The Fuss About Queens and Other Stories

Darius Cooper

Om Books International

182 pages, RS. 225

Many of Cooper’s stories take the reader through the world of Mumbai Parsis who live in a time warp amid tomes of Dostoevsky, period furniture and portraits of British royalty. In one story, a man tries to fend off the vultures who, on his death, will shred his corpse atop the Parsi Tower of Silence. In another, an elderly couple excitedly waits to catch a glimpse of the visiting queen of England, even as their son questions their Anglophone ways. Each tale provides a glimpse of a living yet antiquated culture.