Arrivals and Departures  (English, Paperback, Vrinda Baliga)

A hate crime on the other side of the globe tears a family in Bengaluru apart. An Odissi dancer struggles to come to terms with the loss of her family in the catastrophic Uttarakhand floods dubbed the ‘Himalayan tsunami’. The monkey menace in an upscale apartment complex in Hyderabad has an unlikely effect on a visitor. An expectant mother goes on a trek to the Har Ki Dun valley. A father and son face their own demons while retracing the mythical journey of Theseus to Crete. A newbie photographer travels to a remote village in Rajasthan to photograph a total solar eclipse. Some travel to forget the realities of their everyday existence, others to find themselves. Some journeys involve separation, others reunion. Some are voluntary, others are forced upon one by circumstances. Identities are easily shrugged off in some journeys, while they are an inherent part of others. Some journeys cover great physical distances, others are undertaken within the confines of one’s mind. The theme of ‘journey’ runs through the stories in this collection, with the setting being as much a part of each story as the characters that occupy it. Includes ‘Alcatraz’, the prizewinning story of the Katha Fiction Contest 2017, and ‘The Cosmic Dance’, featured in The Best Asian Short Stories 2018 (Kitaab International, Singapore)