The Silent Tree - A Short Story by Neera Kashyap - initially published Mad in Asia Pacific - May 13, 2020

The Silent Tree - A Short Story by Neera Kashyap - initially published Mad in Asia Pacific - May 13, 2020

The Silent Tree - A Short Story by Neera Kashyap - initially published Mad in Asia Pacific - May 13, 2020

You May Read Today’s Story Here

Gateway to Neera Kashyap on The Reading Life

In May of this year I made my very fortunate first venture into the work of Neera Kashyap.

I loved her “Leave, Gentle Spirit”, a fascinating story narrated by an American ethnographer living in a small village in the Himalayas. Her mission there is to develop an in-depth understanding of the culture, folkways, religious beliefs and customs of women in the village, she learned to speak Hindi, widely spoken in the area.  As much as possible she lives like the women she is researching..

“Leave, Gentle Spirit" is a wonderful work, deeply informed and wise.  It deals with cultural divisions and gives us a look at life within the Himilayan region

I was delighted to learn that Neera Kashyap has several other stories published in online Journals.  

In “The Silent Tree” we are shown how the death of a husband and father impacts those who survive.  The story opens in an art class:

“Aarav hadn’t liked the art class with the elephant. Suman Ma’am had drawn one out on paper, then cut out its outline and traced it on a bar of soap. Even though Nani had said that the elephant was Ganesha — very strong and lucky for people, Aarav’s drawing had come out all wrong: the body was too thin, the trunk too short, the tail too long. Only its ear had looked good — big, shaped like a heart. Suman Ma’am had used a blunt knife to cut around the outline on the soap, then a paper clip to shave off the extra bits. Hers was a strong soap elephant that Nani would have liked. There hadn’t been enough knives to go around, so Aarav’s elephant had felt weak, more soap than elephant”.

Ever since his fsther recently died in a car accident, Aarav’s mother has been washing her hands over and over (this is a Pandemic story, people are advised to wash their hands a lot).  Aarav has come to hate the smell of soap.  Before his mother leaves for work, she checks five times to be sure the gas is shut and windows locked.  Aarav has come to hate the smell of Lysol.

As he sits in art class he comes to understand his mother’s actions:

“It must have been then that Suman Ma’am’s eyes fell on him in a long glance during art class. He felt the heat rise in the pit of his stomach and suddenly felt what Mama must feel all the time. He didn’t like the heat. It was shame heat — no, not shame heat … fear heat. He knew now and didn’t like it. He didn’t like the fear in Mama either. He suddenly knew she washed her hands to get rid of the fear. She checked on closed windows five times because she was afraid. The same with the gas — if she checked the knob five times, nobody would be gassed to death. The checking didn’t help any. Come to think of it, she did almost everything five times. She even counted five before she switched on the fan. What was it with five?”

At his suggestion, the art class students begin to fashion trees out of plasticine.  Kashyap shows us Aarav’s mother increasing emotional distress impacts him.  It is as if both are trying to erect shields to save them from death.  

The maternal grandmother lives with them.  The ending is very very moving  and real. The elderly grandmother may have saved The  Family.

“The Silent Tree” is very much a Covid 19 Pandemic story.   The News is full of death tolls, advise to wash your hands a lot, keep away from people. An atmosphere of fear is generated. The story has deep insight into a family death can have profound lingering impacts.

I hope to read much more of work of Neera Kashyap.

Neera Kashyap has worked as a newspaper journalist, as researcher and editor on environment and health, and as social and health communications specialist. She has published a book for young adults with Rupa & Co. titled Daring to Dream, 2003. Her stories for children have been included in five prize-winning anthologies published by Children’s Book Trust. As a literary writer of creative essays, poems and short fiction, her work has appeared in various online and print literary journals including Out of Print journal & Blog, Earthen Lamp Journal, The Bombay Literary Magazine, Muse India, Reading Hour and are forthcoming in Indian Literature and Papercuts. She lives in Delhi.

