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Márquez EMS Gulam and Others: Selected Short Stories
'No matter which story I say is true, you will still believe only the version that you choose to.' A young journalist in Kerala who wakes up to find he's become Gabriel García Márquez...
A one-time zookeeper in search of a lost tiger cub in a war-torn Arab city...
A man in a Maharashtra village who must keep thieving because of his caste... Featuring JCB Prize-winning author Benyamin's finest short fiction, Márquez, EMS, Gulam and Others brings together people, places, lives and times. Translated brilliantly by Swarup B.R., these stories unravel, with deep sensitivity, the human condition across fault lines of class, caste, colour and country, of illusion and reality. They make you ponder about the world we live in, the people who inhabit it, the borders separating us - and the truths and lies we tell ourselves and others.
A one-time zookeeper in search of a lost tiger cub in a war-torn Arab city...
A man in a Maharashtra village who must keep thieving because of his caste... Featuring JCB Prize-winning author Benyamin's finest short fiction, Márquez, EMS, Gulam and Others brings together people, places, lives and times. Translated brilliantly by Swarup B.R., these stories unravel, with deep sensitivity, the human condition across fault lines of class, caste, colour and country, of illusion and reality. They make you ponder about the world we live in, the people who inhabit it, the borders separating us - and the truths and lies we tell ourselves and others.
- GenresFictionShort Stories
214 pages, Paperback
Published January 8, 2023
6 people are currently reading
75 people want to read
About the author
Benyamin
56 books812 followersBenyamin (born 1971, Benny Daniel) is an Indian novelist and short story writer in Malayalam language from Nhettur, Kulanada, Pattanamtitta district of the south Indian state of Kerala. He is residing in the Kingdom of Bahrain since 1992, from the age of twenty, and his works appear regularly on Malayalam publications in Kerala.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 18, 2023
A journalist and wannabe writer named Gregory George Mathews makes a momentous discovery: not only does he share his initials with Gabriel Garcia Márquez, there are many more uncanny resemblances between the two—and so Mathews, convinced he’s an avatar of the great writer, sets out to be another Márquez. With hilarious results.
EMS and The Girl has another man donning the name of a well-known figure: in this case, Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad, the communist politician from Kerala. A Malayali immigrant in the US, finding an East Asian girl who’s stowed away in his car, decides he can’t risk telling her his real name—so EMS it is.
Both Márquez and EMS and The Girl have people pretending to be someone they’re not. In the first instance, to a ludicrous extent; in the second, superficially. This is a theme that plays out again and again, in subtly varying ways, in several stories of Benyamin’s collection Márquez EMS Gulam & Others. There are people here, from a mysterious woman whom the narrator stumbles upon in Ireland, to a zealous, overly dedicated postman in the heart of Kerala, who hide secrets. From the African wife of an American in Addis Ababa, to the Indian making friends with Palestinians in the Jerusalem of The Stones of Gazan: these are people shifting between identities, pretending to be someone they’re not.
Benyamin’s stories span space and time: from Ireland to Solapur, from Kerala to Nainital. From a Roman ship sailing the high seas in the early years of Christianity to a taxi driver driving a passenger from Kochi’s Nedumbassery Airport. There are very exotic locales here and very mundane, familiar ones; people like us and people from another age, another strata.
And yet, Benyamin binds them all together into stories that speak to the common humanity in each of us. Here are the fears and the traumas that each of us, even if we have not been there ourselves, can relate to. The lost homeland, the ache for a life we have been wrenched from. The grinding poverty that will drive a person to desperate means. Loneliness. Ambition, even if for something so basic as not following a family occupation of picking pockets.
These stories are all uniformly good examples of the art and craft of storytelling; the plots are interesting, the characters memorable. The dialogue is very real.
