The Witness - S L Bhyrappa

The drawback of not being able to read or write in my mother tongue has resulted in losing out on the some of the best, Sahitya Academy winning works of our authors. I have always wanted to read Bhyrappa's books, specially after it being highly recommended by both my granny and U. So as soon as I spotted the translated version of Saakshi on the Crossword bookshelf, I picked it up immediately. (This reminds me that i need to pick translated version of Kuvempu's Kanooru Heggaditi).
Although translated works rarely do justice to the original, this one isn't that bad either. Eventhough the flavour of Kannada is missing, because of the fact that I was able to relate to the whole set up I was able to still enjoy the book.
It traces the story of person who has never lied in his entire life and the one time he does he is so ashamed and guilty that he commits suicide. But Yama-the god of death wants him to go back and witness the consequences of his suicide and the result of his lie. The book questions the philosphy of truth and how it interpreted by each individual.
The entire story moves in one smooth flow and makes a wonderful leisure read.

Contemporary Indian Fiction

This collection of contemporary short stories has been edited by Khushwant Singh. Unlike most other short story collections that usually have a common theme through them, this one has a whole range of stories in one thin book. Ranging from folk tales to the futuristic sci-fi types. Not suprisingly, most of them are not even based in India nor are they based on Indians. I personally like both the sci-fi ones, although I hardly read that genre.
Like Mr Singh mentions in the introduction, we might not have produced great novelists or writers, but we sure have some really great short story writers.