Having had a hard time getting his early works published, Ravinder Singh, now a successful author, recently decided to try and “make the road for several wannabe authors less bumpy.” To this end he launched a nationwide contest for new short story writers, publishing 24 in this volume, Love Stories that Touched my Heart, out of the thousands submitted. There is, of course, an endless variety of tales and styles represented here. In some, for example, the plot is simple but the style captivating, while in others the expression wins our hearts or the plot has us glued to the page.

For a mind-boggling finale, read K. Balakumaran’s ‘The Divine Union.’ The narrator begins with a series of questions, first as attention getters, then giving a misleading hint of how this tale is to end: “Have you ever been alone — truly alone? Have you ever been in a place that was massive, cold, kind of whitish, calm and serene with a tranquillising ambience? Lacking human presence, completely enclosed and thereby administering a strong dosage of claustrophobia in you right away?” At first we imagine that he is in the next world, then that he might be in his grave.

Friends have warned the hero that his superiority complex will keep him single forever. But eventually, the sufficiently erudite beauty appears on a train, and after some intensely intellectual repartee, she quizzes him rapidly on enlightenment, followed by, “Have you ever tried jumping off a running train?” Dazed, he allows her to lead him to the carriage door, and she jumps off into what she hopes is the place where Nachiketa went to seek the almighty in the Katha Upanishad. He follows, and after the reporters have left with the medico-legal report, which on the basis of the pills he’s carrying has him suffering from both halucinations and bizarre delusions, behold, they are together in the here and now.

From this fast-forwarding romance we turn back to S. P. Nayak’s heartwarming story, ‘A Love Story in Reverse!’ concerning a romance that comes to fruition after 30 years, thanks to one person’s selfless dedication to this cause. Naina works for a small NGO and her chance encounter with Ramani on a business trip to Mysore propels her into a relentless search for this woman’s lost lover. Ramani and Singhji fell in love at university but when the riots broke out in Jalandhar he disappeared in that direction, and soon his letters stopped coming. So Naina spends her evenings blogging, probing and searching, admitting that it has become an obsession with her. Then finally a postcard from Ireland, with a phone number on it, arrives and Singhji on the end of the line, still single, and waiting to tell her the whole long story.

A number of love stories are set on a train. One is ‘A Train to my Marriage,’ with an exaggerated and ridiculous fairytale ending. The bus also gets a look in, with narratives like ‘A Tale of Two Strangers,’ and ‘The Smiling Stranger,’ though in the latter the romance never blossoms and the narrator has to content himself with being made to smile again. In ‘Cheers to Love,’ Uday Singh, in describing his wife’s premature death, wins a new love, a fairly typical scenario.

As to love’s roundabout, Vinayak Nadkarni’s ‘Flirting’ is a must-read, a convincing tale of the woman who sacrifices everything for a love far greater than the self-love that plays a great part in so many relationships. Initially Naina reads like a flirt, first overcome by the immaculate Abhishek at the bus stop, next with her heart fluttering at the firm handshake of the muscular Rohan in his torn shirt, and finally being picked up by her husband Gautam after work. After a hard day’s “flirting” comes the flashback to the psychiatrist’s advice on how Gautam thinks himself responsible for his childhood friend Abhishek’s death, how she’ll have to work hard to keep him engaged in the roles of Abhishek, Rohan and Gautam, and how even more personalities may emerge, some dangerous both to herself and to others. After dinner, when Gautam is asleep our own tears mingle with hers as she observes, “The tears had soaked my cheeks and the wine glass was empty ... I am living a fake life but I chose it.”

Yamini Vijendran’s six pages of ‘May God Bless You, Dear’ pack more punch than any story twice its length in this selection. Its first paragraph ends with the pressure cooker’s final victory whistle escaping into eternity, but somehow this is an ominous sound, giving us the beginning and the end together. The aged Brinda is busy at 3 a.m., preparing her beloved husband’s favourite dishes, to be taken to him in the hospital where he lay day after day, “His eyes ... lost in some far-off, unknown realm, searching for answers for questions that did not exist.”

This is the Rajan who’d been so dynamic, flamboyant and perfect in everything he did, a self-made man now dependent on others for every little thing. Brinda and their son Arvind hate to see him go through the agony the treatment is causing, and knowing that God is not in any mood for miracles just then. Therefore, making their decision, and sending his nurse off with food to share among her colleagues, Brinda kisses Rajan good-bye as she “took a small vial from her handbag and added some of its contents to her husband’s food ... The red orb on her forehead somehow resembled the setting sun, as if it knew this would be the last day it would shine on her forehead.” It is a sensitive story, though after having put us right in the picture with various hints, the author’s frank mention of “poisoned food” at the end somehow lacks finesse.

Questions, of course, arise. Will the doctors compassionately turn a blind eye to their findings? Will Brinda manage to dissuade them from performing the autopsy, on the grounds that Rajan has suffered more than enough already?

These 24 stories are not examples of epic romance by any means, and only the last one discussed addresses an important socio-religious question, but the book offers a kaleidoscope of the many colours and facets of romantic love.

Love Stories that Touched my Heart

(Short Stories)

Edited by Ravinder Singh

Penguin Books, India

ISBN 9780l43419648

242pp.