About the Book

A storyteller unravels the extraordinary stories of some ordinary people. On our journey through life, we meet so many people--many we forget but some leave memories that refuse to fade away. This is a collection of true stories - of actual meetings and encounters that the author had with these people over the years as a journalist. 

The 11-year-old flower seller with her unfulfilled dreams, the gay men forced into lives of heterosexual unhappiness, the heart-wrenching stories of abandoned HIV positive children whom no-one wants to adopt. There are poignant stories of old women in old age homes.  Among the exploited prostitutes there stands out Sandhya who proudly describes how being a sex-worker has enabled her to educate and marry off her siblings.  Poor homeless pavement dwellers live together amicably regardless of their religion.  One old lady tells the author: "here everyone has only one caste - Ezhari jaati-(the caste of the poor).” Yet what shines through these stories isn't despair but hope and triumph of the human spirit against all odds.

About the Author

Shobha Warrier works as the Associate Editorial Director at rediff.com.  She is also a short story writer in Malayalam, having published three collections - Ramakundam, Meghana and Jalavidya. She was awarded the Lalithambika Antharjanam Award for the young woman writer in Malayalam in 1996 for the book Jaalavidya. Her short stories have been translated into Kannada and Telugu.