The Cavern and Other Stories by Bhabendra Nath Saikia

Translated and Edited by

ধীৰেন্দ্ৰ নাথ বেজবৰুৱা (Dhirendra Nath Bezboruah)

The first ebook of Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia which includes some of his best short stories including “Baaduli,” “Endur,” “Gahbar” etc.

One of the Amazon Top 50 reviewers J. Chambers (Georgia, United States) Has said about the ebook -

“Fascinating stories from a culture very different from ours”

I enjoyed all the stories, but a few stood out as my favorites. "Rats" was about families so poor that, surrounded by warehouses full of food, mothers sent their sons to sweep out the beds of the food trucks to glean a few bits of grain. The fathers had all left the town, since there was no work for them. It was a dangerous environment just waiting for a real tragedy to happen.

"Circumambulation" (it means the act of walking around something in a circle) is a story that most westerners can relate to. The narrator wants nothing more than to be successful in business and live in peace, but his large family is mainly concerned with getting him married and sponging off him. In "The Sinful One," a man tries to convince a friend that he has no feelings left for a former lover who may be dying, but his actions betray him. "Face to Face" was about a man who worked very hard to get a coveted night watchman's job, only to discover that it was even more difficult to keep the job. It had a nice surprise ending that was a bit reminiscent of an O'Henry story. The title story, "The Cavern," was written in 1968, a year after South African surgeon Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the world's first heart transplant. The story follows a fictional character who has received a new heart. It was a compelling story that examined the emotional conflicts that can occur when medicine intersects with racism.

Overall, this was an impressive sampling of Dr. Saikia's writing. It was fascinating to see the cultural differences between India and western countries reflected in the stories, but ultimately, the characters' feelings and motivations weren't so very different from our own.

One of the Top 500 Amazon Reviewers Kacunnin (Bowie, MD USA), said

“Beautifully poignant and surprisingly revealing stories”

THE CAVERN AND OTHER STORIES, presents a picture of human life that is both beautifully poignant and surprisingly revealing. Written in a classic, minimalist style, Dr. Saikia's stories use the mundane events of everyday life to highlight subtle and important truths about all of us. His characters are memorable for the simplicity of their insights, and for the way Dr. Saikia is able to reveal that insight though seemingly unconnected events.

The endings of Dr. Saikia's stories are really what make them work so perfectly. He has a talent saying something that, in just a line or two, brings great truths into sudden focus. I was reminded of the stories of Indian writer R. K. Narayan, and even of O. Henry, whose stories are little gems of insight into the workings of the human mind.