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First Love
'Brinda Charry is the real thing, a master at the top of her game. Her work engages the human condition and the personal with an intensity and authority that can only be explained by literary grace.' - Arthur R. Flowers When a new family moves in next door, a young girl finds herself falling in love for the first time ever. As she jealously attempts to keep the object of her love to herself, she moves deeper into a web of imagination and deceit and further away from the innocence of childhood. The warmth and intimacy of this moving tale also enriches 'Mallika', the story of a little boy and girl who are fascinated with their neighbour, a eunuch; 'The Secret', the escapades of a middle-aged bachelor who yearns for some excitement in his life and finds it in marriage; 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin', an unusual take on the popular folktale, and the other stories in this unforgettable collection from southern India.
- GenresShort Stories
179 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 31, 2015
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20 people want to read
About the author
Brinda Charry
11 books109 followersBorn in India, Brinda Charry has lived in the USA for over two decades. She has published fiction in India and the UK and won several awards and prizes for her work. THE EAST INDIAN, a historical novel set in colonial America, is her American debut to be published by Scribner USA, Scribe UK, and Harper Collins-India in May 2023. Brinda is also a specialist in Shakespeare and other writers of the English Renaissance and has published numerous books and articles in that field. She considers herself a novelist-turned-academic- re-turned novelist. She lives in Keene, New Hampshire.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 20, 2017
was a book I bought many years ago at Landmark when Landmark was still a bookstore and not what it has become today. A trumped-up fancy store with a section for stationery that is bigger than its section for books. When I saw Brinda Charry’s name on the book, I was (unjustifiably) thrilled. Here was a familiar name. I remembered a thin lady from the college English department looking overwhelmed by the starched cotton sari she wore. It was thrilling to me that I had once upon a time been in the same room as someone who now had written a real-printed-on-wood-pulp, put on a shelf in a store book. So I bought it.
I was not in a short story reading mode then though. And definitely not into short stories of the kind this book features. Most of them are coming of age stories set firmly in south India. Most of her protagonists are reticent South Indian children and teenagers with more going on in their heads than the adults think there should be.
When I first bought it, my reading life was all about finding escape. And that was not something this book offered. I was too eager, after my own South Indian childhood to get on with the business of being an adult I suppose. Now, many years later, reading this book about other lost souls from my universe was unexpectedly absorbing.
There were two stories in particular that I liked. Jayanthi – a story about a girl and her family’s preoccupation with making sure she has long hair that appealed to me because – well anyone who knew a younger me would know why it appealed :-). There is a sinister take on Pied Piper of Hamelin – the only story not set in South India – which was a wonderfully written little horror story.
William Graham – a ghost story – was also one that I really enjoyed. After a diet of books by Indian authors that are either too clever (a la Manu Joseph) or too trite (a la – all the trash fiction that I read on Kindle Unlimited), Brinda’s beautiful prose and descriptions were an oasis.
I definitely recommend reading this book if you are looking for something that is well-written and will leave you contemplative.
I was not in a short story reading mode then though. And definitely not into short stories of the kind this book features. Most of them are coming of age stories set firmly in south India. Most of her protagonists are reticent South Indian children and teenagers with more going on in their heads than the adults think there should be.
When I first bought it, my reading life was all about finding escape. And that was not something this book offered. I was too eager, after my own South Indian childhood to get on with the business of being an adult I suppose. Now, many years later, reading this book about other lost souls from my universe was unexpectedly absorbing.
There were two stories in particular that I liked. Jayanthi – a story about a girl and her family’s preoccupation with making sure she has long hair that appealed to me because – well anyone who knew a younger me would know why it appealed :-). There is a sinister take on Pied Piper of Hamelin – the only story not set in South India – which was a wonderfully written little horror story.
William Graham – a ghost story – was also one that I really enjoyed. After a diet of books by Indian authors that are either too clever (a la Manu Joseph) or too trite (a la – all the trash fiction that I read on Kindle Unlimited), Brinda’s beautiful prose and descriptions were an oasis.
I definitely recommend reading this book if you are looking for something that is well-written and will leave you contemplative.
January 31, 2020
Quite good stories...pied piper and queen and first love I loved the most
December 24, 2012
Innocence is a treasure waiting to be lost
“First Love” is a wonderful anthology of Brinda Charry’s short stories, most of which are set in the heat of southern India. I picked up this book in the library while waiting for a friend to come back from an errand and thought it would be a good time pass. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the depth of the tales it contained and vowed to read all of the stories contained within its pages.
Brinda Charry beautifully depicts the loss of innocence through her thought provoking tales. Most of her stories focus around children and how the harsh reality of life hits them. One such story that truly struck me as a masterpiece was “Searching for Suresh”. Marvellously written, this story depicts a fourteen year old boy marked by society as “Fatso, Jumbo, Fatboy”, who is fed up with the monotony of his life with his grandmother and mother. He embarks on a journey to the slums of his city to find his best friend Suresh, who has mysteriously stopped coming to school, only to find something much more than what he bargained for.
Similarly, “The Russians” is another such wonderful tale of a young boy who has come to live with his father only to discover that his father is not all that he seems; only to discover that sometimes life plays some very cruel games with you.
In “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” Ms Charry again reinforces her theme of the loss of innocence through the age old folk tale of the Pied Piper. When the piper comes to town he brings with him a disease. He might have rid the town of vermin but he also sows the seed of corruption in the minds of the town’s children. His fascination with children is tainted with paedophilia, but his charm entraps them all. And as the woman next door keeps on daydreaming about him like a lovesick puppy, he draws out all the children including her lame son just as he drew out the rats! And all follow him to a mysterious land of wonder except the lame boy who couldn’t keep up.
