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In the search for protection from his enemies, a wealthy business man hires the service of John Death, a hero to whom he owes his life, and hands the keys to his empire which within lies his sole possession; his daughter. A move which would later see its folly....

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As the white sports car slowly drove towards the entrance to St. Joan’s chapel to the sight of the onlooking congregation, John glanced at the tall elderly Priest through his window, should he step down and join the congregation as they matched into the chapel or just zoom off. His eyes gazing at the concealed scarred face of the Priest, reluctant on whether he should join them, John lifted his foot off the accelerator and unto the brake pedal, putting the car to a halt right in front of the chapel as he stared at the Priest. The church members were a bit frightened as they wondered who it was and why the stranger parked there, the Priest excused himself and walked down the steps to meet John. “I hope you’ve found peace, my son!” said the Priest as he lowered his head down to have a good look at John. ...

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A Man’s word The Director. Acclivity Meet the Podrufio’s Miss Podrufio The Confession

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The collection contains the author’s well-known stories Kumkumam Vithariya Vazhikal, Prakrithanaya Thottakkaran, Thimarpur, Maniyarayilninnu Odippoyavar. The story Maniyarayilninnu Odippoyavar is about a couple plotting to run away on their wedding day. It could be a dream, dreamt by both the bride and the groom, but that haunts them throughout their life. He leaves his wife for delivery after 7 months at her home and leaves for Delhi which is 2000 kms away. On reaching home he finds the sari lying on their bed, and remembers the dream dreamt together....

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A closed door came to her memory. She realized the turmoil that was brewing in her mind, but hardly knew that it had started some time now. The flowers that were kept in a flower vase were hostile to her. She remembered the loneliness in the evenings when, after leaving all her friends waiting alone for the bus . Her heart swelled with a whimper, and in a moment she could not control her sobs. She kept her face down on the pillow and started sobbing violently. The soothing words of her father or mother’s question as to what happened did not help her. So great was her loss. (Kumkumam Vithariya Vazhikal)...

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Stories: Kumkumam Vithariya Vazhikal Malakalude Sangeetham Prakrithanaya Thottakkaran Aswasam Thedi Thimarpur Eiswarathilekku Veendum Mattoru Thottakkaran Chumaril Chithramayimariya Achhan Yathra Parayathe Poyaval Kadalkkarayil Oru Pakshikkaran Maniyarayilninnu Odippoyavar...

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Agent Frank Nicola Stein works for the Department of Energetic Intelligence as an undercover investigator that spies on miracles of periodic occurrence - The Garden of Eden. Join Agent Stein as he snoops on the rise of the most brilliant people in the world. Then watch as his own life takes a turn down a path of depression that stirs up a Rapture of successful mistakes....

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The story Vrishabhathinte Kannu is about an accident in which a four year old boy gets killed together with his paternal uncle. The story centers around the sub-tenant of one of the flats in the building, who was so friendly with the child. He is moved by the incident, and decides to go to the hospital to see the child. It is the traumatic experience of this man the story is about. ...

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Behind him was the security guard of the morgue, and still farther behind in the dark cold room were the cold bodies wrapped up in white linen. He remembered what Hiren Mehta had said, and what Mehta’s son had said. Beyond the eyes of the evil planets, fatalist beliefs, and lives predetermined in a four dimensional field of the world, he saw the indefinable, and unforeseeable, but definite death. Back in the building he was climbing the staircase, and when he reached the second floor he saw Aditya’s house still locked. On the latch of the door was kept a packet of flowers. He wondered where have they all gone. They might have gone to her husband’s home. They might come only after a few days. The flowers will remain there until they come back. After all, what is the relation between flowers and death? (Vrishabhathinte Kannu)...

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Stories: Meghangal Panjikkettukalpole Vrishabhathinte Kannu Komali Roopam Nashtappetta Mrigangal Bheeru Oru Nashtakkari Ayalkkari

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The story Amme Avar Nammude Akaasam Katteduthu is about women laborers, who over the past few decades were being phased out of work, mainly by automation, and then by influx of cheap labor from neighboring states. In this story the houses where women from the colony across the road works as household help, are being razed to the ground to give way to four colossal multistory buildings. The women lose their job and find life hard going, especially when their drunkard husbands do not help them, instead try to fleece them. They are pinned to the wall, and naturally finds way for a living, which is not very desirable, but unavoidable....

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Making sure that Arun doesn’t hear her, Jyothi asked Mathu. ‘Your husband does not come any more, eh?’ ‘No,....’ She said with visible comfort. ‘I wish he does not turn up any more. What about your husband?’ ‘He came last month, and then I said I am jobless and that I need money. He went back immediately and never again turned up. I never said I got a job in the building work.' (Amme, Avar Nammude Akasam Katteduthu)...

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Stories: Vellithirayilennapole Lavanya Kelan Oru Chocolate Viplavam Kalathinte Adayatha Vathilukal Stree, Avasanarangathil Mathram.... Oru Santhushta Kudumbam Sreeparvathi Iniyum Maduthittillatha Oru Samakalika Katha Daivathinte Swapnangal Amme Avar Nammude Akasam Katteduthu Kurey Chithrangalulla Oru Rathri, Athil Oru...... Ee Nirathil Thavalangalilla Oru Nalu Vayassukarante Prasnangal...

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This anthology of short stories won the Nalappadan Award (instituted after the famous poet Nalappat Narayana Menon) in 1998. The story Alakkuyanthram is about the plight of child labor in India. A ten year old girl is forced to do menial job in a wealthy house because her mother falls ill. It is about her interaction with the 4 year old daughter of her mistress. One day she takes the little girl to her shabby looking hut much to the chagrin of the little girl. She faces reality hereto unimaginable in her wealthy surroundings....

