A Tea-stall by the Side of the Road-Murad Jawed

Book: A Tea-stall by the Side of the Road
Author: Murad Jawed
Publisher: Bluerose Publications

Do you believe that ghosts exist?

A Tea-stall by the Side of the Road is a collection of 8 stories across various genres that depict the human nature. Based on the local folklore and urban legends from across India, the stories are presented in first first-person narrative. These stories are based on actual experiences shared by people with the author. From recounting a love story lost to the sands of time in Megha: A Forgotten Love Story, to a couple of dramatic stories titled A Train Journey to Pune where the tales of a corporate employee is told, and The Peepal Tree. With the thrilling tale of The Closure, we move towards the triad of horror tales titled The Shadow Man, Scary Story and The Haunted Diaries.

The plot of each of the 8 stories is well crafted with attention to detail such that one cannot easily find loopholes in them. True to the genre of each story, the elements in the stories will make you feel the way the story is progressing. In the sole romantic story, one can actually feel the pain of the lovers and in the triad of the horror stories, each one of them makes the hair stand. The storytelling is quite fluid, and helps you create vivid imagery that makes you live the story, not just read in, and I believe that is the best thing that one can do while penning them. In the drama stories, however, I felt a bit more of substance could have been added as they seemed paler in comparison to the other stories. The climax of each of the stories is excellent though, and personally, I would love to see more horror stories from the author’s pen.

The characters of the book are ordinary with extra ordinary stories. These are people that can be found among us, and even the situations that he has penned are almost quite real, and the reactions help establish a feeling of connect with the characters. I loved the characters in the horror stories, and I connected a lot with the character in A Train Journey to Pune.

Overall, a good collection of stories that scores a 3.69/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book here.