Stories from the City called Kolkata

by Ishita G.

"Stories from the City called Kolkata" is a collection of 10 short stories. Written in the backdrop of metro city Kolkata, the stories are based on urban middle-class life. These are simple stories portraying love, joy, hope, heartache, and loneliness of city people – their struggles, frustrations, ambitions, and ‘never say die’ attitude. Each story has a unique plot twist, bound to melt the heart of the readers. The emotions expressed are relatable and the characters although fictional, are fleshed out of the real world. The characters are mostly middle-class city people. A housewife who secretly writes poetries in a diary or a young office goer’s fondness for an unknown woman on his daily commute, the good old gentleman Mr Bhaduri who struggles to maintain his huge mansion, the poor but virtuous rickshaw puller or Manotosh Babu who just wants to buy some cakes for his wife from an expensive cake shop or take the instance of the workaholic Riddhima who finally realizes the worth of life and finds true love at a ripe age – the characters are ordinary yet extraordinary in some way. They stand out in the crowd. Each of the 10 stories has a message to give and a connection to make with the readers. This book is dedicated to the spirit of the Indian middle class city people and their zeal to survive and continue their life journey.

116 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Avani Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read this short storybook called 'Stories from the city called Kolkata' and loved it. This has 10 short stories, each has a different emotion, different ending, grey characters but one thing is common in all of them, the distinct flavor of the city Kolkata.
I have been to Kolkata and whenever I still think about that time, I cherish those memories. The busy streets, the tram, the sweets, black-yellow taxis, the modern Kolkata, all of it is deeply imbibed in my memories, and I got to relive all those beautiful memories with this book.
If you are looking for a short story book recommendation with an Indian flavor, you should check out this book.

[Ishita Biswas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each and every story just touched my heart and made me so emotional. The theme of the book revolves around the daily life of middle class family and their subtle emotions which will make you think about life on a whole different level. Every story is so intense that you will need time to recover from it and do your own thing. This is not just a short story collection, it's an honour to the daily mundane life of people, their little pain, pleasures. It teaches us to grow, gives us hope, catalyses us to move forward and carry on with life no matter what. The stories are really unique.

Here are the Sneakpeaks about each story :

Story 1 : The diary 📓

I never expected such an ending. My heart just ripped off for the protagonist in the story. Emotional one. Took me a while to adjust my thoughts and come out of the plot. You will feel it more if you are a creative person.

Story 2 : Woman on the metro 🚇

Again an unexpected ending, I could literally feel the emotion. The story was so intense.

Story 3 : Little Pieces of Sunshine 🌞

This was a lovely story, I wished to know more about the chemistry between Amlan and Ranjha. Just kept thinking what turn the story would take if it had been continued.

Story 4 : The Jewelry Box

Impressive, unexpected ending. The emotions it brought up is so priceless. Written with utmost truth and relates a lot with true life situations but ends with a very unusual twist.

Story 5 : Sulochona's Decision

Such an empowering story. At the beginning it just ached hearing sulochona's condition but later it turned to be different kind of ending.

Story 6 : The Question 🙋

Oh God! the ending, just so unpredictable, twist of plot. The story was so motivating and really different one. You will love it for sure.

Story 7 : The 🍰 Cake Shop

The story made me emotional, felt so bad for the protagonist and could literally feel the pain of his wife. Ahh! wish someone was there to help them.

Story 8 : The rickshaw puller

The honesty, hard work, struggles and also the whole plot of the story touched my heart.

Story 9 : The hair cut💇

Very very different kind of story but has a huge depth in it. You have to actually read it in order to get the feel.

Story 10 : December Rains

A unique love story which just melted my heart. Wanted to know more what happened to the characters but the story ended. That's where the beauty lies.

So, this book is beautifully penned down and it's a great book to add to your collection. Go for it! Thank you for reading till the end. Have a great day ahead🙏🥰

[Ayantika Pal · Rating 4 out of 5]

The quintessential urban middle class bengali families still appropriates a large part of Kolkata. Driven by aspirations, and struggling through unvoiced battles, you'll find them constantly bridging the gap between wants and needs, while sustaining a low key lifestyle.

