When Jaya met Jaggu and other stories | Short Fiction | Annapurna Sharma 
Hawakal Publishers (2022), New Delhi & Calcutta ISBN: 978-93-91431-35-8 
Pages: 187 | Rs. 400 / US$14.99

A rainbow of people, places, situations, emotions, developments…with a subsequent real twist…!

Love with its shades of kindness, empathic affection, Platonism, conjugal love, and carnal proclivities seeps through the stories in the collection When Jaya met Jaggu and other stories, weaved by Annapurna Sharma, trained in the art of fiction writing. The stories contain episodes of pre-marital and extra-marital ruminations and flirtations. Annapurna Sharma is Editor (Fiction) of the Muse India literary ejournal.

Some of the characters and dialogues have a Hindi background. It’s but natural when the author, though a Telugu, was born and brought up in a Bengali and Hindi background.

There is a story with some American vignettes of life, and the author’s projection of it is authentic, despite the fact that she hasn’t visited the USA. Likewise, there is another story connected to the soil of England which too she hasn’t yet seen.

The stories make us smell and taste the culinary flair and expertise that tickles our gastronomic buds—of both veggies and non-veggies as well. We come across accounts of nutritious and non-nutritious foods, fresh and refrigerated foods. We are, in this blazing summer, served with juicy and mouth-watering mangoes. We are also treated to several types of American coffee—Americano, Espresso, Cappuccino, and Latte—with one of the characters asserting that none of them can beat our Indian filter-coffee (‘Coffee Pleasure’). It’s no wonder because Annapurna, who true to her name is not only an ideal host and cook but also a qualified nutritionist who is presently in her Ph D programme. Let’s hail her with a cup of the South Indian filter coffee, the uniqueness & pristineness about which legendary writer RK Narayan pours his heart out in his My Dateless Diary (Chapter: New York Days; Section: Over a Cup of Coffee). Sandwiched by the server in a New York cafeteria between black and white coffee, he says: “…neither black nor white but brown which ought to be the colour of honest coffee—that’s how we make it in South India where devotees of perfection in coffee assemble from all over the world,” and goes on giving a vivid and mouth-watering description of the cloth-strained filter coffee’s recipe.

In a married life, a wife and husband may quarrel with each other, with abusive and cuss words, but it may not always necessarily mean that they don’t love each other. In one of the stories, the wife wishes that her husband should rather die, and when it does happen, her grief is uncontrollable.

Now let’s stroll through the colonnade of the 9 stories in the collection.

‘Jasmine Maid’ reflects the childhood days and experiences of Malli, whose mother is a maid and father an idle labourer. When her mother falls ill, the little girl has to step into her shoes, and, luckily, her madam is kind enough. But the innocent and hapless girl undergoes a silent plight when she is exploited and seduced by her madam’s lecherous son. Imagine the pains of a poor, young widow who is left pregnant, and the fear that haunts her if the baby is going to be a girl.

‘Coffee Pleasure’ is the story of a highly competent and confident girl in an epistolary and bildungsroman mode. Born in a conservative and traditional family, she has high and exotic aspirations totally different from her siblings. But she is sought to be stymied by her parents though their intentions are bona fide. She overcomes all the hurdles and achieves her goals. The story also shows that every mother loves her children, but the way they love, and the way how that love is taken—differs from person to person, and from situation to situation. When parents are not patient and empathic enough with their children, the children could get gravitated to the undesirable ways of life.

The protagonist, a lover of Nature, doesn’t appreciate the gesture of releasing the doves into the air as a symbol of peace, for the reason that the naïve birds have first to be caged for this flaunting act. And the specific spot where they are flung into the sky may not be friendly to them. By the way, the story provides a much-needed insight into the avian psychology.

‘When Jaya met Jaggu’ is the odd story of a sixty-year-old widow who due to a freak accident slips into amnesia. She doesn’t recognise her own son and even hates to see him. But she chances to sight an old person, a widower, and loves to spend time with him. And he is the one who comes back from her preteen life when they took fancy to each other, but couldn’t marry each other. He too is willing to live with her. Thus, he in his senses, and she not in her senses —sense the need of their union. How strange and undecipherable is the way of mind! Yet another psychological insight provided by the author. Facts are stranger than fiction, and see the strange experience the author of this book encounters regarding this story, in her own words…toward the end!

‘Pariah in my Backyard’ sketches the experience of Sundar at various places, with various people, at various levels, from various viewpoints.

Sundar, his wife Anu, their daughter Rashi, his mother, and their domestic attendant Venky are a cosy family. Sundar, 35, works in ‘Bangalore’, while his family stays in their own town.

Strictly speaking, this is not a story. It’s only Sundar’s narration of the equations in the family—a harmonious one, and of the way others perceive him as “a happy person.” The “others” are not only his mother, his wife, his two-year-old daughter, his friends, his childhood friend Rakesh, his boss, the villagers, the milkman, Venky the cook—in short “everyone”—but also the birds, and the snake! Coming to his boss, nothing else is said of him or of any of his interactions with him!