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‘How come you didn’t get even a single order?’ John Mathew could not get it. ‘You say you have visited 10 - 15 houses, and yet no order. You have gone to a wealthy area. Venu closed his eyes without having to utter a word. And slowly he drifted into a slumber. In sleep, he saw dark skinny children with small chests and big unhealthy belly. In front of them poverty was strewn around like dirt in carpet of affluence, and he with his machine with unlimited capabilities sweeps the poverty and the children become handsome and pretty. Watching the smile on his sleeping friend, John Mathew became thoughtful. (Aparasadhyathakalulla Oru Yanthram)...

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Stories: Pazhayoru Bheeshanikkari Sookshichuvacha Mayilpeeli Sultante Makal Aaro Oraal Pinnil Alakkuyanthram Oru Tapdancer Amma Valeduthavan Bhagyathinte Vazhikal Theeppettikkollithumbile Jeevitham Oditta Oru Cheriya Veedu Oru Urula choru Nair Magnanimity Aparasadhyathakalulla Oru Yanthram Kallichedi...

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Dr. Gourami’s Hospital is a delivery ward for fishes. The story deals with a motherless child of five and his sorrowing father, both of whom finds solace in the aquarium. The new born babies that swim in the tank give cue to Biju about his own mother who left him couple of years ago. The Sunflowers is the story of a boy who was destined to toil at the age of 17 in a far away city, i.e. Calcutta. He supports his mother as well as the family of her brother too. Though unwilling Dasan finally finds his sacrifice most rewarding, as he finds a garden of sunflowers in a mountain valley he saw on his way home....

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After taking bath he got dressed up fast. Renu announced breakfast. He went to call his son Viju. He was standing in front of the aquarium, the same way he left him when he went to the bathroom. ‘What happened Viju?’ He asked. He didn’t say anything. He was just watching the newborn fish babies. He was thoughtful. Finally he asked: ‘Dad do these fish babies really get the smell of their mother in the water?’ ‘Yes dear, all living beings are like that. Children can recognize the smell of their mother.’ Suddenly he stopped. He saw Viju’s face darkening and his eyes becoming watery. He was incapable of wiping those tears or soothing the boy with words of solace; he just hugged him. His eyes were also filling. Then in between sobs, Viju said. ‘Dad, let’s not change this house. We will continue here only.’ (Dr. Gouramiyude Asupathri)...

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Stories: Gouramiyude Asupathri Sooryakantipookkal Kattikombu Cheppadikkaranum Njanum Canadayilninnoru Rajakumari Oru Viswasi Puthiyoru Velipadinuvendi Muzhumikkatha Yathra Nagaram...

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The story Pachhappayyine Pidikkan (To Catch a Grasshopper) won the Padmarajan Award in 1997. Padmarajan was a well-known film director and film maker. The story is about a five year old girl who goes out to catch a grasshopper on her elder sister’s wedding day. The situation in the family is so desperate that the girl thinks she should do something to have more money. There is a belief that if a grasshopper enters your house, it brings wealth also....

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The impatient horn of the car was heard outside. She said, ‘Raju I never expected all these.’ She took her suitcase and walked to the door. She kept the suitcase on the floor and turned to Rajasekharan. He was standing motionless. She went to him. ‘Are you sad ?’ Again the car horn was heard and he did not say anything. ‘They’re calling, shall I go?’ She went through the door, and stood for a moment holding the door; then taking out a key from her hand bag said. ‘This key........’ She stopped abruptly. That key for her was a private property. She has never felt it that way before. The quarters allotted to her in the hotels never gave her this intimate feeling. There is intimacy, privacy and solace in this key. ‘This key.......’ she asked, ‘shall I keep this with me? Whenever I feel extremely unhappy and sad I might need this.’ (Santhwanathinte Thakkol)...

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Stories: Nishaadam Ammu Paranja Katha Ettavum Mahathaya Kazhcha Asramam Urangukayanu Moolode Urappikkunnathile Vishamangal Desatanakkilipole Aval Oru Thanutha Kattayi Avan Pachhappayyine Pidikkan Veruthe Vanna Oral Santhwanathinte Thakkol Arunthathiyude Painikili Kavithakal...

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The story Koorakal is about a middle class family. A wife, husband and two children. The unwilling wife is forced to terminate her third pregnancy much to her wishes, since their financial background does not allow them to have one more child. She is in a dilemma, and finally had to give in....

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It’s the conscience that troubles me, she thought. I now have a guilty conscience. But it has got to be done. There is no other go. These days you have to live, and live happily too, for which, at least, you have to pay a deaf ear to this beat of the wings. You will be happy tomorrow when memory of this nightmare ceases to haunt you. We should bring our children back, she thought. I am missing them very much. Fifteen days seemed longer, and I can’t stand this solitude any more. I should have them around me. .........She overslept, and when woke up sunray crept into the room. On the floor she saw the dead cockroaches, hundreds of them lying on their back. She thought of the crumbled leaves which fall dry in the cold winter mornings from trees in her native home, and of her mother who passed away years back, and of her children, and of the tiny particle of life brewing in her womb, which was deprived of its right to exist, and she was sad. (Koorakal)...

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Stories: Koorakal Unakkamarangal Parunthukal Vattomchuttumbol Sisiram Iruttilude Mazhayulla Oru Rathriyil Kariyaduppu Iruttinte Makal Madhuvidhu Njan Ninnil Ninakkuvendi Vellakkuthirayude Rajakumaran Daivam Jnjaniyavunnu...