But most of all, what shines through is the sheer depth of Benyamin’s understanding of human nature and his ability to depict it in all its nuances. One of the most impactful ways in which he does this is to leave things unsaid. Not all the i’s are dotted, not all the t’s are crossed, not every end is neatly tied up. Sometimes, as in the heart-breaking Solapur, there is enough said in passing for most readers to come to the same conclusion; in other stories, your guess may be as good as mine—and perhaps we could both be right. For instance, take the story of the Kashmiri forced to be a boatman in Nainital, Javed the Mujahideen: there is no conclusive end here, nothing you can pin down as the conclusion. Which, really, is what life is all about, too: messy and complicated, open to interpretation.
As the eponymous Alice of Alice in Wonderland (not Carroll’s but Benyamin’s) says, with profound wisdom: ‘No matter which story I say is true, you will still believe only the version that you choose to. It applies not just to stories—life, too, has this limitation.’
In the course of these stories, Benyamin touches upon various social and political issues: casteism, poverty, the exploitation of the rural poor by the urban elite. Racism, communalism, discrimination of a myriad hues. All are woven deftly into these tales, in a way only a virtuoso like Benyamin can manage.
(From my review for Open: The Magazine: https://openthemagazine.com/lounge/bo...)
EMS and The Girl has another man donning the name of a well-known figure: in this case, Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad, the communist politician from Kerala. A Malayali immigrant in the US, finding an East Asian girl who’s stowed away in his car, decides he can’t risk telling her his real name—so EMS it is.
Both Márquez and EMS and The Girl have people pretending to be someone they’re not. In the first instance, to a ludicrous extent; in the second, superficially. This is a theme that plays out again and again, in subtly varying ways, in several stories of Benyamin’s collection Márquez EMS Gulam & Others. There are people here, from a mysterious woman whom the narrator stumbles upon in Ireland, to a zealous, overly dedicated postman in the heart of Kerala, who hide secrets. From the African wife of an American in Addis Ababa, to the Indian making friends with Palestinians in the Jerusalem of The Stones of Gazan: these are people shifting between identities, pretending to be someone they’re not.
Benyamin’s stories span space and time: from Ireland to Solapur, from Kerala to Nainital. From a Roman ship sailing the high seas in the early years of Christianity to a taxi driver driving a passenger from Kochi’s Nedumbassery Airport. There are very exotic locales here and very mundane, familiar ones; people like us and people from another age, another strata.
And yet, Benyamin binds them all together into stories that speak to the common humanity in each of us. Here are the fears and the traumas that each of us, even if we have not been there ourselves, can relate to. The lost homeland, the ache for a life we have been wrenched from. The grinding poverty that will drive a person to desperate means. Loneliness. Ambition, even if for something so basic as not following a family occupation of picking pockets.
These stories are all uniformly good examples of the art and craft of storytelling; the plots are interesting, the characters memorable. The dialogue is very real.
But most of all, what shines through is the sheer depth of Benyamin’s understanding of human nature and his ability to depict it in all its nuances. One of the most impactful ways in which he does this is to leave things unsaid. Not all the i’s are dotted, not all the t’s are crossed, not every end is neatly tied up. Sometimes, as in the heart-breaking Solapur, there is enough said in passing for most readers to come to the same conclusion; in other stories, your guess may be as good as mine—and perhaps we could both be right. For instance, take the story of the Kashmiri forced to be a boatman in Nainital, Javed the Mujahideen: there is no conclusive end here, nothing you can pin down as the conclusion. Which, really, is what life is all about, too: messy and complicated, open to interpretation.
As the eponymous Alice of Alice in Wonderland (not Carroll’s but Benyamin’s) says, with profound wisdom: ‘No matter which story I say is true, you will still believe only the version that you choose to. It applies not just to stories—life, too, has this limitation.’
In the course of these stories, Benyamin touches upon various social and political issues: casteism, poverty, the exploitation of the rural poor by the urban elite. Racism, communalism, discrimination of a myriad hues. All are woven deftly into these tales, in a way only a virtuoso like Benyamin can manage.
(From my review for Open: The Magazine: https://openthemagazine.com/lounge/bo...)
January 28, 2023
4/5
I won’t lie, I bought this book because I took a liking to its gorgeous cover at the airport. My self discipline is at its lowest at airports. Books and baked goodies sneak their way into my bag.
