IMPOSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP.
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Fiza Pathan
Author
39 books
309 followers
Friends
June 6, 2025
‘IMPOSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP’ by Shiva Kumar A.K.A Mangalam Shiva sir is an alluring, captivating and feel-good read like no other though it focuses on a social issue theme which has all of a sudden now become very prevalent in our part of the world for some really odd reason. I’m glad dynamic 81-year-old author Mangalam Shiva sir brought up this odd issue in this short story of his. Really, gone are the days when sisters one married and one unmarried could live together safely under the same roof! Read ‘Impossible Relationship’ to know more about this social issue fiction topic which would normally be categorized in the schema of relationship social issues.
The young female protagonist who resides in Bengaluru, one of my only favourite places in the world, after her graduation gets a job opportunity of a lifetime where she will be based in the city of Mumbai. Mumbai happens to be the commercial capital of the country, India, while Bengaluru is the technological and IT hub of India. However, it is Mumbai that is considered to be the city of dreams, success, jobs, Bollywood, and trouble! All this the female protagonist would encounter right under her married sister’s roof in Mumbai, Bandra West (my turf!) while working in Mumbai.
Thankfully there is a happy ending to this tale, but normally, such situations turn out to become quite gory. I was holding my breath as the story was progressing because I have been following many cases of this sort for the past four years and it never seems to amaze me that a married sister in all these ‘real cases’ would rather kill her own unmarried sister in cold blood rather than her husband! Yet again the idea that the woman or young girl is the tempter and is always at fault, coming to play in the Indian backward scenario which does not even spare teenage unmarried sisters from such horrifying deaths!
So indeed, I am glad something of this nature did not happen ultimately at the end of this short. That is quite a novel take on the whole sordid issue by Mangalam Shivakumar sir and I applaud him for it. Mangalam sir does have a way of presenting social issue scenarios in unusual but very realistic ways; it always manages to catch me by surprise all the time and every time so far.
I totally empathize with the young unmarried female protagonist, and condemn the deplorable attitude of the male anti-hero, the unmarried protagonist’s elder brother-in-law. Mangalam sir’s writing style in this short was alluring, romantic per se in the context of the appropriate situations, highly suspenseful of the likes of Sidney Sheldon this time and a lot of drama build up akin to that again of a Sheldon novel or something written by Danielle Steel, with a touch of the Indianness of Chetan Bhagat and Durjoy Dutta in this one titled ‘Impossible Relationship’.
From ‘touch and go’ chess games to brothers-in-law playing the ‘man in the middle’ on a plane; from young female finger tips to roughly clasped hand wrist grips; from bored bookworm elder sisters to board game playing younger sisters; from Goa water shenanigans to Bengaluru two hour traffic car ‘joy rides’ – this short story has something for everybody, whether you are living in either Bengaluru, Mumbai, Goa or anywhere else in the world! Therefore, do not miss this short penned by Mangalam Shivakumar one of my new indie-author addictions this year 2025. I simply just cannot get enough of him!
My favourite scene in this short would definitely be the ending but I was quite tantalized with the plane ride from Mumbai to Goa as well, especially the last 20 minutes of it. That was written very alluringly and sensually by 81-year-old daring writer Mangalam Shivakumar sir. This 36 year old enjoyed the scenario very much and was reminded of an Archie Comic cover or a Bollywood movie she watched multiple times in the theatre in the year 1998 called Kuch Kuch Hota Hai until she got tired of the sexism of the latter!
Overall, a brilliant job done by Shivkumar sir and I hope to read more of his engrossing short stories in the coming days and weeks in between my uber hectic work and college/colleges schedule. I reward him 5 stars yet again quite easily. Kudos to him on a job well done!
But on a serious note, as mentioned by me before, this relationship social issue dwelt upon by Mangalam Shiva sir has really become a big epidemic in my part of the world because of the migration of many young girls and women from towns and villages to their new workplaces in the urban cities of India. I would implore therefore the families of these young girls and older women to try to not allow your unmarried ones to reside with their elder siblings whether female, male whatever! Rather invest in a good girl’s hostel, a rented tenement, a share an apartment option, etc., rather than subject the helpless working young unmarried girl to such unnecessary situations.
Reason simply being, it seems that brothers-in-law have got the Disney Hannah Montana complex – they want the best of both worlds! Or sisters!
So, invest in the option preferred by me earlier because of late, an elder threatened married sister can go to any extent in her fury and wrath to prevent sharing her husband with her younger sibling. From bride burning in kitchens with the gas tap left open to bathroom geyser burnings, from sharpshooter deaths on contract to gang rape cum murders with hacking and bodies left in abandoned jungles – the wrath of an elder sister seems to know no bounds and the examples just keep getting worse as the days go by. So please take Mangalam Shiva’s short as a warning in this regard, because sadly in our world what is sauce for the goose is never sauce for the gander!
