Daughter of a Watermill

Finally, after a long passing of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, suns and moons, seasons, I have been able to bring out my new volume of stories entitled, rightly or wrongly, Daughter of a Watermill. Is there a story by the same title? Of course, there is. Rest assured.

A road accident in the US ends a friendship in an odd twist; the 8888 Burmese Uprising has a strange connection to a father-son duo and cigarettes; the consequences of eating the forbidden are too much for a pious man in Kathmandu; a strange out-of-the-world relationship exists between a teacher and a mirror; a butterfly narrates the sequence of events that leads to death and beyond; the headmaster of a public school delivers a speech-in-mourning brewed with inspiration, anger and satire; and a teenage student narrates the tales of her abduction, at a very very wrong time, by the rebel guerrillas during the armed insurgency.

Find characters as weird as a buffalo or a narrator as unlikely as a mirror, or even a butterfly, in some of the finest stories the likes of which appear nowhere else.

So, what has changed since the last prediction?

First, no characters from the older stories have re-appeared. Rimi got late, of course. Others were slow as well and could not catch up. 

Second, the weird and the strange, unexpected, continues in this book as a whole. Perhaps, it has now become my identity and so has chosen not to leave me. A mirror will tell you a story, yes, believe it right now! Or if you think it can not happen, then there is a butterfly that does it in another place and time; across time's boundaries from two different worlds, in fact. 

Third, the characters are themselves common and ordinary. Their stories are not so at all. 

Last, the cover image has been arranged across cultural, social and language barriers despite the obvious difficulties. Thanks goes to Andrew Ioch.

HERE IS THE DEAL, FINALLY

THESE ARE THE MOST MATURE AND REFINED STORIES I HAVE WRITTEN, AND MOST INTENSELY EMOTIONAL TOO. I DOUBT THERE WILL BE ANOTHER VOLUME LIKE THIS ONE.

If you have gone through the death of a friendship, then I am really very sympathetic. We can even be friends, you and I.

If you have been associated with the 8888 Burmese Uprising, or are part of a father-son duo, or very similar, or have had to share smokes with someone, then I am definitely a friend of yours. (I am not promoting cigarettes or smoking in any way.)

If you are the one whose story is being told by a mirror, lucky you! You have been fortunate enough that you at least had someone, or something, rather, to tell your story.

If you are the butterfly that can flutter between two absolutely different worlds, befriend with me. I need just a connection like you to bridge two different worlds. Would you accept?

If you have eaten the forbidden, you share the same fate with me. I am living through the consequences.

If you happen to listen to one of those speeches in the desert heat, thanks god, you made it through. I could not.

But if you had ever been abducted by the rebel guerrillas during the insurgency for forceful recruitment as a cadre, then I am extremely sorry for your plight. But, yes, I can understand. I will definitely listen to your story.
      

THAT WAS A LITTLE BIT OF DISCLOSURE FROM INSIDE THE STORIES.

So, what's the fuss about?

Nothing in particular. There is no pride, no joy, no celebrations... But, O YESSSS! There's victory in having written something that seems so much difficult to express, so much more difficult to write. SO MUCH EMOTIONAL it made me during the whole of the writing process, so much disturbing it proved throughout. YES, THAT IS VICTORY!! Two of the stories are definitely out of this world, yes.

For a snippet, please go into one of the stories here.

(Cover graphics: Andrew V Ioch; Modified and used with permission. Cover designed by the author.)