Hear are 14 award winning stories whose common claim is only to excellence. Selected initially by the editors of respected journals and magazines across India and published by them during 1987-1990, these stores have been nominated for the Katha Awards by people whose knowledge of their respective languages and literature is well known. The accent is on the inherent heterogeneity of contemporary India, an India constantly negotiating contradictions and coming-together, in fiction that both creates and breaks stereotypes. There is no attempt here to yoke together “universal themes” or “basic conflicts” yet brought serendipitously together is a galaxy of master writers – the pioneers and the path-breakers.
