A Breezy Bunch of Tales

Book Review

Laburnum for my head - Stories by Temsula Ao

A small beautiful book, just over hundred pages, this comprises of eight simple tales, each one with a rustic charm. Temsula Ao, a Padma Shree awardee juggles between many subjects in this book, through stories set mostly in Nagaland.

The titular story features an Indian laburnum bush in full, yellow bloom in the month of May at the southernmost corner of an old cemetery. The story trace its origin to a lady's single most cherished desire to see these yellow flowers blossom before she dies. These feminine and humble flowers that hang their heads earth wards dictate all her actions till her wish is fulfilled. 

How different is it when a hunter decides the prey, when and where to hit it, to meet the meat quotient of a meal from a scenario where an official body assigns him the animal in question, with the choicest weapons and a timeline for the task? What happens when a sense of guilt overrides pride of victory, skills and bravery,  all this is dealt with in the story - death of a hunter.

The boy who sold an airfield , the next story, has a drizzle of wit and humor detailing how a young lad manages to sell an almost non functional airfield at Jorhat, Assam to naive, nearby villagers.

The plight of villagers caught between government officials, army officers on  one hand  and underground extortionists on the other is depicted in a poignant tale with an ironic twist in the story - the letter.

Three women, is written in a different format; Martha, Medemla and Lipoktula, their secrets, their eternal bond despite wounds from past is narrated well in this simple tale.

A simple question - "What do you want from us?" that a lady asks a police officer speaks volumes of the collective plight of her clan caught in daily crisis, between tax demanding underground rebels and ever doubting police officials who put her village's men behind bars on false charges of shielding anti nationals.

Sonny - is a tale of love, a reluctant but inevitable breakup between two youngsters, their aspirations and ambitions so clearly divergent. Years pass by but an invisible pull of trust brings them together with a pall of gloom descending in the background.

The Flight describes metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly , albeit, in a different setting. 

None of the tales in this bunch are breathtakingly extraordinary, none so drab. This book is a good, breezy read that one can use as a filler or to get over a reading lull.