About The Book

In this collection of delectable gris-noir short stories, the women make a statement. They are sexually liberated and fearless. They play with guns and knives and axes. They may be slightly broken but they aren't uninteresting. An amorous khayal singer in old Delhi—the Begum of Ballimaran—is nonchalant about taking a vulnerable poet to bed. Sejal, a nubile dacoit is running away from her lover, Rana, through thick jungles because he seems inclined to give up thievery. A young convict is trained to become an assassin under the patronage of her senior—the bald, scarred Bai Sa, and a car crash survivor, invited to deliver an inspiring lecture at a college, feels like pushing another speaker off the dais because the latter's sari is shocking pink. There's also a desert village where moustaches rule the roost, and a dark, damp world where the struggle is between glory and fate. Meanwhile, in the hills, through the mist, you spot a failed actor trying to kick the bucket, an ambitious manager trying to use telepathy to knock off his bosses, and a bus parked precariously during a torrential downpour. Therefore, shadows become hoary tales, and a whisper is the learning of a lifetime

About the Author

Sangita P Menon Malhan is a former journalist who worked with the Delhi Mid Day, The Asian Age, The Statesman and The Times of India. She moved to fulltime writing, translation, editing and teaching in 2008. Her earlier works include a collection of short stories in English, a book of poems in Urdu and an award-winning nonfiction on the media. Prior to this, she was a gold medallist in the National Cadet Corps and a glider pilot, who acquired her Private Pilot's Licence. She has a Diploma in Spanish from the Instituto Cervantes, Madrid; and an Advanced Diploma in French from the Alliance Française, Paris. She keenly follows politics, Art and music; teaches French and is a student of Bengali, Tamil and Gurmukhi. She aspires to become many things: a hyper polyglot, a film maker, an activist. The possibilities remain as endless as her zest for life.