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February 05, 2007
Writers Showcased On NPR
Driving home the other night, I listened to NPR’s “Selected Shorts,” one of my favorite programs with actors/writers reading short stories to a live audience.
I wasn’t sure what the story was, who was reading it, but I recognized the characters as funny and stubborn old Indian men. They stumbled through the unfamiliar path as other immigrants have. They hold their heads high and refuse to bend to the raw and coarse American ways, and definitely touch universal emotions.
I could tell the narrator was Indian by the natural inflections in his voice and a distinct Indian “hmph” at the end of certain lines. When I arrived home, I ran to my radio to hear the end of the story and laughed aloud more than a few times. The dialogues were fluid. The emotions succinct.
I did my research and learned the story, “Justice Shiva Ram Murthy” was written by Rishi Reddy, and was included in "2005 The Best American Short Stories." The narrator was actor Aasif Mandhvi, who embodied the elderly men, the daughter, the American cashier, and the Jewish-American lawyer. I checked Symphony Space and it doesn't look as if an audioversion is available for download. Hopefully, readers can find this story in Reddi's book, "Karma and Other Stories." I was quite surprised to learn of Ms. Reddi's legal background, which explains the cameo of a lawyer in the story.
Speaking of NPR, I’m glad they have been focusing on Indian writers lately; this is a nice change from BBC’s focus on Shilpa Shetty on “Big Brother.” Just recently, “Fresh Air” reviewed Vikram Chandra’s “Sacred Games.”. It seems everywhere you turn, they're talking about "Sacred Games." It's interesting because the reviewers have been very positive about it. The New York Times said: "The appeal of Sacred Games lies in its mix of several commercially reliable formulas (the thriller, the mob saga, the police procedural) along with considerable helpings of sex and violence plus enough genre-bending twists to keep pulp aficionados off balance and intrigued."
So, that's what he did for 7 years.
Posted by Ashini J. Desai at February 5, 2007 08:52 PM
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Posted by: Anonymous at February 5, 2007 08:52 PM
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