Mel u

Of doctors and doctors - A short Story by Neera Kashyap - 2020

 

Of doctors and doctors - A short Story by Neera Kashyap 

Published 2020 in Setu - a Bilingual monthly journal published from Pittsburgh, USA :: पिट्सबर्गअमेरिका से प्रकाशित द्वैभाषिक  

You may read today’s story here 

This is the third short story by the multi-talented Neera Kashrap I have had the very real pleasure of experiencing.

Today we feature a story dealing with a vital social issue concerning health care in Rural India.

In May of this year I made my very fortunate first venture into the work of Neera Kashyap.

I loved her “Leave, Gentle Spirit”, a fascinating story narrated by an American ethnographer living in a small village in the Himalayas. Her mission there is to develop an in-depth understanding of the culture, folkways, religious beliefs and customs of women in the village, she learned to speak Hindi, widely spoken in the area.  As much as possible she lives like the women she is researching..

“Leave, Gentle Spirit" is a wonderful work, deeply informed and wise.  It deals with cultural divisions and gives us a look at life within the Himilayan region.

Next I read her “The Silent Tree” in which we are shown how the death of a husband and father impacts those who survive.

I really liked “Of doctors and doctors” for its vivid cinematic presentation of the work day of Doctor Kamala in his clinic somewhere in rural India.  Doctor Kamath was educated at a very fine medical school but gave up his big city practice to help the poorer people in rural India.  He is appalled to discover how local doctors snd hospitals take advantage of people to way over charge them for dubious treatments. 

Kashnap made me feel like I was in the examination room. The whole family often sit in on the examination.  

I want to share enough of the exquisite prose of Kashnap to let you  see why I am so taken by her work.

“I cannot prescribe medicines till I have the test results", said Kamath ringing the buzzer for Swarup who sailed in with another patient complete with family, the one huddled next to the window lunging towards his desk. For a moment, Kamath looked at them unseeingly. His own medical fraternity, he thought. He had seen patient prescriptions where steroid injections were administered first, ending in no conclusive diagnosis, but in a list of medicines. A poor farmer with uncomplicated hypertension was being sent to a city cardiologist for regular ECGs. A private hospital nearby used ultrasound as a money-spinner, charging desperately poor people Rs 1000 for each unneeded scan.

The patient before him was a girl in her teens. She lay immobile in her father’s arms, eyes shut. The mother hung to her husband’s side, eyes wide with alarm. She held up the girl’s salwar to reveal two brown punctures on her lower leg, red swellings all around. Kamath had seen non-venomous snake bites which had mainly involved keeping the patient calm as he administered first aid. He took a closer look.

There was a discharge from one of the holes. He felt a swelling in the lymph nodes behind the girl’s knees. His sharp volley of questions revealed that she had stepped on a snake in the paddy field and got bitten; it was a snake – she had seen it, the mother urged. This happened 18 hours ago. When her swelling and dizziness increased, they took her to their local doctor.

“What doctor?” asked Kamath.

“Family doctor. In the village. He gave two injections and some tablets.” The mother emptied a small brown envelope, large multi-colored pills rolling out onto her palm.

Kamath felt the venom rise in his throat. He lowered the girl’s legs and turned her to her left. He snapped at Swarup to bring him soap solution and bandages, washed the wound and covered it loosely with sterile gauze. He gave the girl a tetanus shot in the arm; she did not flinch”

I look forward to following the work of Neera Kashrap for a long time.

The inadequacy of rural health care in India is now a significant social issue.

Neera Kashyap has worked on health, social and environmental communications. As an author, she has published a book of stories for young adults titled, ‘Daring to dream’ (Rupa & Co.,2003) and contributed to five prize-winning anthologies published by Children’s Book Trust. As a literary writer of short fiction, poetry, essays, story/book reviews and creative non-fiction, her work has appeared in two poetry anthologies published in the U.K. (Clarendon Publishing House and The Poet) and in several South Asian journals

Mel u

"Leave, Gentle Magic" - A Short Story by Neera Kashyap - Spring, 2018 - Paper Cuts Magazine

Paper Cuts Magazine - Spring, 2018 from The Desi Writers' Lounge

"Leave, Gentle Spirit" by Neera Kashyap is a fascinating story narrated by an American ethnographer living in a small village in the Himalayas. Her mission there is to develop an in-depth understanding of the culture, folkways, religious beliefs and customs of women in the village, she learned to speak Hindi, widely spoken in the area.  As much as possible she lives like the women she is researching..