However, when it comes to picking favourites “Shadow” and “Jayanthi” win by a mile! Both are stories about the mistreatment of women. In “Shadow” a Muslim woman takes refuge in the house of a Hindu woman as riots break out in their neighbourhood. She is a woman who was maltreated by two men in her life: her husband and then her lover. The woman who gives her refuge too is being ill-treated by the men in her life but she seems to be in denial. Her husband and her sons have quite literally reduced her to a shadow in their lives. She does not get the respect she deserves. However, there remains a stark difference between these two women. Where the woman seeking refuge does take charge of her life and does something about the situation at hand, the woman giving refuge does not seem to do so. Her biggest act of defiance is giving refuge to this woman, and once she leaves that too becomes something that could have been a dream. I also found it quite intriguing that neither of these women was named in the story.
On the other hand, “Jayanthi” is a story of a young woman whose family insist that she is of age and it is about time she got married. However, they believe that there is only one hurdle between her and the prospect of a marriage proposal: the thinness of her hair. It is interesting to note that she accepts all the treatment they apply on her hair in silence. Months and months of applying various types of oils and tonics and unmentionable things and yet she says nothing. In the mean time, she meets a man who is too poor to be an eligible match for her but for whom she falls in love with. The thing that I found really intriguing was that despite her silence at all the madness revolving around her hair, she holds a grudge against him for not speaking out about his interest in her. She does not talk to her family herself, but expects him to say something, to ask for her hand. When he doesn’t, she curses him silently and goes into a mad state herself. Where people might blame her family and the man for her ill condition towards the end of the story, I blame her and her alone for it. I believe that her earlier silence and her acceptance of torture were the evils that brought ill fate to her doorstep. And all the while her hair grows shinier, thicker and longer transforming into a monster that engulfs her in its grasp!
I must say that this anthology really impressed me and I was pleasantly surprised that a random book picked up out of the shelf would end up being so good. I would recommend this for all those readers out there who want to read a little something thought provoking for a change! :D :D :D
“First Love” is a wonderful anthology of Brinda Charry’s short stories, most of which are set in the heat of southern India. I picked up this book in the library while waiting for a friend to come back from an errand and thought it would be a good time pass. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the depth of the tales it contained and vowed to read all of the stories contained within its pages.
Brinda Charry beautifully depicts the loss of innocence through her thought provoking tales. Most of her stories focus around children and how the harsh reality of life hits them. One such story that truly struck me as a masterpiece was “Searching for Suresh”. Marvellously written, this story depicts a fourteen year old boy marked by society as “Fatso, Jumbo, Fatboy”, who is fed up with the monotony of his life with his grandmother and mother. He embarks on a journey to the slums of his city to find his best friend Suresh, who has mysteriously stopped coming to school, only to find something much more than what he bargained for.
Similarly, “The Russians” is another such wonderful tale of a young boy who has come to live with his father only to discover that his father is not all that he seems; only to discover that sometimes life plays some very cruel games with you.
In “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” Ms Charry again reinforces her theme of the loss of innocence through the age old folk tale of the Pied Piper. When the piper comes to town he brings with him a disease. He might have rid the town of vermin but he also sows the seed of corruption in the minds of the town’s children. His fascination with children is tainted with paedophilia, but his charm entraps them all. And as the woman next door keeps on daydreaming about him like a lovesick puppy, he draws out all the children including her lame son just as he drew out the rats! And all follow him to a mysterious land of wonder except the lame boy who couldn’t keep up.
However, when it comes to picking favourites “Shadow” and “Jayanthi” win by a mile! Both are stories about the mistreatment of women. In “Shadow” a Muslim woman takes refuge in the house of a Hindu woman as riots break out in their neighbourhood. She is a woman who was maltreated by two men in her life: her husband and then her lover. The woman who gives her refuge too is being ill-treated by the men in her life but she seems to be in denial. Her husband and her sons have quite literally reduced her to a shadow in their lives. She does not get the respect she deserves. However, there remains a stark difference between these two women. Where the woman seeking refuge does take charge of her life and does something about the situation at hand, the woman giving refuge does not seem to do so. Her biggest act of defiance is giving refuge to this woman, and once she leaves that too becomes something that could have been a dream. I also found it quite intriguing that neither of these women was named in the story.
On the other hand, “Jayanthi” is a story of a young woman whose family insist that she is of age and it is about time she got married. However, they believe that there is only one hurdle between her and the prospect of a marriage proposal: the thinness of her hair. It is interesting to note that she accepts all the treatment they apply on her hair in silence. Months and months of applying various types of oils and tonics and unmentionable things and yet she says nothing. In the mean time, she meets a man who is too poor to be an eligible match for her but for whom she falls in love with. The thing that I found really intriguing was that despite her silence at all the madness revolving around her hair, she holds a grudge against him for not speaking out about his interest in her. She does not talk to her family herself, but expects him to say something, to ask for her hand. When he doesn’t, she curses him silently and goes into a mad state herself. Where people might blame her family and the man for her ill condition towards the end of the story, I blame her and her alone for it. I believe that her earlier silence and her acceptance of torture were the evils that brought ill fate to her doorstep. And all the while her hair grows shinier, thicker and longer transforming into a monster that engulfs her in its grasp!
I must say that this anthology really impressed me and I was pleasantly surprised that a random book picked up out of the shelf would end up being so good. I would recommend this for all those readers out there who want to read a little something thought provoking for a change! :D :D :D
September 14, 2015
good indian fiction
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews