Yun Na Hota Toh Kya Hota

A struggling actor who doubles as a gigolo to make ends meet in Mumbai records a statement about his tumultuous affair with a masochistic prostitute who likes her lover to be violent. Security guard Shiv Mangal Pande imagines himself to be the rebel Mangal Pande after watching Amir Khan in a movie and sets out to save his country. During recession, Sadanand Parashar’s newspaper is bought by a cement and steel exporter who moves the entire editorial staff to the dank and claustrophobic basement in the building. Vishnu’s vehicle, Sheshnaag begins to bleed from the nose and sends the entire Swarglok into a tizzy about some calamity that has struck the earth and they receive news that a motorcycle-borne sadhvi has been arrested on charges of planning a series of blasts in the commercial capital of India. Here’s a bunch of four long stories about aspirations and disillusionment, each written in sharp sardonic prose about vices that thrive in darkness.