The past few months sped past in a blur leaving little time for me to read books other than what I needed for my assignments. For the few that I read, I have plans to review soon. Though reading was slow, I was still fanning my love for books by adding to the pile of unread books, shopping in every e-comm sale.

As of now, am sincerely hoping to finish the reading challenge I have taken up for the first time this year. Though, that would mean I need to read around 5 books in the last two months of the year.

I chanced upon Fables of India while looking for a collection of short stories for myself and also Pari. This book appeared to be fit to kill two birds with one stone as the blurb promised 22 interesting stories on the following lines:

A King’s negligence costs the Prince his eyes. How will the King make amends?

A farmer is torn between resurrecting his wife and upholding his duties. What will influence his choice?

A jester lives two lives – Masked for others. Unmasked for himself. His masked side brings happiness to everyone. But what brings happiness to his unmasked side?

A magnificent tree bears fruits of different kinds, but the King wants it to be cut down to serve justice. How will the tree defend itself?

An orphan boy is in search of the world’s bestselling book. Will he eventually find it?A dog struggles to uncurl his tail. Will he break the curse that curled his tail in the first place?

A young boy and his pet lamb are separated from each other. Will their friendship stand the test of time?

Set in the ancient times, Fables from India, is a collection of 22 profound and unheard stories from a country known for its storytelling.

The book has a simple mauve cover showcasing bonfire on a clear, star-lit night where a man is seen narrating the fables (stories of imaginary characters with a moral) to a group of people.

Both the cover and the title successfully capture the essence of this beautiful short-story collection.

The first fable is a poem, the only one in the book. Though throughout the book, the wordplay and rhyming in the prose clearly hint at author’s love for poetry writing.

In the beginning, every fable appears to be inspired from a story I’d read in childhood, however, the crisp turn of events with an  unexpected ending makes them delightful. I wish to congratulate the author on successfully whipping up a fresh take on the stories that have always felt that they couldn’t have been narrated any better.

The added joy of each fable doubling up as a refreshing read for me as well as my child makes this short-story collection a good children’s book too.

The language is simple, narration lucid with impressive editing. The book makes for a page-turner where you can’t stop till you’ve read the entire collection of fables. For a slow reader like yours truly who can take up to a month to read a book, I read this book in 2 hours flat.

The real success of a short-story collection  lies in the fact that I can’t pick a favorite fable. All stories inspired me in one way or the other while making me revisit important life-lessons and providing enough food for thought to let me ponder over for days to come.

The only suggestion I have is the need to add illustrations to make the book more interesting and engaging for the young readers.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who loves reading short-stories, are in love with fables or are looking for a breezy, thought-provoking read that’ll interest the adults and children alike. This book makes for an excellent travel companion.

About the Book:

Title –  Fables from India: A Collection of Short Stories

Author – Uday Mane

Publisher – Frog Books

Genre – Fiction

Pages – 168

Price – INR 175

ISBN – 978-93-52016-26-6

About the Author: Uday Mane is an entrepreneur, script writer, and a digital marketing professional. He started his writing career with fables, several of which are featured in this collection. His debut novel, The Helpline, was released in 2014  INR 5 per book was donated towards child welfare through Rotary club and NGO Vidya. Uday Mane volunteers for Storytelling and English-speaking sessions for the underprivileged through Vidya.

Rating: 3.5/5

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