Book Review: Swimmer among the stars

Book : Swimmer among the stars

Author: Kanishk Tharoor

Publisher: Aleph Book Company

Pages: 208

Rs: 499

Kanishk Tharoor's debut short fiction collection Swimmer Among the Stars melts the idea of time and space into a fantastic journey over 12 tales. That's not all it has to offer, however. As your mind lulls itself into slotting one tale into a particular time period, the next one jumps at you from an entirely new era.

The first two stories, Elephant at Sea and The Fall of an Eyelash, for instance, are from the years we can relate to, but the next, A United Nations in Space calls out to you from the future. Its successor Swimmer Among the Stars, however, talks about the last speaker of a language and can be from any time in the human civilisation — the past, the present, or even the future, if more effort is not made to conserve ancient cultures. Why, it was only in 2010 that Boa Sr, the last speaker of an ancient language in the Andaman Islands, died at 85.

This story resonated with me, particularly because I can see how my mother tongue is losing its popularity, charm and authenticity in today's times. Will my vernacular language's last speaker die, too, in the next few decades?

It's not just the idea of time and space that Tharoor plays with in this collection of short stories. As the blurb for the book rightly states: "…tales emerge from a tradition that includes the creators of the Arabian Nights and Kathasaritasagara, Italo Calvino, and other ancient and modern masters of fabulist, surrealist and magical short stories."

As a result, you will find it difficult to place The Loss of Muzaffar in terms of place and time unless you come through geographical hints such as Hudson and Long Island City. Tharoor's treatment of the story of the excellent cook Muzaffar, who lives with an Italian family in New York before 9/11, gives it a surreal tinge.

The other common theme running through the collection is that the entire human civilisation has suffered at the hands of one another, time and again. Tharoor uses different tools to deliver this message. While The Fall of an Eyelash forces you to understand the poignant tale of refugees, those such as Tale of the Teahouse, The Mirrors of Iskandar and Letters Home show how, for centuries, civilisations have been razed as the land bears witness to bloodshed and life being born again. Ironically, "Geography is never flesh, but stone, water, clay, names and vacant scratches of the plume" (Tale of the Teahouse). At the same time, a story such as Icebreakers gives you an insight into human nature and how some situations warrant generosity and camaraderie — icebreakers, literally.

Tharoor, whose criticisms, other short stories and journalistic pieces have already appeared in international and Indian publications, puts his global outlook and experience to good use in his debut offering. With poetic imagery, crisp language and attention to detail, this writer's neatly tied bunch of stories tie together some mythical tales, some that were inspired by real events, while others that sprung from the imagination of his mind. It's for you to decide which one is what.