Love Luck and Laughter and Other Stories

The book is a collection of ten short stories all interconnected in some way. The stories are independent short stories although they can also be read as a continuous novel. The stories are about human issues in an urban setting. They cover a period of about half a century roughly from about the time Sunil and his elder brother are born into a troubled family ending with Sunils marriage at the age of fifty. The stories trace the journey of Sunil and Shama growing up in their separate worlds till they meet and walk together for a few decades of their lives before they realize they are just right for each other and decide to marry. There is a story of Sunil’s school days which also talks of his father’s struggle with alcoholism and bereavement. In one story we hear of how Shama handles her all women household where there are issues not only of personal safety but also emotional well being. We also wander with Sid Uncle Sunils father’s friend near the Ganga when he loses his mother tragically and empathise with him in his struggle to come to terms with the loss. In one story we hear of how the manager of Sunil’s grandfather’s tomato farms chooses the anonymity of city life over the fame and glory of having been born into the family of a martyr.