(Ethnographic research is an approach that looks at: people in their cultural setting; ... their language, and the symbols, rituals and shared meanings that populate their world, with the object of producing a narrative account of that particular culture, against a theoretical backdrop.)

We can see how she preceives her mission:

"Like many ethnographers, I had learnt to live like the women I researched, becoming a part of their lives and their seasons. A year and a half and I could walk long distances like them, use the sickle and carry headloads of grass like the younger girls, even a bucket of water on my head without getting splashed. I learnt to dress like them, to cook the way they did, and to joke in between chores. Early on, I felt it was my white skin that kept me from belonging, but then I saw it was my reserve. I had been ready to leave in three months, at first, but not anymore after I began to relax. Now my life in the US felt more like a chimera. And this despite the fact that there was no heating, no running water, no TV, no reliable electricity, no entertainment, and food utterly different from what I was used to."

Ethnographers are not aloof observers studying their subjects from a blind.  Ellen lives among the women she was researching.  Slowly the women begin to make observation on Ellen.  They wonder why she wears no gold. I loved this segment:

"Just as I would observe and record my target group — women — I had to submit to being observed and recorded as well. It was from our landlady Mansa Devi’s verandah upstairs that most of the laughter resonated. Sometimes, I was made to sit on a low stool so my hair could be massaged with mustard oil as it had been pronounced “too dry.” There was genuine astonishment that I wore no gold. One evening, some of the women put their own ornaments on me — necklaces of varying length, dangling earrings, bracelets, armlets, toe-rings, revealing my “beauty” to me in a cracked discoloured mirror.

Mansa Devi was struck by a thunderous thought. “But why are you not married still? Is there no one to arrange a match for you?” she asked.

“Maybe she is not marriageable,” Panna slyly suggested. Neema flew at her for her rudeness and tried to calm my ‘ruffled feathers’, but Mansa Devi came up with a solution: “Maybe we should find you a match. Not like us. Someone like you who is always writing, writing, writing… also who can talk like you in English… chutter putter chutter putter… there are men like that in our bigger towns… we will see.”

Kashyap elegantly individuates the personalities of the women.  The region has few economic opportunities so most of the husbands are working in big cities or in the army, coming home maybe for two weeks of the year.  The women run the households, take care of a few animals and usually a small plot of ground.

As the women begin to become comfortable with Ellen, she is able to learn more about their culture.  Here is a beautiful story about a song:

"“It’s a nyoli — a forest song,” she finally offered. “A sad song, like when you miss somebody, no? Ghughuteeis a sort of bird. She sits on the branch of a mango tree. The singer feels sad when the ghughuteesings because the singing reminds her of her husband. He is in the army and posted far away in snowy Ladakh. There is war and she worries. It is the season of chait — you know chait? Spring! She misses him more because it is spring and everything looks beautiful. She wishes she had the ghughutee’swings to fly to him, to look at his face to her heart’s content. She knows she can’t… so she tells the ghughutee to do her a favor… to fly to her husband and tell him all that she feels for him.”

The women are all going tommorow to a religious ritual designed to drive what we can call evil spirits from a woman.  They tell Ellen she may attend as long as she is not mensursting, if so she would poison the ritual.

There is a long account of the jagar:

"The story behind this jagar had done the rounds, so I was familiar with it. In Mansa Devi’s natal village in the valley below, an eighteen-year-old girl, Phula, had been possessed by the spirit of an old female relative who had died even before Phula was born. For two months, Phula acted increasingly crazy. While working in the fields, she would take off into the forest and disappear for hours together, only to return home looking wild, with no memory of the events of the day. She had eating disorders and often felt that an old woman was reaching for her. When she began to babble incoherently, her mother forced Phula to articulate what she could about what was going on with her.