Fiza Pathan
Author
39 books
309 followers
Friends
June 6, 2025
‘IMPOSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP’ by Shiva Kumar A.K.A Mangalam Shiva sir is an alluring, captivating and feel-good read like no other though it focuses on a social issue theme which has all of a sudden now become very prevalent in our part of the world for some really odd reason. I’m glad dynamic 81-year-old author Mangalam Shiva sir brought up this odd issue in this short story of his. Really, gone are the days when sisters one married and one unmarried could live together safely under the same roof! Read ‘Impossible Relationship’ to know more about this social issue fiction topic which would normally be categorized in the schema of relationship social issues.
The young female protagonist who resides in Bengaluru, one of my only favourite places in the world, after her graduation gets a job opportunity of a lifetime where she will be based in the city of Mumbai. Mumbai happens to be the commercial capital of the country, India, while Bengaluru is the technological and IT hub of India. However, it is Mumbai that is considered to be the city of dreams, success, jobs, Bollywood, and trouble! All this the female protagonist would encounter right under her married sister’s roof in Mumbai, Bandra West (my turf!) while working in Mumbai.
Thankfully there is a happy ending to this tale, but normally, such situations turn out to become quite gory. I was holding my breath as the story was progressing because I have been following many cases of this sort for the past four years and it never seems to amaze me that a married sister in all these ‘real cases’ would rather kill her own unmarried sister in cold blood rather than her husband! Yet again the idea that the woman or young girl is the tempter and is always at fault, coming to play in the Indian backward scenario which does not even spare teenage unmarried sisters from such horrifying deaths!
So indeed, I am glad something of this nature did not happen ultimately at the end of this short. That is quite a novel take on the whole sordid issue by Mangalam Shivakumar sir and I applaud him for it. Mangalam sir does have a way of presenting social issue scenarios in unusual but very realistic ways; it always manages to catch me by surprise all the time and every time so far.
I totally empathize with the young unmarried female protagonist, and condemn the deplorable attitude of the male anti-hero, the unmarried protagonist’s elder brother-in-law. Mangalam sir’s writing style in this short was alluring, romantic per se in the context of the appropriate situations, highly suspenseful of the likes of Sidney Sheldon this time and a lot of drama build up akin to that again of a Sheldon novel or something written by Danielle Steel, with a touch of the Indianness of Chetan Bhagat and Durjoy Dutta in this one titled ‘Impossible Relationship’.
From ‘touch and go’ chess games to brothers-in-law playing the ‘man in the middle’ on a plane; from young female finger tips to roughly clasped hand wrist grips; from bored bookworm elder sisters to board game playing younger sisters; from Goa water shenanigans to Bengaluru two hour traffic car ‘joy rides’ – this short story has something for everybody, whether you are living in either Bengaluru, Mumbai, Goa or anywhere else in the world! Therefore, do not miss this short penned by Mangalam Shivakumar one of my new indie-author addictions this year 2025. I simply just cannot get enough of him!
My favourite scene in this short would definitely be the ending but I was quite tantalized with the plane ride from Mumbai to Goa as well, especially the last 20 minutes of it. That was written very alluringly and sensually by 81-year-old daring writer Mangalam Shivakumar sir. This 36 year old enjoyed the scenario very much and was reminded of an Archie Comic cover or a Bollywood movie she watched multiple times in the theatre in the year 1998 called Kuch Kuch Hota Hai until she got tired of the sexism of the latter!
Overall, a brilliant job done by Shivkumar sir and I hope to read more of his engrossing short stories in the coming days and weeks in between my uber hectic work and college/colleges schedule. I reward him 5 stars yet again quite easily. Kudos to him on a job well done!
But on a serious note, as mentioned by me before, this relationship social issue dwelt upon by Mangalam Shiva sir has really become a big epidemic in my part of the world because of the migration of many young girls and women from towns and villages to their new workplaces in the urban cities of India. I would implore therefore the families of these young girls and older women to try to not allow your unmarried ones to reside with their elder siblings whether female, male whatever! Rather invest in a good girl’s hostel, a rented tenement, a share an apartment option, etc., rather than subject the helpless working young unmarried girl to such unnecessary situations.
Reason simply being, it seems that brothers-in-law have got the Disney Hannah Montana complex – they want the best of both worlds! Or sisters!
So, invest in the option preferred by me earlier because of late, an elder threatened married sister can go to any extent in her fury and wrath to prevent sharing her husband with her younger sibling. From bride burning in kitchens with the gas tap left open to bathroom geyser burnings, from sharpshooter deaths on contract to gang rape cum murders with hacking and bodies left in abandoned jungles – the wrath of an elder sister seems to know no bounds and the examples just keep getting worse as the days go by. So please take Mangalam Shiva’s short as a warning in this regard, because sadly in our world what is sauce for the goose is never sauce for the gander!
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