The story showcases the differences in the eating habits—the native Indian style and the Indians aping the Western style:

“Rakesh had come to meet me. He was persistent that we go out like our old buddy days. He was the same: same coffee shop, same masala dosa, same table, the wooden chip broken and stained. He ate in the same manner—tearing the dosa bit by bit from the outer to the inner and dipping each tiny piece in one chutney at a time. I attacked the center of the dosa, held a large piece with generous amount of potato curry and dipped it in the three chutneys (white: coconut; red: ginger, green: mint) and gorged into my mouth” (92), this description is no wonder since the author is a postgraduate in the science of nutrition currently doing her PhD, as said earlier.

Sundar recounts: “The three month stay in London was the best part of my life. There was a certain class to that official visit. Travel by Euro rail impressed me the most. A relentless feeling trailed me when I had breakfast in London and dinner in Berlin… … To put it simply, I just wanted to visit far off places and enjoy life. I needed money to make such trips—assimilating the uniqueness of the cathedrals, admiring Bra[n]denburg Gate, gondola rides in Venice, window shopping at Champs Elysee and fashion in Milan” (76). Once again, the writer captures the British scenes vividly, though she has never visited the UK!

‘Lunchtime’ is a very touching, perceptive and pathetic story of the plight of street dogs, especially mothers and pups. There are several layers of human and canine psychology, the idiosyncrasies of hostel girls, of the warden, of the cooks, of the assistants, and of the school principal who is effusively friendly with the children in the presence of parents, but entirely different otherwise with her curtness and rudeness. By the way, why some people call the street dogs as ‘strays’—this reviewer doesn’t understand. He hopes to be enlightened on this question.

In ‘The Lame Mango’ story, Ajay, a nature-lover, is driven by an intense emotional attachment for a mango tree in his yard because it not only yields a bonanza of fruits but also shelters a number of birds and insects. Feeling a divine gratitude to the mango tree, he invariably seeks its blessings whenever he undertakes anything new or good. Finally, when the tree is infested with a deadly pest, it has to be uprooted, and Ajay turns teary and emotional. But his tears turn into a shower of joy, on seeing that his little daughter plants two mango saplings in the old one’s place.

This story conveys an implicit and subtle message that any noble thing done with earnestness and dedication—will somehow be carried forward—despite some hurdles and gaps—by the next one in line, whether seen or unseen. It’s part of continuation and continuity of the native culture or the relentless cycle of life.

‘Gods without Inquest’ is the story of a toddy-tapper’s family where the wife and the husband work together, but are suspicious of each other’s spousal faithfulness, given the type of people they have to deal with. The story is a testimony to the keenness of observation on the part of the author about the way of rural life, the adverse impact of urbanisation, toddy-tapping, the change of its tastes according to the movement of the day, and the tempting ways of its vending.

‘Temple under the Tamarind Tree’—a 9-day genealogical story races with its suspense which unfolds only at the last minute! It’s about Partho both in the third and the first-person narrative! In his narration, he quotes quite a few English poems because of his literature background. Finally, he along with his mother and Pabitra, relocates to Mitra Baari to settle down and seamlessly get used to the life there. The characters are back to the home-made tasty native Bengali cuisine and the old native way of its preparation without any modern gadgets.

In ‘Lone Jungle-Crow’ the mother of the first-person narrator tells the story of Kasturi, her husband & her son Rajanna. Rajanna’s wife Vijje—influenced by her brother Venkanna who has migrated from his native village to a town—develops a mania for town life. Venkanna, addicted to the urban vices, persecutes his wife, Radha. This craze for city life reminds us of the 1957 Telugu movie Todikodallu (Co-sisters) for its lilting duet “Townu pakkakelladduraa dingaree” (Locate not to the town, oh lackey) wherein the man, a worker dreams of going to the town whereas his wife stands against it.

The conflict within the young versus the elderly of the village, thanks to the pro-urban provocation by Venkanna, simmers up, with the younger lot preferring to desert the village for the towns.
Rajanna is a conscientious, unwavering, hard-working son of the soil with a positive spirit. Yet, he vacillates on the horns of a dilemma, and almost swings to the option of moving away to the town for his livelihood, education of his daughter, etc.

The author vividly captures the kaleidoscopic rural scenes of Nature, the farming life, etc., and empathically details the farming woes and their aggravation by unforeseen and sudden natural hazards.

In short, Annapurna Sharma, the author, deserves plaudits for the multi-faceted stories with varied treatment.

Reality stranger than fiction!

Before we conclude, let’s hear it from herself about the real Jaya-Jaggu couple who really ran into her on 12 August 2024.

It was first year admission time in the college where I work. I was busy with academic work when I got a call from a man saying he wanted to meet me. Assuming it was a call from a parent seeking admission for his daughter in our college, I asked for the details. He said something which was not audible. When I too said the same, he ended the call. After a few seconds I got a call from a woman.

She said, “Jaya met Jaggu and they want to meet you.”

For a moment I didn't know what to say. She said, “We are in your college, we want to meet you. Where are you?” I was excited and asked if she really was in my college. When she confirmed, I gave my room number. I was anxious, excited, dumbfounded. When they came up, they said they were Jaya and Jaggu! They were Dr. M. Jayasree and Dr. G. Jagadeep Gandhi (fondly called Jaya & Jaggu). They were medical officers working in the government hospital and had purchased my book When Jaya met Jaggu and other stories at the Vijayawada Book fair. They had come for their daughter’s admission to our college and had seen my pic with the book in the WhatsApp group of the college students and faculty members. What a chance meeting? What a coincidence of names? A serendipitous and memorable encounter! Is this any less than a story!