Book Prelude..!!
Title: Lalita and Other Short Stories: The Unseen Women Of India
Author: AARTI PUNJABI
Pages: 118
Genre: Fiction
Publication date: 17 Feb 2025
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
About the Author..!!
Aarti Punjabi is a Mumbai-based writer, storyteller, blogger, and voice-over artist. She is the creator and voice behind Kahani Humari Tumhari, a podcast where she narrates Hindi stories that echo with emotion.
Her storytelling journey spans live performances at open mics, online platforms, and international storytelling festivals. She writes short stories, essays, poems, and spoken word pieces in Hindi and English, weaving together themes of identity, resilience, and the quiet strength of everyday lives. Aarti is a yoga practitioner, and when she’s not reading or writing, she spends her time singing, chanting Sanskrit shlokas, and catching up with friends over a cuppa.
Her debut book, Lalita and Other Short Stories: The Unseen Women of India, is a poignant collection about the lives of women across India’s socio-economic spectrum, revealing their struggles, silence, and unspoken strength.
Book Description..!!
A poignant collection of short stories that provides a vivid glimpse into the lives of women in India, spanning diverse socio-economic backgrounds and experiences. These slice-of-life stories on the marginalization and gender-based oppression that women face daily in a patriarchal society also speak of their resilience.
From a teenage girl navigating the challenges of growing up in a lower-middle-class neighborhood to a wealthy, sophisticated woman in a bustling metropolitan city, the characters in these stories are familiar and reflect the complex tapestry of womanhood in modern India.
This eclectic collection of 10 stories about women who go unnoticed and unheard will evoke compassion.
To Start…!!
“Lalita and Other Short Stories: The Unseen Women of India” by Aarti Punjabi is an enthralling collection of ten persuasive narratives about Indian women, framed by a distinctive structure. These debut tales reveal the ordeals and perseverance every (most) Indian woman undergoes.
Book précis…!!!
Every story in this collection is impressive and equally poignant. Their respective protagonists are intriguingly designed to exhibit the nuances of societal discrimination, gender-based oppression and bias, paternalism, discretion, pestering, and so on. These stories offer a blend of rural suburbia and cosmopolitan relish. Most of them give the smack of societal recoil and intense emotions.
My Preamble…!!!
Aarti justifies the lead title “Lalita,” as her story expounds the feelings of a young widow denied elementary beatitude. Reflective tales like Priya’s struggle to get acceptance for her international kitty party plan. Jahnvi struggles to handle creepy ‘Vijay’. Tara transforms against societal discrimination. Geeta Bua’s financial dependency on her extended family as a widow and so on will leave a deep mark on every reader.
Book Prelude..!!
Most of the stories aren’t exaggerated or overstated. They feel like अड़ोस पड़ोस (neighborhood) tales. Even a few are highly relatable, evoking fresh and familiar episodes from your near and dear vicinity. Keeping the plots crisp, Aarti perfectly conveys relativity, empathy, and compassion throughout. Simple vocabulary, deeper emotional connection, portrayal of womanhood, cogent research, and unfeigned storytelling kept me hooked to the book from start to finish.
Book accolades…!!!
The major thematic contribution of this book goes to its widowhood anecdotes. I personally believe in and second the emotional turmoil of Lalita and the other widow protagonists in these stories. I’m sure we could relate to many tales presented here, with high chances we’ve met most of these women around us in some way or another.
Author Accolades..!!!
My thoughts go to the author for the intentional fragmentary endings of every story in this work. I’m sure she wants respective readers to decide how to frame each story’s end through their own lens. Every individual story has the capability to be elaborated as a standalone memoir. Aarti beautifully captures the essence of fortitude and endurance amidst patriarchal suppression that most of womanhood faces, and offers impetus for battling communal demarcations.
Inquisitive Emphasis..!!
Being born and brought up in the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, a few stories failed to make the expected impact on me. The use of Hinglish dialogue between protagonists and other characters also somewhat disrupted the reading flow. I must confess that I had to check the meanings of these words with my Hindi-speaking friends to resonate with the emotions the author intended to convey to her readers.
Book Assort…!!!
Special mention to the beautiful book cover design and Aarti’s thoughtful gesture of congenial image illustrations at the end of every story, accompanied by an adorable quote from eminent personalities, which truly consolidates the fervent connection every protagonist wishes to convey through her storyline. I bet these stories will have a permanent place in readers’ hearts for quite some time.
End Note..!!!
Overall, this is a compelling women-centric debut collection of unfiltered stories with profound meanings and tons of impactful takeaways. It celebrates feminine resilience, leaving not only a warm impact but also a reflective stir. Highly recommended for womanhood cherishers and empathetic psyches!
Quote(s)..!!
- True hears have ears and eyes, no tongues to speak
They hear and see, and sigh, and then they break {Edward Dyer} - What’s in a name?
That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
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Links & FootNote..!!
My Handle: Kiran_Kumar_Adharapuram
You can also explore my works -> Here
My Non-Fiction Book Reviews -> Here
My Fiction Book Reviews -> Here
My Self-Help Book Reviews -> Here
