K.C. Verma's 'Once Upon a Grindstone and Other Stories' is a collection of 21 short narratives that delve into the seemingly mundane aspects of life with an old-world charm and simple, crisp prose. The stories are geographically diverse, but Verma's writing is most impactful when depicting Delhi and rural India, drawing readers into the physical spaces and inner worlds of his characters. Key themes explored include the precarity of life at the margins, the often-overlooked identities of women, and questions of agency and survival, offering an immersive and thought-provoking reading experience of ordinary lives rendered extraordinary.

K.C. Verma's 'Once Upon a Grindstone and Other Stories' is a collection of 21 short narratives that delve into the seemingly mundane aspects of life with an old-world charm and simple, crisp prose. The stories are geographically diverse, but Verma's writing is most impactful when depicting Delhi and rural India, drawing readers into the physical spaces and inner worlds of his characters. Key themes explored include the precarity of life at the margins, the often-overlooked identities of women, and questions of agency and survival, offering an immersive and thought-provoking reading experience of ordinary lives rendered extraordinary.

K.C. Verma's 'Once Upon a Grindstone and Other Stories' is a collection of 21 short narratives that delve into the seemingly mundane aspects of life with an old-world charm and simple, crisp prose. The stories are geographically diverse, but Verma's writing is most impactful when depicting Delhi and rural India, drawing readers into the physical spaces and inner worlds of his characters. Key themes explored include the precarity of life at the margins, the often-overlooked identities of women, and questions of agency and survival, offering an immersive and thought-provoking reading experience of ordinary lives rendered extraordinary.

Traditionally considered less commercially viable than novels, there seems to be a sudden interest in short story collections. Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp won the International Booker Prize, while Kanza Javed’s What Remains After a Fire has emerged as one of the most compelling recent collections. Former R&AW chief K.C. Verma, too, has stayed committed to the form. Following Stories I Wouldn’t Tell My Mother and Stories in Khaki & Other Colours, his latest is Once Upon a Grindstone and Other Stories, a collection of 21 short stories.

Verma is at his strongest when writing about Delhi and rural India, rendering both with the intimacy of someone who has lived and observed these worlds closely.

It doesn’t follow a single overarching theme. Yet, Verma’s stories are tied by their focus on the seemingly mundane, with an old-world quality to them. The language is simple, sentences crisp and short. And through his storytelling, Verma draws readers to both the physical spaces his characters inhabit and their inner worlds, making for an immersive read.

The stories span geographies, through villages, towns and cities, from Delhi to New York. Verma is at his strongest when writing about Delhi and rural India, rendering both with the intimacy of someone who has lived and observed these worlds closely.

Among the standout stories is ‘By the Sweat of my Brow,’ which follows a young, poor village couple who arrive in Delhi and turn a pavement over a drain outside a metro station into their home. This simple piece brings forth the precarity of life at the margins while refusing to reduce its protagonists to mere victims. As the couple gradually settles to a life in the city, the reader, too, settles into their world, making their struggles feel deeply personal.

Verma writes about loneliness and renders a dash of feminism in many of his stories. In ‘By the Sweat of My Brow’, for instance, when the “simple-minded idiot” Bhola dies, his wife, Jamuna, almost instinctively realises that his death means “one person less to cook for. She no longer needed to sleep on the uneven manhole side!” It also highlights how survival often leaves little room for grief.

Similarly, in ‘Once Upon a Grindstone’, the protagonist—only referred to as “Chhoti ki Amma”—pauses to ask herself: “Had I ever been given a name?” The answer is no, as her identity has been defined by her relationships—first as a daughter, then a wife, and now a mother.

While Verma brings forth the female perspective, some parts land, while others don’t. “Women went only once to a cremation ground; when they themselves died,” he writes. The line is intended to expose a deeply entrenched social reality, but it also reads as though the narrator is just arriving at a revelation long familiar to generations of women.

Questions of agency also surface elsewhere in the collection. In ‘Sanyukta’s Secret’, the protagonist devises an elaborate plan to marry Shaleen despite little indication that he shares her intentions. Read today, the story inevitably raises questions about consent, as much important in the case of men as of women.

The writing, though simple, feels dated in places. Familiar phrases such as “he went to the city with stars in his eyes” lend a part of the collection an old-fashioned feel.

Once Upon a Grindstone and Other Stories is a simple read of ordinary lives rendered a tad extraordinary.

ONCE UPON A GRINDSTONE AND OTHER STORIES

By K.C. Verma

Published by Rupa Publications

Price Rs395; pages 232

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