Neera Kashyap's 'Cracks in the Wall': Stories that seek to lay bare fissures that shape ordinary lives

New Delhi, Dec 27 (PTI) A new collection of short stories seeks to capture the thematic breadth of diverse geographies and social and emotional landscapes and also lay bare the many fissures that shape ordinary lives.

In Neera Kashyap's "Cracks in the Wall", the cracks are not merely sites of rupture but how the light - the truth - gets in.

Kashyap writes on suffering - loss, mental illness, social injustice, domestic violence, historical trauma - and counterbalances it with moments of profound connection and insight.

In story after story, the characters navigate the tension between what is broken and what can still be healed.

In the title story, Gulabi, a survivor of domestic violence, confronts her abusive husband before the panchayat aided by the resolute social worker Anandi.

Kashyap stages the moment of confrontation as both a social drama and a psychological turning point: through Gulabi's trembling voice holding her husband accountable before the gathered villagers, the readers have the power of collective witnessing.

Yet, back home in the city, the narrator herself reaches a breaking point after years of abuse by her husband Abhijit and finds her Anandi: Sonal.

The story reveals how systems of oppression can be challenged not only through law but through solidarity and how such solidarity is important across class whether it be in the village or the city. Urban does not by default translate to progressive, nor rural to backward.

A distinct thread that runs through the collection, published by Niyogi Books, is Kashyap's sensitivity to mental health.

Stories like "Half-Life" and "The Silent Tree" portray mental illness in domestic spaces with remarkable delicacy.

In the former, Leena, a disaster management coordinator, has recurrent nightmares of being engulfed by a tsunami 'advancing like a wall' but the first glimpse of a road to recovery is paved by the unparalleled patience and care shown by Anita, her flatmate of 10 years, in whom she finds an anchor.

It is testament to what simply holding space can do for someone working through trauma.

In the latter, the young Aarav constructs a plasticine tree as a way of processing his mother's obsessive-compulsive struggles - the child's ingenuity and the mother's invisible pain exemplify the fragility and strength that characterise Kashyap's approach to psychological complexity.

The collection also features stories shaped by spiritual seeking.

"Narratives that Live", the opening story in the collection, evokes the lyrical, almost mystical atmosphere of a pilgrimage to Vishnupur's ancient temples.

"When Experience is Key", on the other hand, explores the goings-on at a spiritual retreat through the figure of Bill, an American seeker whose journey turns from exuberance to an abrupt end.

Across the collection, Kashyap captures small gestures - a trembling hand, a hush in a crowd, eyes quietly conveying gratitude. The stories often end not with a neat resolution but with insight, ambiguity, or a shift in consciousness. PTI ZMN ZMN