Love Stories # 1 to 14 by Annie Zaidi

Featuring Annie’s book on my blog takes me down memory lane. I was seventeen when I first saw Annie sitting under a bougainvillea bush behind the Sophia college canteen. The year was 1997 and the heat in Ajmer was scorching. We were melting like ice-cubes in the sun and there she was all grace and calm, pale and ethereal, scribbling away in her diary.

I remember asking a fellow fresher, ‘Who’s she?’.

‘Her names Annie. She’s different.’  

In those days we were petrified of our seniors and super-seniors; ragging was a royal frigging pain. A pack of them loved to throw their weight about, a handful were civil to us and then there were those like Annie who didn't bother us at all. Over the course of two years I saw Annie being part of some great college plays, both in terms of writing and acting. Despite being a boarder, I never really had the opportunity to connect with her but that she was different from the rest was quite evident. For one, she almost always had a diary in her hand.

I bumped into Annie last year at the Jaipur Lit fest and was least surprised to see her looking as lovely as she did in college, except that she has added great many feathers to her hat. It would not be wrong to say that her writing is the toast of the publishing world. Some wonderful review of her latest book, 'Love Stories # 1 to 14'.

"So warm and attentive is the writing in Annie Zaidi's new short-story collection that it comes as a little shock when you think about what some of her characters are really going through. This book's tone is consistently hushed, reflective, shorn of hysteria — even in a description of two people arguing, with a lifetime of companionship on the line — but beneath its still surfaces there is much emotional turbulence." - Jai Arjun Singh in the Sunday Guardian.

"Zaidi rolls up her sleeves and digs in to the emotional core of her protagonists, with nary a nod to their externalities... She has an eye for detail that would make a falcon blush." - Mid-Day

"Annie Zaidi's stories are at once warm and distant, violent and gentle - and, above all, untroubled by cynicism. This is a look at love, straight in the eye, to understand the alluring nature of the beast." - IBNLive.com

I am sharing a personal favourite from Annie’s post featured on the BWW blog (Bangalore Writers Workshop) on the art of creative writing,  ‘How to begin’.

Begin at the very source of your need. Begin the way waterfalls begin – with a rush and headlong tumble towards the unknown depths. Crash into rocks.

Begin with the image of hurt. Most of us need to share pain, above all things. Our joys we sequester, most of us. We need them too much, and we are afraid of jealous eyes. Of jealous gods. Until we lose them. Then those joys become pain. And we are finally ready to share them with the world.

 Begin with the sound of grief. Is it an absolutely still house at midnight, with the very faint sound of traffic filtering up from the bedroom window as you lie in bed, alone?

Begin with the shape of grief, its texture. Is it round, or mottled like a sulky, unattractive child? Does it look like stained gauze bandages? Does it feel like cracked heels in too-new sandals that were worn only once to a wedding where you felt you must look your very best even though you were related neither to the groom nor the bride?

Begin with the last sentence you remember in the mouth of the beloved. Begin with the rage on the face of a stranger. Begin with yawning abysses or ropes or necklaces or broken clasps.

Here's Annie’s latest book: 

 A woman who won’t the shadow of death disrupt her love-life, another who falls irrevocably in love with a dead police officer, a devoted wife who steps out twice a week for Narcotics Anonymous meetings, friends who should have been lovers, the woman who offers all her pent-up love to a railway announcer’s voice … Annie Zaidi’s delightful short stories are at once warm and distant, violent and gentle – and, above all, untroubled by cynicism. This is a look at love, straight in the eye, to understand the contrary, alluring nature of the beast.

About the author:

Annie Zaidi writes poetry, non-fiction, fiction,and scripts for stage and screen. She is the author of Love Stories # 1 to 14, and the co-author of The Bad Boy's Guide to the Good Indian Girl. Her first collection of essays Known Turf: Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales was shortlisted for the Crossword (non-fiction) book prize, and was translated into Italian as 'I Miee Luoghi'. Crush, a series of illustrated poems, was made in collaboration with artist Gynelle Alves.

She also writes poetry and plays in both English and Hindi. Jaal and So Many Socks were performed in Mumbai in 2012. Her work has appeared in anthologies like Mumbai Noir;Women Changing India; Journey Through Rajasthan; 21 Under 40; India Shining; India Changing; and in journals like The Little Magazine, Pratilipi, Out of Print; Caravan and Desilit. She writes a weekly column for the DNA (Daily News and Analysis) and currently lives in Mumbai.

Other books by Annie