Looking for Miss Sargam: Stories of Music and Misadventure - Shubha Mudgal - ★★★★.½

AUTHOR: Shubha Mudgal

GENRE: Short Story Collection.

PUBLICATION DATE: July 10, 2019.

RATING: 4.5 stars.

No music lover would be unaware of Shubha Mudgal and her rich voice and impassioned singing. This same richness and passion is visible in her debut book, an anthology of stories from the Indian music world.

Each of the 7 stories in the book is written with brilliance. They are heartwarming and heartbreaking. The stories aren't set in the typical metropolises but in the heartland of Indian music. But what got my attention even more was the language. The words used are so conversational, and where needed, local languages such as Hindi or Marathi are used. This lends to the stories a greater realism. You don't feel like you're watching a movie with bombastic dialogues, but as if you are an onlooker to something unfolding in real life, in front of your eyes.

To put it differently, this is the India viewed from the eyes of 1980s Doordarshan rather than 2010s Star Plus. The true India, the talented India, the gullible India, the scamming India,... All visible clearly in every story.

I have anyway loved short stories since decades, but I think this is the first anthology I've truly enjoyed since Interpreter of Maladies.

Pick up this book if you love short stories,

or if you love music,

or if you want stories about India in real life with no frills or embellishments,

or if you're simply looking for a good quick book. (It's just about 210 pages.)