The BWW Bangalore Anthology

by Bhumika Anand (Editor)

Celebrate the city of Bengaluru with the Bangalore Writers Workshop (BWW) community. In this ten-year anniversary edition, we traverse the city's landscape with thirty nuanced short stories and personal accounts that showcase the myriad experiences of the very diverse people in this city. Published by Bengaluru's own book-house and publisher, Atta Galatta, this book will prove as addictive as the delectable food we are famous for. So, as you enjoy the vibrant spread, if you end up falling a little more in love with the fragility and resilience that is Bangalore, then, we can only nod in our own inimitable Bangalore way, and pat your hand in understanding.

329 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2022

Reviews

[Deepanwita Banerjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Among the 30 stories I loved reading, the best were Jadoh - by Arpita Dey, 284D by Dr. Mridula Basavaraj, How Nita Mehta Saved Us in Bangalore by Bodhisatwa Ray, Murky Waters by Avishek Chakrobarty, Reverse Gear by Manjul Nair, The Memory Remains by Swapnil Bhatnagar, Tsunami by Trevor Louw. Among the others, some I felt were incomplete, or sad or difficult to understand what the writer was trying to portray. The story Jadoh was the only one where the story was told in perspective of second person (2nd person narration). Unique. Also, the writer so beautifully and smoothly narrates the story while simultaneously giving the readers a lip-smacking recipe of a pork preparation (called Jadoh). The story also very subtly tells its readers of the thought processes a migrant from a different state may feel when treated different. I personally related to a few of those, surprisingly, without realizing that I had over the years of my stay in different states. Overall, would definitely recommend buying this book.

[Arindam Panda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a story called “Jadoh” by Arpita Dey in this book. The story was fascinating and pure joy to read.

It is about a girl named Ribha who moved to a big city with an equal big dream and the story tells her experience to the city and her inner turmoil along with it.

I am very much impressed by the writing of Arpita. The story has a different perspective to it and i thought writing the story in that manner is quiet difficult but she has managed it beautifully. In short ‘Jadoh’ is a very powerful, unique and symbolic story that sits and blends well with the reader.

I will definitely look forward more from the author and perhaps a full length novel if she ever wishes to write one!

[Pawan Hegde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely read this book if you like fiction and have a connection to Bangalore[sic].

I can't remember reading any other published story in English that is set in Bangalore (not that I had been searching for one) so this book feels special to me. This is not to say that Bangalore features prominently in every story. A lot of them could have been set in any Indian city except for the name-dropping that the authors did to make their stories fit the theme. Ironically—or maybe not—the pieces in the anthology that left an impression on me only mentioned Bangalore in passing, and yet depended on Bangalore being what it is/was. I'll touch on these when I review my favourite pieces from the anthology.

It's worth noting that pretty much no author featured in the anthology was born and brought up in Bangalore. Some of them moved here for work, and some of them moved elsewhere. The author of my favourite story of the book never even lived in Bangalore!

Overall it was a quick read. Not all stories are stellar but the book is worth a read just for the gems it does have. The one gripe I have is that the book does not say which ones are fiction and which ones are memoirs. I mistook some pieces as fiction and was disappointed by the really boring plot, but based on the author bio at the end I realised that it was a memoir; I had to remind myself that life is often boring.

I’d have rated it 4.5 if Goodreads allowed me to, but this is closer to a 4/5 than a 5/5 IMHO.

So, here are my favourite pieces from the book—in alphabetical order because if I try to rank amongst these, I’ll never finish writing this review.

- 284D by Dr. Mridula Basavaraj
- A place of our own by Prateek Nigam
- Nothing is required by Lara C Caldwell
- Tsunami by Trevor Louw

I’m reviewing each of these stories in depth because of how much I enjoyed them. There are spoilers after this
(listed in reverse-alphabetical for balance)

Tsunami by Trevor Louw: The story filled me with nostalgia for a place and a time that I hadn’t even experienced. To find out that it was written by a then unpublished author who hadn’t ever visited India blew my mind. I genuinely felt like joining a South African writing workshop and writing the best story of their anthology just to get back at him. You must think I’m joking and only be half right.

The story starts out being about Prathish, our narrator, who reminisces about an old-timey pub called Dewar’s that he used to frequent when he was still new at his company. And like I said earlier, I wasn’t sure at this point if it was a piece of fiction or a memoir.

