THE ADIVASI WILL NOT DANCE

Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar

In this collection of stories, set in the fertile, mineral-rich hinterland and squalid towns of Jharkhand, Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar breathes life into characters such as the troupe-master Mangal Murmu, who refuses to perform for the president of India and is beaten down; Suren and Gita, a couple waiting outside a neonatal ward, hoping—for different reasons—that their blue baby will turn pink; and Panmuni and Biram Soren, who move to Vadodara in the autumn of their lives, only to find that they must stop eating meat to be accepted as citizens.

Speaking Tiger, 140 pages, Rs 320