Bridges and Crossings-Meera Sundararajan

Book: Bridges and Crossings

Author: Meera Sundararajan

Publisher: Notion Press

Each one us who has travelled in India has at least one memory of travelling in the train. Indian Railways is not just a mode of transport, but a lifeline of the country that connects people more than places. Travelling on the side lower seat in the 3AC compartment, with a book in the hand is something that gives a sort of bliss that no other place might give me.

Bridges and Crossings by Meera Sundararajan is a collection of 11 short stories, with the railways being a common thread in all the stories. Each of the story is unique in its genre and storytelling. From Off Track being the story where 2 people, who had interacted online have a chance encounter, yet stay oblivious to it, to Forgiving where we see 2 friends meeting each other after a long time when they broke apart due to betrayal. Vada Pav was a story that puts up such a relevant question to the society that it almost made me emotional. With Breaking the fast, Meera shattered the religious biases that we tend to have and how humanity is the religion that pervades all boundaries.

Each of the 11 stories has a wonderful message imprinted in it, which is quite subtle yet enforced. We meet our characters in Express trains and Local trains, travelling with reservations and some without, some of them travel in unreserved classes, while others travel in First Class. Meera has taken the best and the worst of our travel journey stories and woven them into a seamless narrative that will compel the reader to turn the page and go on to the next story.

The characters are very nicely crafted with enough space given for them to establish themselves even in a short story, I loved the fact that each of them is a unique person and that we see a myriad of personalities from a Single Mother to a successful businessman and to an old, religious couple.

Overall, Bridges and Crossings is an amazing storytelling of travel stories which would connect with us at some level or the other.

The book reserves 4 seats out of 5 in the coach.