The Interview A short story by Anirudh Deshpande Associate Professor Department of History, Faculty of Social Sciences, Delhi University. Clad in night clothes, unbathed, bearded with shoulder length black hair, Sameer Ranade, Ph.D. in modern Indian history, approached his retired well settled father with an air of false nonchalance. The Brigadier had settled in his favorite white cane armchair in the whitewashed veranda of his bungalow on a July morning. He saw his languorous son walk towards him from the corner of his eyes shrouded in thick grey eye brows. The gentle monsoon breeze caressed by the drops of ...Read More

The Interview A short story by Anirudh Deshpande II At two thirty pm the sloppy guards in the Blue of one International Shaurya Security Agency (Private) saw a white Fiat turn towards the Lal Bahadur Shastri Evening College, LBsec, as it is still called, on the Swatantra Senani Jagat Ram Marg behind the Kautilya Complex from the main road which joins the Jarnail Singh Stadium and Karnail Singh Swimming Academy in the city. The car sported clean snow white curtains and an Indian Army Sticker with ‘VETERAN’ printed below it. The man who got down from the car had ...Read More

The Interview A short story by Anirudh Deshpande III In the Kripacharya College, Professor Aftab Hasan Mehboob, notorious for supervising and recommending long-legged young lady research students, had interviewed Sameer the previous year. Mehboob took his name seriously and caressed female colleagues and nubile students with a pair of large watery innocent eyes. There was evidence that a doctoral student had slept with his wife some years. This happened when he was abroad on a four-month summer fellowship meant for a single person. The relish with which his wife had packed his bags had aroused his suspicions but he ...Read More

The Interview A short story by Anirudh Deshpande IV Sameer entered the Principal’s room and said “Good Afternoon” to phalanx of interviewers. He was waved to a hard wooden chair kept four inches below the committee platform. His height compensated for this stratagem of official humiliation. Principal Dr. Harish Mohan Shukla, aka Anjaanaa his nom de plume among Hindi kavis and lekhaks, sat below a large black and white photograph of the modest Prime Minister. On the right bottom corner of this photograph was a small drawing of a soldier in olive green holding a 303 Enfield Rifle. The ...Read More