A collection of short stories by Keki N Daruwalla, the acclaimed poet-cum-novelist at his very best. There are new stories here written especially for this book in a span of less than two months and perennial favourites [of vintage worth] still relevant in today’s changed times. The collection showcases the author’s enduring range.

The new stories are first person narratives and, with the exception of one, voices of women – city women – putting into words their moods and memories. The author has deliberately shunned the violence-factor in this collection. In fact ‘Bars,’ a new story written for another volume and included in this, is a commentary on the strains of intolerance staining the social fabric.

Coming to the, the perennial favourites, they are Vintage Keki Daruwalla; vignettes from the vast repository of a wordsmith who can straddle myth and reality with ease and finesse, breathe life into metaphors, coalesce fact and fancy and still sound fascinatingly credible, with his patent black humour well in place. The collection includes stories where fantasy and myth transport one to the pre-language, pre-script, era; to amphibious trains and an island of birds.

In short, the master storyteller weaves his magic yet again. A must read sure to tempt the reader to not just a good read but repeat- and-repeat reads.