A Day in the Life of Mangal Taram

A Day in the Life of Mangal Taram: Select Stories of Anita Agnihotri is a collection of 14 short stories in English translation, portrayed on a predominantly Indian canvas, deciphering the unheard voices of many. Whether narrating the pangs of an aged artist or a yester-year writer, the silent angst of a little girl on being abandoned by her mother or the struggles of a man trapped in the guilt of losing his first wife, this book has a story for every reader. This collection presents a unique combination of everyday characters, relaying life experiences relatable and common, which yet hark at the heart of the reader in the most extraordinary way.

ANITA AGNIHOTRI'S literary oeuvre spans across all genres—poetry, novels, writing for children, and critiques of development; but short story is the genre that stimulates her creative vein the most. She has authored over 30 volumes by now and has received several awards, including the Bangiya Sahitya Parishad felicitation, the Sarat Puraskar, Pratibha Basu Sahitya Puraskar, and the Bhuban Mohini Dasi Gold Medal by the University of Calcutta. She also served in the Indian Administrative Service. Her writing explores the vast and complex Indian reality, many facets of human relations, and brings out the unheard voices of the marginalized and the underprivileged, and has been translated into several Indian languages, in English, and also in German and Swedish.

RANI RAY studied English at Bedford College, London, and University of California. She has taught English at the University of Delhi, University of California at Santa Barbara, and the Institute of English Studies in Poland. She has rendered into English a substantial volume of Bengali fiction, including short stories of eminent writers like Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, Ritwik Ghatak, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Joy Goswami, Suchitra Bhattacharya, Anita Agnihotri, and above all, Rabindranath Tagore.