Stories from the city called Kolkata is a compilation of 10 beautiful short stories revolving around such middle class Bengali families who are audacious enough to harbour larger than life dreams, but afraid to take that leap of faith. Who are selflessly struggling to make ends meet, comfort their loved ones, willingly or unwillingly, sometimes at the expense of their own desires.

A housewife secretly writing poetry all her life, encouraged by her neighbourhood friend to publish them, getting elated at possibility of writing a book! Only to be deceived by her indifferent husband.
A boy watching a girl everyday in the metro, falling in love, searching for her desperately only to get his heart broken.
A man's final few resorts to save his ancestral home.
After a long, compromising married life, a retired man wishing to surprise his wife for the first time on their anniversary only to be mocked by his son.
A hopeless job searcher finding his purpose of life through a stranger one day, later uncovering unexpected truth about him.
These are some of them that left a mark on me.

Simplicity and subtlety was oozing out of each of the stories. These are very familiar, day-to-day happenings that we may encounter, but the author has done a tremendous job in giving a voice to the emotions behind them. Most of them were masterfully knit by a common thread of having an unhappy, compromised life to listening to ones heart's call,and acting on it. The only thing missing in my opinion, was depth. A little bit of backstory, character developments that I would like to know.

I loved the little twist of events at the end, that makes them exceptional.

[Vibhuti Bhandarkar · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Stories From the City Called Kolkata' is a collection of 10 short stories telling the realistic tales of the humble and simple middle class life in Kolkata. Beginning with the beautiful Black & White book cover, that captures the iconic look and feel of the city, every story reminded me of my personal experience of the city, and the lifestyle seen in old Bengali movies. It transported me to that world of emotions where people have learnt to take disappointment in their stride.

"The world forgets to choose the ordinary. Love is forgotten and changed all the time and especially when a better prospect is found." A quote from the story 'Sulochana's decision'.

Each story is like a peek into the lives of the 'humans of Kolkata', whether it is the frail old Rickshaw puller or Mr. Bhaduri living in a dilapidated ancestral mansion in old Bhowanipore. The stories are told at a slow pace, giving great importance to sentiments, and leaves the reader with a melancholic sort of feeling. My favourite story is 'The Jewellery Box' which has its namesake in the famous Bengali Movie- Goynaar Boksho. It has a poignantly surprising end that makes it memorable.

In my opinion, the only downside of these stories is that they made an extremely quick and easy read. It felt like I'd finished the book in no time.

[Varma Shagun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book - Stories From The City Called Kolkata.
Author - Ishita Ganguly.
✓This is a collection of 10 short stories. Stories are based on urban middle class life, set in the backdrop of the city, Kolkata. Some of my most favourite stories are, "The Diary", "The Jewellery Box", "The Cake Shop" and "The Rickshaw Puller". I must say that from 10 stories not a single story will disappoint you. The stories portray various themes like love, joy, hope, heartbreak, struggle and ambitions. Each story has a unique plot twist which will compel you you to think about it for a very long time. Each story will somehow establish a connection with you. The characters perfectly complement the plot. The stories and the characters are pretty realistic. The language is lucid and the style of writing is worth appreciation. I have read this book twice in the last 3 months. Absolutely in love with it. Highly recommended. This is a must read.

[Anam Fatima · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories triggered a range of emotions within me-happiness,sorrow,surprise to name a few.Such an easy language has been used to describe instances from the daily lives of people.We see these people everyday,we meet them everyday! These stories happen in our houses,in our neighbours' houses.These are so simple yet so magical.After every chapter,the emotions lingered on,as if the story had touched a part of me.Ishita has done a commendable job.

[Aimei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this while living in Kolkata. Easy reading (except for the parts in ?bengali/Hindi) and I enjoyed reflecting on the human connections and lessons learnt from each story.

[Namita Das · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are 10 stories in the book and each touched my heart. Coming from a middle-class Bengali family, there were so many episodes that I connect within this book. I was angry with Sujay, felt the pain of Shubra, could feel the rickshaw ride, and much more.

The narration and language are simple.

The only put off was the editing, there were many places where the words were spaced abruptly changing the meaning of it.

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