukerjee

A story told on a train journey from Calcutta to Delhi.

Alias

by Batul Mukhtiar

Raza bi alias Sunita Jadhav alias Penny D'Souza. Which one should she be?

A long way

by Mahesh Murthy

The narrator reminisces on the journeys within a journey.

The fat man

by Vikram Rajan

Raman, the sculptor, is interrupted at work by loud sneezing next door.

Ek

by J Ramanand

A veteran cricketer, a schoolteacher, a politician. One thing links the three narratives.

The scholarship papers

by Riverwild

Much to the bafflement of her family and friends, an elderly lady files for divorce.

The last time

by Namrata Sathe

An old woman reflects on her afternoon with her son and hos family. And on her life.

World without end

by Jayaprakash Satyamurthy

The twilight of the Gods. Or is it?

Champa Bavdi

by Kunal Shah

An unusual love story, set in Mandu, near Jahaj-Mahal.

Tha badhshah of blah-blah

by Sreedhar Balagopal

'Buddha' thinks back to school, and Khan Sir.

Travelling Ticket Examiner

by Govindraj Shyam Umarji

The narrator and his friends take a suburban train... but neglect to buy tickets.

Sororicide

by Paritosh Uttam

Skipper and his class have a new teacher.

Zemma and Oran

by Vidhya Vaidyanathan

Oran, the gypsy, falls in love with Zemma, daughter of King Nabha.

A successful man

by Anita Vasudeva

Veer plans a wedding

How to become a poet

by Mahendra Waghela

A poet decides to kill an editor.