Then the story builds this side-character called Shibu that the narrator forms a friendship with. Prathish and Shibu mostly talk about the changing landscape of Bengaluru (which was interesting, tbh) and I thought this was about their friendship.

Then the story adds layers to Shibu. I’d thought of Shibu as the obstinate drunkard clinging to the past just to play the foil to the narrator. His rant about how history is lost everytime we rebuild even felt typical. Trevor did such a great job of fleshing out the characters that I thought I was reading about real people.
Then the story changes as Shibu talks about his work in Pondicherry after the Tsunami. And that’s when I realised that Tsunami is really a story about Shibu and our narrator is the side-character through whose eyes we’re seeing the protagonist. The new information recontextualised Shibu’s rants earlier in the story for me.

And then the story hit the climax as it tells us what happened to Shibu’s relationship with the fisherman’s daughter. It recontextualised the whole person. I understood why he travels one hour to Dewar’s and back everyday despite the rains and the traffic. I had goosebumps.

The story was a revelation. This is what great writing looks like. I love twists in a story. I love it when you realise that the vampire is just allergic to garlic. But reading this story made me realise how the twist-ending is just the extreme form of good recontextualization like what this story does.

Yes, this was my favourite story of the anthology. It had everything: friendship, passion, philosophy; even accidental nudity. I don’t think I’ll be this good at writing no matter how many workshops I join. South African workshops need not worry.

Nothing is required by Lara C Caldwell: I still don’t know if this is fiction or a fictionalised memoir. The characters were so believable and consistent and the imagery was so vivid that I would believe it if you told me that this actually happened. But also the ending was so poetic and gut-wrenching that I want to believe that it was outlined that way.

The situation that our narrator found herself in is sadly not an uncommon one, but the way Lara brought to life the passive-aggressive stay-at-home mother-in-law, the outwardly sweet but ultimately entitled father-in-law and their conflict of expectations with their fiercely independent daugher-in-law who was dragged into a situation that she doesn’t feel comfortable in just for sake of her love for Amir was phenomenal. At the end, I was curious to know if the narrator would choose to stay with her fiancé or break up with him (or just break up with his family), but I think it ended at the right time. Great writing can become terrible if you don’t know when to stop.

A place of our own by Prateek Nigam: I like stories where the characters are in healthy loving relationships and the author doesn’t need to say it out loud. Prateek has managed to write a beautiful contemplative and slow paced story about a couple searching for an apartment in Bengaluru and made it fun.

At the surface the story is about finding an apartment that is within the heart of their Bangalore and yet in their budget. Just a layer deeper, however, runs the strong current of separation anxiety. Niharika is going to the US for her masters, leaving behind her not-quite-live-in partner Irshad alone in Bengaluru. Though they love each other, time and separation can separate the best of lovers and both of them are feeling it. The difference in their religion just makes it so much harder.

The metaphor of the migratory birds really stuck with me. The first time it was brought up I thought it was just some filler for Mrs. Bannerjee’s character, but the significance of the metaphor really stuck at the end.

284D by Dr. Mridula Basavaraj: This was, in my humble opinion, the best essay in the book. It is short and to the point. The writer’s travels on the bus route 284D is the vehicle for the story of her journey from landing in Yelahanka to loving Bengaluru. As Bengaluru embraced and became one with Yelahanka, so did Dr. Basavaraj with Bengaluru. Great stuff. I especially liked how she closed with the imagery of 284D as her sweetheart.

[Shrilatha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading this. Bangalore is a character in each story.

[Kritanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favourite stories was Tsunami by Trevor Luow. Couldn't believe that he hadn't even been to India when he wrote it. Other stories I liked were An inheritance of words by Gayathri V, Adulting in Bangalore by Rosemary Thomas and A place of our own by Prateek Nigam.

[Kamal Govindraj · Rating 5 out of 5]

A trip down the memory lane..

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure - one of my stories is in this book :). But anyone who loves Bangalore should read this book or anyone who wants to get to know the city - so many good stories and such a range!

[Udayan Banerjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent collection of stories - truly captures the spirit of Bangalore.

Jadoh by Arpita Dey was definitely my favorite story in the collection.

[Mridula A.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful collection of stories…. Loved all of them ! It is like visiting Bangalore many times over and looking at it through thirty different perspectives. The city is a constant character in all the stories !