Rishabh Pratipaksh’s first collection of stories has a riotous cast—ranging from prostitutes who read slurs etched by men about hookers in public urinals; mobs that wish to destroy the idea of Gandhi each time they get ready to commit hate crimes; a society that shuns rape survivors but turn them into goddesses the minute they die, the dead ‘Shravan Kumars’ of a family who are burdened by their parents’ dangerous expectations; an upper caste Bhura Pandey who helps his scheduled caste childhood friend elope with a brahmin girl; two small-time criminals who are plotting to bump off their gangster mentor; and an adolescent girl who is trying to deal with the first day of her period. Rishabh’s stories are definitely the finest to come from Hindi literature in recent times. They gratify, entertain, unnerve and shock, all at once.Revised edition: This edition of Cric Panda Pon Pon Pon includes editorial revisions.
