Stories of the past

Hello, Dear Readers,

Anyone who sees my Substack posting activity would imagine I am busy at my writing desk churning out stories. After all, I just posted the last part of a four-thousand-word short story. And, I have been writing these letters masquerading as posts.

Here's the truth. After I finished all the exercises from Le Guin's book, I haven't done much. The story I posted in parts was written sometime last year, and I scheduled the posts so that it appears I am writing regularly. (Who am I kidding?)

I have yet to get into my writing groove, but I am willing to wait because I am now bewitched by a story set in Kerala's past. My daughter was stunned by the size of the book. But I always begin the year with a big one. At more than seven hundred pages, The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese is a tome. And what an opus it is! I couldn’t help tweeting my thoughts, even though I am not even halfway through.

Tracing the history of a region through fiction, the author infuses the events with the clinical precision of a surgeon. The author's medical expertise and lack of it in 1900s India is conspicuous in the novel. I was instantly drawn into the world he created, and I'm still immersed in it. Once I am done, I'll need time to return to the real world and dive in to create a fictitious world for my book.

Meanwhile, here's the last bit of my short story, a story from India's past, when technology led to a noticeable generation gap.

Sudeepa