The translations of Bhupen Khakhar’s short stories come as a pleasant surprise. Here is a fine storyteller who keeps things exquisitely simple. His characters live in tenements. He empathises with those who ride scooters and are taken for a ride. A couple has a written contract stipulating how often they’ll have sex. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, if you must know. All that Maganbhai touches, from making fire-crackers to exporting khakras, is a disaster. A housewife goes bananas over the loss of a vadki or what you call a katori. Some of the stories take a surrealist turn, somewhat like the author’s paintings. A man decides to walk on all fours to suppress his desire for foreign soap. Khakhar can be very funny.
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Publishers Katha could use some tips on syntax and layouts but that’s another story.
