Life over two beers and other stories

Life over two beers

Author: Sanjeev Sanyal 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A wonderful find in a strangers library at a homestay at Chikmaglur. It was an Indian contemporary short story collection, my fav kind. I finished about 12-14 short stories in 24 hours flat. Sometimes it’s wonderful to read like that. I loved each and every story especially the short poetry - rich and felt. 

The troll, used car salesman, two beers were such a stark reflection of the society we live in where we all drift in our usual patterns connecting and disconnecting on our paths. Satire has a way of saying the bitter truths without offending the populace. Throw in Social media, livelihood, community themes dominating big parts of our lives. I loved the conference call story of the corporate jungle. Probably, it’s due to my recent disillusion with the corporate world. 

A note on the author - 

Sanjeev Sanyal is a great find and I felt so much affinity with him. How? Just by reading a book. I think a book tells much about how an author thinks. Even though we are strangers it felt, that we could have some interesting conversations. 

- Firstly, his case for reviving the short story collection. He talks about some of his original stories which he wanted to publish in 2005 but it couldn’t happen as no publisher would bet on this genre. 

His second case for boosting satire is another ideology we share. I think Indian humor has been underestimated and has a way to take a swing. My second is a comedy. 

Thirdly, he is from my alma mater SRCC Delhi and has also been at the epicenter of 2008 financial crisis in investment banking. I was employed with  the titanic of the sub prime crisis - Lehman brothers. No one thought a 150 year old company will sink so fast. 

Although I survived that threw me on to a path of writing where I find myself now and it sounds like he did too. 

Hoping someday I meet Mr Sanyal and we can discuss these and many other topics.