Phula said it was an old woman, related to them through marriage, who’d possessed her. This woman had two daughters and no son. The daughters had married and moved away. The old woman had died both a widow and alone and had been unhappy at death. By the time one of her daughters could reach the village, the deceased woman’s house and land had been appropriated by her husband’s male relatives — Phula’s ancestors. The ghost wanted justice for her daughters who were still alive. Until then, she would stay in possession of Phula’s body and mind."

As the story closes Ellen is back in her apartment in the city, speaking with

a founder of an NGO devoted to helping the women Ellen studied:

"I stared at my desk – a flurry of papers, clothbound notebooks, writing pads, and stacks of red spiral notebooks. I read and re-read my session with Kamla Behnwhose name was underlined in my notebook in red: founder of NGO Sahaj, activist for livelihoods and health rights, my guide and mentor. At first, I had spent months with her and her staff, trying to understand the issues that affected the women.

Kamla Behnhad dismissed ghost-possession as superstition, not to be encouraged. She reeled off statistics on how this increased mortality rates especially in villages, as people simply would not take the sick to scientifically trained doctors or hospitals without the express permission of the family priest. Their spirit possession theory is not limited to cases of mental illness but extends to physical illness as well, she had said, her face warm with passion."

As I read this I thought of my wife's stories of native faith healers in very rural Zambales able to cure illnesses highly educated physicians could not.  I know mapped over western science and Catholicism is something much older which gives strength.  To discount it is a mistake I don't make.

"Leave, Gentle Spirit" is a wonderful work, deeply informed and wise.  It deals with cultural divisions and gives us a look at life within the Himilayan region. 

Neera Kashyap has worked as a newspaper journalist, as researcher and editor on environment and health, and as social and health communications specialist. She has published a book for young adults with Rupa & Co. titled Daring to Dream, 2003. Her stories for children have been included in five prize-winning anthologies published by Children’s Book Trust. As a literary writer of creative essays, poems and short fiction, her work has appeared in various online and print literary journals including Out of Print journal & Blog, Earthen Lamp Journal, The Bombay Literary Magazine, Muse India, Reading Hour and are forthcoming in Indian Literature and Papercuts. She lives in Delhi.

Next month we plan to post upon another of her short stories, "Quiet as a Feather", from India Review, 2018.  The link is below

https://indianreview.in/fiction/as-quiet-as-a-feather-falling-neera-kashyap/

We hope to feature Neera Kashyap many more times.

Oleander Bouswesu

Mel u

The Reading Life Review July 2020

Column One

1. Patrick Modiano - France - Nobel Prize Winner

2. Neera Kashrap - India - Neera Kashyap has published a book of short stories for young adults, ‘Daring to dream’ (Rupa & Co.) and contributed to five prize-winning anthologies for Children’s Book Trust. As a writer of short fiction, poetry, essays and book reviews, her work has appeared/is forthcoming in leading South Asian journals which include Kitaab, Papercuts, Out of Print Magazine and Blog, Muse India & Indian Literature.

3. Marc Wilson - UK - author Marc Chagall 

4. Kate Williams - UK - historical biography 

Column 2

1. Pamela Binnings Ewen - USA- author Coco Chanel- A Novel and other highly regarded historical novels

2. Leonora Carrington - UK to Mexico - Surealist.  Artist and writer

3. Chava Rosenfarb - Poland to Canada - one of The very best post WW Two Yiddish language writers. Featured on our side bar 

4. Henry James - USA to England 

Column 3

1. Shirley Hazzard - Australia to USA - author Transit of Venus 

2. Edith Wharton - USA to France 

3. Catherine Hewitt - UK - historian focused on 19th century France 

4. Brian Kirk - Ireland - featured Seven times on The Reading Life -Brian Kirk is a poet, short story writer, playwright and novelist from Dublin, Ireland. His work has appeared in the Sunday Tribune, Crannog, The Stony Thursday Book, Revival, Boyne Berries, Wordlegs and various anthologies

Column 4

1. Mavis Gallant - Canada to France

2. Elizabeth Taylor - UK -  author of 11 novels and numerous exquiste Short Stories - A read through of her work is planned

3. Alice Adams - USA - much more coming on her Short Stories

Birth Countries of Featured Writers

1. UK - 5

2. USA-  4

3. France - 1

4. Poland - 1

5. Australia- 1

6. Ireland - 1

7. Canada - 1

Five of the authors immigrated from their home countries.

