THE SHRINKING WOMAN AND OTHER STORIES

Hello,

Ever since the publication of my short story 'Victim of the Stock Market' in the wonderful book called 'The Shrinking Woman and other stories' I have been trying to convince myself that it is nothing out of ordinary.

But every now and then an event comes up to show that I am wrong and I have to say that it makes me really proud of my achievement.

This was my first jab at publication of short stories written by me and I have to thank Annie Mathews and Meenakshi, the wonderful editors of the book and Unisun Publication for having considered my story to be good enough to share space with such wonderfully gifted authors.

There are several award winning writers in the 36 that appear in my book and most recently Jahnavi Barua made it to the longlist of the Frank O Connor Award. The euphoria of being associated with this talented writer had hardly died down when Maraim Karim and K Srilata have made it to the Man Asian Award.

It would be wrong to name just a few others who share 'The Shrinking Woman and Other Stories' with me as I now believe that all of them are exceptionally talented and winners. There is no need for me to be reminded of their talent by listing their awards.

I feel blessed and honoured.

When I started searching for an avenue for publication of my short stories my only aim was to get someone to publish one of my short stories anywhere in their book.
I was over the moon when Meenakshi wrote to me that my story would be published in the book. It was like a life ambition achieved but my fellow writers have made me greedy.

It now much more that I dream of.

While it is easy to bask in the company of the illustrious names who share the index with me in the book I need to mention important names that do not appear in the index.

Sanjoy, my friend, who has been a force that has propelled me forward and Radhika, my wife and friend, who has kept me grounded.

Ruchira and Mayank, my daughter and son have been willing guinea pigs in the laboratory I now operate and when they complain of wax in their ears I know it is time to stop the experiments.

They are the proof readers, editors, sounding boards and magnanimous listeners. Thank you very much.

I could not have done anything without them.

Best regards,
Manoj