13: Short stories to Savour

by Pungidasa

We are all stories,
some told and some untold;
some more that are in the making.
And every story is beautiful!!


13 stories plucked from the daily life of existence is here for you, as a leisure read or a travel companion or just as a book that you can binge read.
Common daily stories that are for about normal people and emotions that can be best enjoyed with a cup of chai and a quiet Sunday afternoon. These stories are based on the life of commoners, you may find yourself thinking this is almost akin to mine.
13 is generally considered a bad omen, but 13 is just another number in the numerical list. Similarly, these stories just exist, without much ado and gung-ho.
Written in simple English, showcasing a far more simplistic view of life, 13 is a set of stories that is bound to connect with you.

43 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 10, 2018

About the author

My name is Sunil Sathyendra and Pungidasa is my pen-name.

I believe in that, with words ,emotions and stories we can connect with people.

we are all stories, some told and some untold.

I write poems daily and I am proud to say I have written over 3200 poems and 100 short stories till date.
Being an Indian , gives me a wide kaleidoscope of stories , colors and views to express the feeling that Life is beautiful even with all its chaos.


you can contact the author at pungidasa@gmail.com

Reviews

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a collection of 13 short stories as told by the author's grandma ☺️


✅Contents:


1) Swami and the Jam Bun


➡️How a child is the happiest when receiving the smallest, the littlest of things.


2) Shanti


➡️How the happiness due to possessions & happiness due to peace of mind differs.


3) The Choice


➡️How smart decisions matter in times of need.


4) The Storyteller


➡️The sadness & the hapoiness of being a storyteller; also friendship & death dealt in a meaningful way.


5) The Traveller's Tale


➡️Best short story in this collection.
It is not what it is.


6) Unlikely Hero


➡️How a little rat unknowingly saves a broken relationship.


7) Together We Can


➡️Strength Vs Intelligence.


8) Teaching A Lesson


➡️How a naughty kid takes vengeance against his parents


9) And Thus, A Temple was Born...


➡️What events lead people to built a temple; one of the best stories👍Hilarious ending!


10) The Perfect Nobody


➡️The unassuming life of a common man.


11) The Call of Distress


➡️Mental health, addiction.


12) Note Nataraja


➡️The story of an old travelling note.



13) Agni (My favourite👌)


➡️The bond between an elephant and a man.


👍This collection is good!

[Mugdha Mahajan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

13 is a collection of 13 short stories which are easy, breezy and a short read. To be honest I had great expectations from this book but it wasn't that amazing. The stories were not about any particular person or situation but were inspired by the day to day life of people.There were stories which I actually loved but some of them were confusing and their ending was abrupt. There were a lot of grammatical errors too.

I won't give a detailed explanation of each and every story here, because they are a one page story and writing a summary of them would mean giving the spoilers. But I would love to talk about one story which truly touched my heart - The story of the Elephant " Agni ". The story is about a female elephant who is loved by the owner. The owner took care of her from her childhood days and now the grown up Agni loves back her owner the same way a baby loves it's mother. They both were very happy with each other until Agni died because of an operation. The story was so emotional and heartbreaking and made me ponder on the fact that how much an animal can love a human and be loyal to them throughout their life.

The writing style of the author is easy and understandable. The stories are short and the book can be finished in an hour itself. I hope that I get to read more of his work but with more clarity in the stories. Overall it was a satisfactory read for me.

[Ruchi Patel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its a short and wonderful book. I finished in single sitting. Like this book, I will keep my reviews short. Its basically collection of 13 short stories based on different subjects. I loved the two stories most. One is “Agni” about an elephantine and “Unlikely Hero”, about a rat. “Teaching lesson” was a heat touching story. Good use of vocabulary and language and wonderfully written. Few stories surely reminded me of my childhood because O grew up reading such stories based on morals or based on animals.
Good one!!

[Rupali Gore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stories of life , different types of situations - the people face ,the routines are handled by the author , in his great storytelling style . He has not complicated the stories . Every story made me pause and ponder about life . Some pieces are humorous , too . A superb collection to read .

[AANVI WRITES · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story telling is an Art… Not Everyone can tell a Story….
I start by saying that the book “13” is a nice collection of stories. The Author has presented them in such a way that they instantly take the readers on a journey that once we travelled. All the stories bring back the memories of the good old days of our childhood where our grandma was keeping us mesmerised with her magical stories.
The stories are very familiar with the day to day incidents that take place in our lives. All the 13 of them move in a slow yet interesting pace. Each one of them carry a hidden message that tells the reader “Life is very simple… So Let’s not complicate things…”
The concept of short stories is like a breath of fresh air. Language is simple and lucid. Narration is good. I like the new way of thinking by the author in exploring a genre that that not many want to experiment with. my pick is "The travellers tale" and " Thus a temple was Born."
Overall a nice one time read. I definitely recommend this book “13” by Pungidasa to all those readers who love to read short stories with a tinge of childhood memories.

[TheQuillCompany · Rating 1 out of 5]

Having high expectations from this book due to the reference to legendary R.K Narayan and his book Malgudi Days isn’t wrong but unfortunately, they weren’t met. There were grammatical errors throughout and that’s an instant turn off as a reader. One would expect that if you’re putting your work into print, it will have gone through adequate editing.

There are in all, 13 stories in this book and some are very poorly narrated. Some stories have a strong plot but the beginning was flawed or the end was too abrupt. The one story I did like was Agni and I am still very touched by the whole after effect of it. A good story is one that lingers behind in the mind of the reader. All the stories have a deeper meaning. However, it is either too difficult to figure out or is highly confusing.

This is not a book we would recommend to lovers of literature.

[Nitin Puri · Rating 5 out of 5]

As mentioned in the dedication as well, legendary writer R.K Narayan has influenced the author in a profound way. The simplicity of story telling juxtaposed with a socially relevant message reminds the reader of the artistic grandeur of yesteryear without being difficult. The stories ranges from a linearly simple one such as 'Swamy and the Jam bun" to a more complex darker toned " the call of distress'. From an individual dichotomy of 'Shanthi' to the societal satire such as " and thus, a temple was born'. The spectrum of writing as well as the narration is extremely poignant and refreshingly joyous in a very short space ( figuratively band literally).

Its a wonderful piece of art which every reader will relate to to some extent. Its a 'one sitting' book and is definitely worth everyone's whilw

[The 3rd One · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welcome To Reality!

In the world full of hard-hitting fictions crowded with fantasies, sci-fi and horrors, Pungidasa's short stories strike readers with the forgotten fragments of Reality.
The book is full of real incidents happening around us that we have waved away with heavy hands of Ignorance. You will again gain the access of that lost memories as you will be able to relate real life incidents with every story.
Brilliantly written stories with gripping narration!

[Aparna S A · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice set of short stories. It's a light reading entertainer to remember the childhood stories we heard. Well plotted and well written. A must read