A common thread throughout the stories in Marquez EMS Gulam & Others is how we, as humans, build walls between ourselves in the name of identity and reinforce them over generations. Benyamin portrays the many ways in which we accept some and reject others poignantly. I enjoyed this collection of short stories. I didn’t mind that most of the stories didn’t end with a clean conclusion. It felt more real this way.
I won’t lie, I bought this book because I took a liking to its gorgeous cover at the airport. My self discipline is at its lowest at airports. Books and baked goodies sneak their way into my bag.
A common thread throughout the stories in Marquez EMS Gulam & Others is how we, as humans, build walls between ourselves in the name of identity and reinforce them over generations. Benyamin portrays the many ways in which we accept some and reject others poignantly. I enjoyed this collection of short stories. I didn’t mind that most of the stories didn’t end with a clean conclusion. It felt more real this way.
February 19, 2023
A delightful collection of short stories translated from Malayalam, dealing with a wide range of stories including one about a writer who believes he is Marquez, to immigrants from Kerala working in far flung Middle East countries in the middle of global conflicts. Some stories are reminiscent of RK Narayan (including one about a Postman who meddles with mails).
July 27, 2023
Book: Marquez EMS Gulam & others
Author: Benyamin
Translator: Swarup B.R.
Genre: Short Story Collection
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Pages: 228
Although I received this book earlier than Subversive Whispers, I didn't get myself to read it sooner. But as soon as I finished Subversive Whispers, I knew what my next read would be, as I am much more excited to discover more gems from Malayalam Literature.
I have heard about Benny Daniel, better known as Benyamin because of "Jasmine Days" and the JCB Prize For Literature, and I wanted to read his work. And that opportunity came as Marquez EMS Gulam & others.
Marquez EMS Gulam & Others by Benyamin is a short story collection, where the stories are "fictional" but inspired by real-life events, as the author said in the author's note, "My stories are not far removed from life. Though imagination, like leaves, has sprouted, the roots remain firmly entrenched in the soil of life."
The stories don't have any particular theme in common, they are as diverse as life can be. From a person living in Kerela who thinks he is metamorphosed into Gregory George Márquez, the story of American soldiers in Baghdad, of the worth of Argentina's jersey bought by a father, a mysterious sailor, the internal turmoil of a taxi driver, it has as much diversity as one can imagine.
The stories in the collection were impacting, thought-provoking, and surprising and had endings that will astonish the readers for sure. The translation was as lucid and best as one can expect and it was worth reading.
"The Postman" is the story that is my favourite from the collection, and one of my all-time favourites. It has so much in it, and I loved the way the generational pride, love, and respect were shown, and that ending was one of the best things, something that I couldn't have imagined.
Some other favourites from this collection were:
The Argentina Jersey
The Enemy
Nedumbassery
Javed the Mujahideen
I loved most of the stories from the collection, and overall, it's a book that I highly recommend. And I can't wait to read more by Benyamin.
Author: Benyamin
Translator: Swarup B.R.
Genre: Short Story Collection
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Pages: 228
Although I received this book earlier than Subversive Whispers, I didn't get myself to read it sooner. But as soon as I finished Subversive Whispers, I knew what my next read would be, as I am much more excited to discover more gems from Malayalam Literature.
I have heard about Benny Daniel, better known as Benyamin because of "Jasmine Days" and the JCB Prize For Literature, and I wanted to read his work. And that opportunity came as Marquez EMS Gulam & others.
Marquez EMS Gulam & Others by Benyamin is a short story collection, where the stories are "fictional" but inspired by real-life events, as the author said in the author's note, "My stories are not far removed from life. Though imagination, like leaves, has sprouted, the roots remain firmly entrenched in the soil of life."
The stories don't have any particular theme in common, they are as diverse as life can be. From a person living in Kerela who thinks he is metamorphosed into Gregory George Márquez, the story of American soldiers in Baghdad, of the worth of Argentina's jersey bought by a father, a mysterious sailor, the internal turmoil of a taxi driver, it has as much diversity as one can imagine.
