So, over the last weekend, I finally got the time to read 'Acorns'. I would not cover myself in false glory by saying that my work engagement kept me from it. No, I must admit it was the cheap pleasure of streaming television, which has totally taken over any free time which might be given to reading. The book I have co-authored fared no better than other books. Mercifully, we still watch streaming TV as a family activity on the big television (and not on our phones), and hence, when we retreated to the family home for a rare break, and the room did not have an internet hooked TV (as the old family still watches dish), I finally got to peel off the waterproofing and read through those pages.
In an instant, from the first sentence, I was transported back to simpler times. The thick stone walls, the hard shiny cement floors, the wrought iron beds, the ancient riveted boilers, the sonorous brass bell - all came alive. I flitted across, like a ghost maybe, through various scenes woven in those 193 pages. As I have pointed out before, Boarding School story has been a rich genre of modern literature. These stories are much enjoyed by boarders past and present. One may have studied anywhere among these schools that dot India's hills both in the North as well as South; one finds that irrespective of the location, these places are microcosms of their own, with their own traditions, customs, culture and language. So, for an average Joe, "fag" would mean a cigarette, if not a homophobic slur. However, in most boarding schools, it means a junior pupil, in his capacity as an unpaid manservant (or boyservant?) for the seniors! Again, all those schools, with their own traditions, customs, cultures and languages, have much in common with each other. So "fag", in our school, was also an bonded servant, but only a particular context - as a ball boy at tennis, or worse, a perpetual fielder at a day of cricket! The more general term was "chick". A shout of "oye, chick" did not mean that a pretty damsel had been spotted, but rather that some senior needed some errand run, and the eponymous chicks within hearing range had the choice to comply with a "yes Sir!", or, if the opportunity so presented, hide and make a getaway, at the peril of being indicted under Section 2 ("No bunking") of the Penal Code of 'Tid-Bits', the law of the land in those 250 acres of wooded hills. (Section 1 was "No sneaking", for the curious reader.)
Such rich microcosms are bound to generate great stories, as is attested by the swelling shelves of boarding school literature. What sets 'Acorns' apart is that being an anthology, it offers a cornucopia of voices, characters, and subgenres. Of course, the school boy (and girl) romances were present. Most of them quite innocent, comprising of furtively written letters, and stolen glances, just the way it happened when we were boarders, and a century before that. Some incidents have happy endings (School Across The Valley, by Vani Raj), while some were doomed under the sight of no nonsense schoolmarms (The Architecture of Solitude, by Tabish Nawaz). However, the best romance, in my schoolboy eyes, shall be revealed later. There are stories about the efforts it took us Hindi heartlanders to strive for the standards of the English Language our teachers expected of us - (Unlearning The Queen's English by Sweta Srivastava Vikram), (The Damn Dictation by Sudip Bajpai - partly so). No Boarding School anthology would be complete without the spectral denizens that are claimed to haunt the century old edifice. There are stories about ghost hunting (The Sighting, by Manoj Panikkar), ghost stories going all awry (The Scream, by Nitin Dubey), and then, the real encounters (Rice Shoup & Bater Mutton, by Raghu Menon). A lot of the anthology is just about regaling interesting incidents and anecdotes, some funny, some sombre - my own submission would fall in the category - one author has penned down about that biannual ritual of packing up and moving to and from the school, bringing up the memories of steel trunks and canvas hold-alls (Travelling to Oak Grove, by Shrikant Avi), boarding school bildungsroman (8 Years in Lockdown, by Priyanka Pandey; Nostalgia 1959, by Vipin Sehgal), the cultural and cocurricullar life (Singing Siblings by Kanishka Mallick), childhood capers going wrong (The Secret No More, by Amit Suri), the (too early) end of childhood innocence and dawn of carnal knowledge (Mumps, Birds & The Bees, by Raveesh Gupta), and unforgettable interactions with the guardians who were our teachers (A Tale of Two School Masters, by Patrick Corbett). There are two 'past and the present' potraitures, which are the most heartfelt parts of the Anthology - of a senior and a friend (The House of Cards, by VC Vishwakarma), and of a rather imposing authority figure and the terror of our collective childhoods (Big Ma'am, by Nikhil Kumar). Of course "Big Ma'am" the character finds her way in many of the stories, given the enormity of the dark shadow she cast on our lives at the Junior School. However, Nikhil manages to bring out the human being behind the character, quite well. It almost reads like that movie, The Reader (Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes). Boarding Schools are known for their sporting culture, and we have two stories, true ones of course, encompassing Cricket (The Day That Was, by Mangu Srinivas), and Hockey (The Accidental Goalkeeper, by Prabhat Ranjan). The Reunion, by Anurag Sinha, avoids all these classifications - and is a sweet little story about friendship and the bro-code. So, finally, I come to the romance I liked the most, and the one that would have been liked by most of the former schoolboys smitten by some of their beautiful tutors in their formative years - First Love, by Gary Sengar. It titillates, but within decency, and it builds up gradually to a rather dreamlike climax; a dream no schoolboy would like to wake up from!
The best part of any multi-author anthology is that one gets to savour a little bit of many contrasting styles. All the stories are contributed by highly successful wordsmiths (that includes scientists, business managers, tech professors, and, of course, civil servants). Some stories are written in the informal language of a reunion regaling, while others are as formal as the best of modern classics. Every one of them is quite engaging, although I cannot judge my own piece! I must say that after reading the book, I did regret not editing the story, which I had written fresh out of school in 2005. Then again, for all the sophistication it lacked, it gained in raw honesty of a freshly experienced account.
If one has to put a critical eye to it, one can only say that the book (future editions) may be planned with some handsketched maps of locations, in one or two sketch map sheets, for the benefit of those who did not go to Oak Grove. Of course, an imaginative reader would like to do his own world building. Then, again, within Oak Grove, the stories from Girls' School were less - three out of twenty. I, for one, am very curious to learn about what went on in that fabled 'place beyond the valley'. May be Acorns II would have some tales of that kind. In the long run, it would be interesting to learn even about the lives at our rival schools. Mangu Srinivas' story opens up the possibility - how wonderful would it be if Khaled, Nishanth or Pravin from the game penned their version of it - like 'The Flags of Our Fathers' for 'Letters from Iwo Jima' (two movies about the same battle, from both perspectives). Well, maybe then the Anthology won't remain Acorns, but graduate to Acorns, Pinecones and Clovers, and what not! Still, it is this reader's fervent wish that such a collaboration materializes some day.
The printing quality is top notch, and it gives one pride to be a part of it. It is paperback, for economy purpose, and is printed in quite easy to read font. The best part of the appearance is the cover art. The imposing Junior School facade, background for innumerable batch photographs, has been stylized in water colour and embedded in a circle, reminding one of a crystal ball, wreathed in acorns and leaves; somehow giving fairytale look to the whole setting. The artist has, in one cover slide, matched the best of the twenty authors within.
In conclusion, the book is a must read if you are an Oak Grovian. It is a must read, if you have been a boarder. It is a must read, if you have always been a reader at heart.
ACORNS - AN ANTHOLOGY IS AVAILABLE AT
https://www.amazon.in/Srivastava-Srinivas-Kanishka-Mallick-Chandra/dp/9390488737
