It Happens (Stories of Human Relationships)

'I read Bhaswar Mukherjee's compelling short story "It Was Not Their War" as one of the submissions for the TOI Write India contest...the story was compelling and captivating. I wish Bhaswar well for his future writing endeavours.

- Ashwin Sanghi, Author

'Bhaswar is an engaging storyteller. Short story writing is a special technique and Bhaswar certainly excels at that. I wish him all the best for his anthology and all future endeavours.

- Vinita Dawra Nangia Executive Editor Times of India; Director Write India

What is it that can be your strength, your weakness, your nemesis, or your identity?

Relationships.

It Happens-Stories of Human Relationships is a collection about people and their interactions that define the world we live in, either themselves or in the manner they influence us.

These stories will make you live the characters and experience their relationships. You can almost reach out and touch someone familiar, remember a similar guilt or a deep sigh, a know-it-all smirk or a wide smile.

So, go ahead, immerse yourself, and let your emotions go on a roller-coaster ride. And prepare to get surprised.

What is it in the DNA of bankers that makes them gravitate towards writing at some point of time in their lives? There appear to be no easy answers to this conundrum. Perhaps it's the sheer herd mentality.

Bhaswar denies this generalisation and calls himself a reluctant and an accidental writer.

His first short story 'The God of a Lesser Child' was submitted as a lark and was selected and published by Notion Press in 21 Tales to Tell in March 2014. His next ‘Unrequited was selected by author Neelam Chandra Saxena in a contest launched by Readomania and was one of the two winning entries. ‘EFIL' found place in Readomania's anthology Chronicles of Urban Nomads. 'Acceptance' was selected by author Sudha Murty and published by Penguin India in their anthology Something Happened on the Way to Heaven. Another story ‘Garib Rath' was picked up by author Ravinder Singh for his anthology Tell me a Story and published by Penguin India. “Guest of Honour' in the Long Short Story (Notion Press), 'The Introduction' (Story Mirror), followed and his contribution ‘Leap of Faith' featured in Crossed and Knotted (Readomania), India's first composite novel.

In 2016, his short story 'It was not their war' was selected by author Ashwin Sanghi as one of the winners and published in the anthology by the Times of India in the Write India Contest Season 1 (TOI-Season 1). Another story, ‘Karma' was among the top ten for the submissions for author Tuhin Sinha.

In 2019-20, his short stories for TOI-Season 3 were shortlisted for the top ten by authors Nayantara Sahgal, Amitav Ghosh, Upamanyu Chatterjee and Vivek Shanbhag for their respective prompts.

Bhaswar has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from IIM Bangalore. After close to eighteen years in multinational banks (Bank of America and HSBC), he quit in 2005 to set up his own company Bridgepoint Solutions Pvt Ltd, which provides consultancy and learning solutions in the banking domain.

He is passionate about theatre, having acted and directed many.

He and his wife live in Chennai, India, empty nesters; their only daughter works in the US.

Bhaswar strives to live by the maxim 'Carpe Diem' or 'Seize the Day'.

**Contents and Sample Pages**