Kunal Basu, who recently impressed us with ‘Racists’, is all set to amaze us once again, with his new book ‘The Japanese Wife and Other Stories’. The book has already been launched at Singapore Writers Festival and on 28^th January 2008, we will see it being unveiled in India also, at the Jaipur Literary Festival. The book is a collection of ten short stories, including the title one. The amazing thing is that the story titled ‘The Japanese Wife’ has already been selected by the renowned India director Aparna Sen, for being made into a movie.

 

As mentioned before, The Japanese Wife and Other Stories is a compilation of ten different stories. The main one, with the same title as the book, is about a Japanese woman who falls in love with an Indian man. The story has been based on her visit to her husband’s home in village, 15 years after their marriage. Then, there is another story, based in Kolkata. It is about a Yugoslavian Holocaust, who comes to India and ends up being victimized in raging Hindu-Muslim riots of Kolkata. There is one about a Russian prostitute, who comes to know of her Soviet descent, while moving around with Bengal revolutionaries.

 

The story about an American rock queen again takes us back to India, when she falls in love with a Punjabi boy and come to the country to meet him. In one story, we find a sarcastic Delhi journalist, helping a young African woman in her search for her Tamil grandfather, who was once a part of French foreign legion. There is also the story of a British researcher, who comes to India on a project and ends up amidst a love triangle. Kunal also takes us to the desert of Rajasthan, when he narrates the tale of retired Israeli-American professor, who finds himself being a suspect in the case of a kidnapped young nomadic woman.

 

When talking about India, how can Taj Mahal be far behind? The great monument becomes our focus in the story where a career accountant starts having delusions that, in the past life, he was the Persian architect of Taj Mahal. In the last story, we see an errant and rebellious son meeting his dead father. Through ‘The Japanese Wife and Other Stories’, Kunal Basu has tried to cover different aspects of the life of an individual. It makes one think of dreams, memories, discoveries, unexpected love and fortuitous gifts. What the critics have to say about Kunal’s new venture, we will get to know in a few days.

 

Kunal Basu is counted amongst those Indian writers that have managed to woo the international audience as well. Born in Kolkata, the author went abroad during his education years only. Presently, he is teaching at Oxford University, where he lives with his wife and one daughter. Kuna Basu has written three novels till date The Opium Clerk (2001), The Miniaturist (2003) and Racists (2006). Many times, his novels remind us of his Indian origin. His new book, ‘The Japanese Wife and Other Stories’, is also heavily based in India.