Greatest Short Stories Read Online Free Page A

like Maugham. Of course, there are occasions when Anand’s quick flow of words and dense accumulation of conceits are not justified by his immediate subject. This would perhaps indicate an occasional failure of sensibility, 10 and sometimes a rather simplistic reading of life, though, at his best, as in
The Lost Child
,
Birth
and
Lullaby
, he does unmistakably show himself capable of looking into the heart of life.
    With all this limitations, Anand’s contribution to the Indian short story is truly impressive. He is a born story-teller, who has, at the same time thought deeply over his craft, drawing upon several sources in shaping it. He has an unerring sense of situation and a sure ability to visualize a sense clearly. His stories are a museum of human nature, and have a wide range and ample variety of mood and tone. Among the Indian short story writers in English, he has few peers.

    1 C.V. Venugopal,
The Indian Short Story in English
:
A Survey (Bareilly, 1975), p.l.
    2 M.R. Anand,
Indian Fairy Tales
(Bombay, 1946) n.p.
    3 M.R. Anand,
Preface to Selected Stories
(Moscow, 1955), p.5.
    4 M.K. Naik,
Mulk Raj Anand
(New Delhi 1973), p.132.
    5 Ibid., pp. 132-133.
    6 M.R. Anand, '
Pigeon-Indian: Some Notes on Indian English Writing
',
Journal of the
Karnataka University (Humanities), XVI, 1972, p. 72.
    7 Ibid., p. 90
    8 Ibid., p. 78.
    9 M.R. Anand,
Pigeon-Indian
:
Some Notes on Indian English Writing
,
Journal of the
Karnataka university (
Humanities
), XVI, 1972, p. 81.
    10 In answer to this criticism that there is 'an occasional failure of sensibility ', in a personal letter to me, the author writes:
"In the ultimate analysis, my efforts at expressionism in the short story result here and there, in the diffusion of the metaphor, which inspires the tales — the love which connects all creatures, which I wish to infuse into my fiction in the face of the human situation. And, perhaps, some of my characters live in a kind of haze, with which I had intended to cover my sentiments. In the short stories about 'tears at the heart of the things', the elegy of
Lajwanti
may have remained a private lament. But
Old Bapu
is part of the vast tragedy, when he sees his face in the mirror and realises that he has grown old and is nearing death. In the stories of man's fate, baulked by the new cash-nexus society, happiness my be coloured by my over-enthusiasm to transform old gods into new gods and it is possible that the naive bard in
Power of Darkness
remains a silhouette. In
The Cobbler and the Machine
, however, Saudagar is realised. In the farcical tales, there is an inevitable resort to one-dimensional characters, like the Pathan in
A Pair of Mustachios
. In the stories about women and children, you will notice that the sensibility is sought to be ultimately fused, as in the pangs of Parvati in Birth, the anguish against the over-all fate as in
Lullaby
and the lostness of all the people in the world fair as in the
Lost Child
. In these tales you concede that I may have touched the heart of things."

Part I
    ‘ LYRIC
AWARENESS’

1
    The Lost Child *
    It was the festival of spring. From the wintry shades of narrow lanes and alleys emerged a gaily clad humanity, thick as a swarm of bright-coloured rabbits issuing from a warren. They entered the flooded sea of sparkling silver sunshine outside the city gates and sped towards the fair. Some walked, some rode on horses, others sat, being carried in bamboo and bullock carts. One little boy ran between his parent’s legs, brimming over with life and laughter. The joyous morning gave greetings and unashamed invitations to all to come away into the fields, full of flowers and songs.
    “Come, child, come,” called his parents, as he lagged behind, fascinated by the toys in the shops that lined the way.
    He hurried towards his parents, his feet obedient to their call, his eyes still lingering on the receding toys. As he came to where they had stopped to wait for him he could not suppress the