11 works by women were featured, four by men.

8 deceased writers were featured, 7 living

Only two writers were featured for the first time.  Mel wants more new to The Reading Life writers to be featured going forward.

The Reading Life is a multicultural

book blog, committed to Literary Globalism

Blog Stats

Since inception there has been 6,078,987 page views

As of yesterday there were 3776 posts online.

The most viewed posts for July were

1. “Ghosts” by Edwidge Danticat

2. Flush - A Biography by Virginia Woolf

3. “The Flood” by Thakazhi Sivasnka

4. “Water Child” by Edwidge Danticat

5. “The Auspicious Visit” by Rabindranath Tagore

Home Countries of Visitors 

USA, India, Turkmenistan, UK, Russia, Canada, 

Philippines and France 

We are glad to see so many visitors from Turkmenistan.  

Future Plans and Hopes for the next three months

Mel hopes to complete two long novels he began to read when the Quarantine began for him on March 3, A Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil and The Recognitions by William Gaddis as well as novels by Cynthia Ozick, Elizabeth Taylor and Ivy Compton-Burnett.  We are planning to feature two short story writers a week who have not yet been featured on The Reading Life.

Longer term Mel will continue reading along with Buried in Print through the short stories of Mavis Gallant.  In time he hopes to read collections of short stories by Alice Adams, Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley Hazzard  and possibly Nancy Hale.  

There are  over 200 Yiddish translations in queue.  

Mel will continue reading on in Holocaust related works and quality narrative non-fiction.

Review books.  To those who have sent review books, please be patient.

To all our readers, these are dark times.  Reading at least a little everyday can help you.  Consider reading maybe two short stories a week.  To our fellow book bloggers, among the greatest readers in the world, keep blogging.

To those who comment on posts, you help keep us going.

To Max u thanks for you very much appreciated Amazon Gift Cards

One day the Pandemic will be over.  Through reading we can time travel and visit countries now forbidden.  Reading protects people from cognitive decline.  Rich, poor or in between reading will enrich your life, keep away boredom and loneliness.  

Oleander Bousweau 

The Reading Life Review - October 2020

 October Authors

Column One

1. Ian Urbina - USA - author - Outlaw Oceans -first feature 
2. Denton Remoto - Phillippines - Award winning author of Riverrun - first feature
3. Kavita Jindal - India - UK- Multi - First Appearance - Kavita A. Jindal is a prize-winning fiction writer, as well as a poet, essayist and reviewer. She is the author of Manual For A Decent Life, Patina and Raincheck Renewed. Her work has appeared in literary journals, anthologies and newspapers around the world and been broadcast on BBC Radio, Zee TV and European radio stations. She is the co-founder of The Whole Kahani collective of British-Asian writers. I intend to feature her numerous times 

Column 2

1. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay - India - first appearance - highly regarded Bengali author
2. Ethel Rohan - Ireland - USA - I have been featuring her work for over Seven years and soon shall post on her new Short Story Collection 
3. Katherine Mansfield - New Zealand to UK

Column 3

1. Elizabeth Taylor - UK - an exquisite artist.  I am doing a read through of her oeuvre 
2. Victor Lasalle - USA - The Ballad of Black Tom - first appearance- horror writer - I have added three more of his novels to my wish list
3. Andrew O’Shaughnessy - USA - distinguished historian of the American Revolution - first appearance 

Column 4

1. Florence M. Jumonville - USA - first appearance - Florence M. Jumonville, a native New Orleanian, is the archivist at Touro Infirmary. There and in previous positions at The Historic New Orleans Collection and the University of New Orleans Library, she has worked with Louisiana materials and special collections for over forty-five years and has written extensively on Louisiana history
2. Pekka Hanalainen - Finland - UK -First Appearance- author The Comanche Empire - Bancroft Prize Winner 
3. Neera Kashyap-  India - featured three times - award winning multi-genre writer- 

Home Countries of October Authors 

1. USA - 4
2. India- 3
3. Ireland- 1
4. Philippines - 1
5. New Zealand - 1
6. Finland - 1
7. UK - 1

Six male authors were featured as well as six women.

Two are  deceased.

Eight were featured for The first time.  I hope to return to their work.

I posted on four works of narrative non-fiction, five Short Stories and three novels

Review Policy

I have no rigid rules. I look at anything am sent.  

Future Plans

In November following a ten year tradition, I Will Focus on German Literature.

Much of my near term Reading hopes can be seen in the images in my sidebar

I Will join in with Buried in Print for Margaret Atwood Month

Blog Stats 

To date The Reading Life has received 6,144,996 page views.

In October the top home countries of visitors were 

1. USA
2. France - first time so high on list
3. Philippines 
4. India
5. Germany
6. UK
7. Canada
8. Taiwan - first time on list
9. Brazil - also first time 

Of the ten most viewed posts, eight were about short stories in translation 

There are currently 3816 active posts online.

I offer my thanks to Max u for his kind provision of Amazon Gift Cards 

A super typhoon has our home in its sights.  

To my fellow book bloggers, The greatest readers in The World, keep posting.  Your voice is needed in these dark times. 

The Reading Life Review - May 2019 - Future Plans

May Authors 

Column One

1. Neera Kashyap -. India - award winning multi-genre writer
2. Bram Presser - Australia - The Book of Dirt - 2018 Winner of the Jewish Book Council Goldberg Prize for Debut Fiction

Column Two

1. Colson Whitehead - USA - Pulitzer Prize Winner
2. Esther Singer Kreitman - Poland to UK -Dance of the Demons - highly regarded Yiddish writer, 

Column Three

1. Balli Kaur Jasnal - Singapore - author The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters as well as Erotic Stories of Punjabi Widows
2. Susmita Bhattacharya - India - author of Table Manners, an award winning debut collection of short stories

Column Four

1. Rose Doyle - Ireland - author Friends Indeed, prolific writer
2. Alexander Spiegelblatt - Romania to Israel - poet, novelist, short stories - Yiddish writer
3. Ghayde Ghrowi - Oman (first Omani writer to be featured) - short stories

Column Five

1. Israel Joshua Singer -Poland to NYC - author The Brothers Ashkanazi
2. Mavis Gallant - Canada to France

Home Countries of May Authors

1. India - Two
2. Poland - Two
3. USA - One
4. Singapore - One
5. Ireland - One
6. Romania - One
7. Oman - One
8. Canada - One 
9. Australia - One

In May seven women were featured and three men, eight are living, three not.

Nine writers were featured for the first time, three are old friends.

Blog Stats for May 2019

5,685,267 pages views since inception

Top Visitor's Home Countries:

USA, India, the Philippines, Germany, Russia, UK, Ukraine, Spain and Czechia

There are 3550 posts on line.

Future plans and hopes

I will continue reading more Yiddish Literature.  My project on Short Stories by South Asian Women is working out well.  

I will continue reading along with Buried in Print for the Short Stories of Mavis Gallant Project.

Buried in Print's Mavis Gallant Project

http://www.buriedinprint.com/mavis-gallants

I offer my thanks to Max u for his kind provision of Amazon Gift Cards.

I am very grateful to all who leave comments, you help keep me going.

To Ambrosia Bousweau, European director, you are a very important part of the spirit of The Reading Life

To Oleander Bousweau, your assistance is becoming essential, please give my regards to all at the  Bousweau Foundation.

To my fellow book bloggers, keep blogging.