The stories in the collection were impacting, thought-provoking, and surprising and had endings that will astonish the readers for sure. The translation was as lucid and best as one can expect and it was worth reading.
"The Postman" is the story that is my favourite from the collection, and one of my all-time favourites. It has so much in it, and I loved the way the generational pride, love, and respect were shown, and that ending was one of the best things, something that I couldn't have imagined.
Some other favourites from this collection were:
The Argentina Jersey
The Enemy
Nedumbassery
Javed the Mujahideen
I loved most of the stories from the collection, and overall, it's a book that I highly recommend. And I can't wait to read more by Benyamin.
December 18, 2024
This is my first time reading the author, Benyamin. He writes in a very distinct voice. Not all of these short stories worked for me, but those that did will really remain in my mind for a long time. Just to give 2 examples of these short stories. The first one was the story of the cab driver who decides that he will cheat the next passenger that he has and suddenly has a change of heart. The second was a bit more morbid - a tale of the level and depth to which people would go to in order to make money, including what they would do with their own child. It was heartbreaking because by it was realistic.
Some of the stories had endings which I just didn't understand and it left me thinking. Now I'm sure that the ambiguity was intended at some level, but some of the stories just felt incomplete and the lack of closure was just that and not a deeper literary device.
Overall enjoyable for sure
Some of the stories had endings which I just didn't understand and it left me thinking. Now I'm sure that the ambiguity was intended at some level, but some of the stories just felt incomplete and the lack of closure was just that and not a deeper literary device.
Overall enjoyable for sure
July 30, 2023
Story-wise rating:
1: 4.5⭐ (Kafkaesque; Crisp storytelling)
2: 4⭐
3: 4.5⭐ (Pensive family fiction)
4: 4.5⭐ (The most creative story in the lot)
5: 3.5⭐
6: 4⭐
7: 4⭐
8: 5⭐ (Thrilling narrative; Contemplates human nature and actions)
9: 4⭐
10: 3.5⭐
11: 4.5⭐ (Contemporary short fiction at its best)
12: 3.5⭐
13: 4⭐
14: 3.5⭐
15: 4.5⭐ (Nature Fiction of sorts)
Looking forward to reading more works of Benyamin—man's a gem!
1: 4.5⭐ (Kafkaesque; Crisp storytelling)
2: 4⭐
3: 4.5⭐ (Pensive family fiction)
4: 4.5⭐ (The most creative story in the lot)
5: 3.5⭐
6: 4⭐
7: 4⭐
8: 5⭐ (Thrilling narrative; Contemplates human nature and actions)
9: 4⭐
10: 3.5⭐
11: 4.5⭐ (Contemporary short fiction at its best)
12: 3.5⭐
13: 4⭐
14: 3.5⭐
15: 4.5⭐ (Nature Fiction of sorts)
Looking forward to reading more works of Benyamin—man's a gem!
September 28, 2023
Loved this collection of short stories by Benyamin of Goat days fame. The stories are diverse & unique, ranging from a journalist in Kollam who thinks he is possessed by the ghost of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, to a tribal woman from Ethiopia who says she is the queen of an erstwhile kingdom. My Top 5 of the 15 stories:
- The Postman
- Gulam Hussain
- Alice in Wonderland
- Nedumbassery
- Marquez
- The Postman
- Gulam Hussain
- Alice in Wonderland
- Nedumbassery
- Marquez
September 4, 2023
A delicious collection of stories; sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always slightly bizarre.
Read
September 5, 2023Tbh, I cannot tell you what happened in this short story collection.
I think I only liked three of the stories :skull:
I think I only liked three of the stories :skull:
March 1, 2024
Short stories book is like a box of savories.
June 14, 2024
These short stories are a testament to how the issues of identity, caste, class and boundaries affect the personal lives of individuals. Some of the stories are open ended and thus requires the discretion of the readers to assume an apt conclusion. Some of the stories that I enjoyed reading and affected me were: (1) The Argentina Jersey (2) Solapur (3)EMS (4) The Postman.
July 25, 2025
fate was against bukkaram’s son
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews