Tales from a Vending Machine

by Anees Salim

Hasina Mansoor is many things: devoted sister, blushing lover and ambitious young woman. Unfortunately, a stint at the airport lounge's tea vending machine does not seem to be getting her any closer to her dreams. To pass the time she daydreams, chats with air-hostesses and takes part in mock anti-terrorist drills. At home, she studies her English, fights with her twin and engages in a secret love affair with her cousin and neighbour, Eza. But when a scandal threatens her tenuous happiness, she must pull out all stops on her overactive imagination, and seek a terrible revenge.

Genres: Fiction, India

223 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2013

About the author

Anees Salim is an advertising professional and is employed with Draft FCB Ulka. He loves being invisible and lives with his wife and son in Kochi. Vanity Bagh is his second novel.

Reviews

[Reshmi Pillai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Facinating and very real world. The protagonist is lovable and not so at the same time, just like people around us. The climax, well, I wasn't expecting what happened. I didn't like what happened but to think of it, I guess life is not fair. And Anees Salim brings it out fairly well.

[Marva · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple light yet heartening read. Subjectively, I could relate much with Hasina. Hasina is characterized with much attention given to all nuances and trivialities. Its humorous and insightful. You can't pinpoint good person/bad person tags when life and the world around chooses their own conscience-less ways. Anees Salim is an amazing story teller. Hasina is a totally different young Muslim female character, hard to find in the usual arena of Indian Fiction.

[Adithya Ramesh · Rating 1 out of 5]

If it was possible to give negative rating, I would have!!

This book has no direction, the plot wanders and there are tons of pretty useless incidents.
Its surprising that this got published.

Only positive was it had a few lines which makes you laugh, otherwise a literary disaster and only recommended if you have read the author before and liked it.

This was my first book by Anees and frankly, it was horrible.

[Neeta Sirvi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book: Tales from a Vending Machine
Author: Anees Salim
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4 stars

Anees Salim, an Indian author known for his works like Vanity Bagh, The Blind Lady's Descendants, and The Small Town Sea, hails from Varkala and currently resides in Kochi, Kerala.

Tales from a Vending Machine centers around a girl named Hasina Mansoor, who works at her uncle Haji Oswan's vending machine at the airport. She watches planes take off every day, dreaming of being on one and becoming an autopilot. While at the airport, she makes some friends and a few enemies. Hasina's nature is very innocent, and she tends to trust people easily, which isn't always good in today's world. Those she trusts often turn against her.

Hasina's father owns an old clothing store, which she and her twin sister Shamla sometimes manage. Hasina works to support her brother and sister's education, even though she can't continue her own. She falls in love with her cousin Eza, but since both are minors and their families are enemies, they have to meet and love each other in secret.

To pass the time at the airport, Hasina dreams of being a pilot, making announcements, and saving everyone from terrorists by safely landing the plane. However, her uncle frequently threatens to fire her because of these dreams, leaving her in tears since she has no other means of earning a living. The story beautifully narrates how she repeatedly faces setbacks in life and how her dreams eventually come true.

Overall, Tales from a Vending Machine is a light, mind-cherishing read.

[Novera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book on a whim after picking it up from a library shelf. I was 100% not expecting what was to come. The main character was so charmingly shameless and lovingly clueless. The dark humor is unmatched. The author did a great job of bringing me back to that phase we all had when we were 14 year old immature smart asses.

[Ananta Pathak · Rating 3 out of 5]

a decent read. the writer could have explored other characters more rather than focusing on one.

[Arvin Raj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for time pass reading.

[KP Puttekkad · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://seeinglikeawave.wordpress.com...

[Sudharsan]

Lazy read with a few chuckles.

[Ved. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Possibly the most interestingly written female muslim protagonist in mainstream Indian fiction.

[Sharjeel Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ambitious, beautiful, unique and like all of Salim's works, unforgettable. The journey of Hasina Mansoor is a ride worth watching keenly.

[Prakash Srinad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tales from a Vending Machine is the third novel by Anees Sallim. My introduction to Anees Salim was through ‘The Blind Lady’s Descendants’. ‘The Blind Lady’s Descendants’ was an exceptional family saga and that had encouraged me to buy Vanity Bagh. But Vanity Bagh was just a plain novel and I was disappointed. Then I came across ‘Tales from a Vending Machine’ in my library. There is nothing on the cover that attracts you except for the author's name (if you are familiar with him). But I decided to read it because it was from the author of ‘The Blind Lady’s Descendants’.
Plot And Summary

‘Tales from a Vending Machine’ is the story of Hasina Mansoor. It couldn't exactly be called a story, rather, like a serial it is several episodes from Hasina's life. Hasina is a vending machine attendant at the Airport Department Lounge, who sells tea at 40 Rs. Even though she sells costly tea, she isn’t any rich. With just Rs 1800 per month, she has to pay for the graduation of her twin sister Shamla and also look after her younger brother Ali. Her father owns the ‘Mustafa Stores’, which he is thinking of selling, for repaying his debts. Hasina’s parents are more concerned about the ongoing feud with the upstairs neighbours, Laila Aunty’s family. Laila Aunty is her father’s half sister. In the midst of all this, Hasina is in love with her cousin Eza (Laila Aunty’s son). With nothing extraordinary happening in her life she dreams of an extraordinary life. Sometimes she dreams of being an air-hostess and sometimes a pilot (who protects the plane and passengers from hijackers).
Though she is not satisfied with her life and always urges for more, she isn’t completely sad either. Moments with Eza are always comforting. And she also finds time to gossip with the ‘Cookie Lady’ and the ‘Coupon Centre Man’. But all this changes. She discovers a secret about someone very close to her. This completely shatters her and she starts hating everyone including herself. Will she ever have a good life?
Characters

Anees Salim has created a rare kind of character with Hasina. In the initial part of the novel Hasina is a caring young lady. Then towards the half of the novel she is shown gossiping about a lady who offered her a job and then betrayed her. And then towards the end she is a selfish, non-caring woman. Her sister Shamla is just the opposite. Initially she is arrogant but towards the end she is more caring and understanding (not selfless though). It is hard to love Hasina, but you will readily hate her. Then there is Haji Osman (owner of the vending machine) who is rude and Eza.
Narration

‘Tales from a Vending Machine’ is a first person narration and is narrated by Hasina. The book is full of humour and in fact it is the humour that sees you till the end. Hasina misspelling ‘Jews’ as ‘Juice’, when she says ‘I hate Juice’, or her explaining ‘microbes’ as a company owned by Bill Gates to her brother Ali, all add to the humour. Like I said earlier it is more like some episodes from a vending machine attendant’s life. I say that because, most of the chapters are just some incidents that happen in Hasina’s life and they are not linked. Just like Anees Salim’s other novels (I haven’t read ‘Vicks Mango Tree’), in this book too there is an unexplained death. The reason for an air-hostess’ suicide is left for the readers to imagine.
Conclusion
So in general the book is not that great. It is just an okay read. Initial chapters are witty but soon we get bored. However it was better than ‘Vanity Bagh’. (That’s just my personal opinion. Vanity Bagh had won the Hindu Prize for the best fiction). And Blind Lady’s Descendents (again a winner of Hindu Prize) is one of my favorites.

my blogpost

[Shalet Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

When an Indian author writes in English, it is a strenuous task to do something that can overstep the boundaries. Tales From a Vending Machine by Kochi-based author Anees Salim has clearly surpassed these boundaries without any effort.

Go to any part of India, it would not be difficult to spot a Hasina Mansoor, the protagonist. The backdrops, the airport lounge, even the names with which she addresses her parents, siblings and colleagues will not give you a slightest clue that the story is set in Kerala.

It begins with a lot of promise, with all the necessary elements, including humour, but the author fails to keep up the tempo till the end.

Hasina enters a new world when she lands a job as a vending machine attendant at the airport departure lounge. With scant resources at her disposal, the resilient Hasina dreams of making it big. She is thankful for the job, dreams of being in a plane, even becoming a pilot or air hostess some day.

Thanks to her, many characters come alive, whether it be the coupon man who advises her on anything and everything under the sun, the cookie lady whom she abhors, the Pakistani cricketer, and the air hostess, Natasha Singh, from whom she learns that she could also aspire to be one.

Unlike her eventful work in the airport, her life with her family - Abba, mother, Shamla, and younger brother, Ali - is mundane, until she falls in love with her cousin Eza. The story talks about how she evolves through the many incidents which happens in her family and workplace and enables Hasina to make the major decisions of her life.

The climax is aptly titled as the Emergency Exit and is a surprising one. But if the author had given a bit of depth in the preceding chapters, the ending would have given readers an experience to cherish. Though Hasina has matured from an innocent to a practical girl, Eza stands between the extremes.

At the outset, Eza shows maturity, but, all of a sudden, he becomes the villain. There is little to convince the reader that he is one. There are attempts to present good humour which Anees conveniently attains in the beginning, but goes overboard when he continues for the sake of doing it. For instance Hasina’s mispronunciations of words such as ‘Anne French’ for ‘Anne Frank’ or ‘Juice’ for ‘Jews’. When she is asked her blood group, Hasina says, “‘B plus. I was not sure if it was A plus or B plus or AB plus”.

It seems strange that the same Hasina, who could not pronounce her blood group correctly, talks about the Hollywood actor Richard Gere. The long and short of it is that it is a good story and a smooth read, provided that some of the flaws are glossed over.


My rating 3/5

[Ranu Das · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love you Hasina. But I am Hindu….

(Review of the novel “Tales from a vending machine” authored by Anees Salim )


It’s a book in simple English, well narrated by the author through a young- Muslim-girl. Yes, these are the three words the author wanted us to focus upon.

He starts with the day to day stories of Hasina Mansoor at the airport and her vending machine which follows her order and fills a cup with tea when red button is pushed. And it ends up with diary entries by her.

Unlike other girls, Hasina Mansoor, the vending machine operator at the international airport departure lounge was determined, ambitious, confident and self dependent. A girl generally finds difficult to maintain even herself but Hasina also looks after her family. She even thinks of the whole Muslim community. She hates Juice and America because they hate muslim. She supports Saddam. So, before you start reading better know about Saddam, America and Israel and while you read decide you are from which side America or Hasina Mansoor. In Hasina’s words, “You know why the Americans showed the hanging on television? They were simply revenging; it was their yelling at all Muslims in the world: You watched the collapse of our nice little trading centre. Now you watch the death of your hero. Bloody Muslims. I hated America….”

She is not communal because she cried at Natasha’s death. This is what made me fall for Hasina.

All the characters Hasina is related to in the novel look like to be from your neighbour. Haji Osman, Eza, Subair uncle, Shamla!

And narration is so simple and lively that you may confuse author as female what actually I did. I thought Anees Salim was good name of Hasina. All the expressions described in the novel are keen and lively.

Besides, the novel is full of antics. At every point, you will find Hasina’s activities surreptitious. Even at the end, she acts in a surreptitious way to her family. Oh, I forgot to tell you her love story. She loves from heart and when I reached middle of the novel I found myself envious of Eza but soon I remembered neither I am Muslim nor anyway related to Natasha.

At the end, author compels you to think of all the characters, not only Hasina Mansoor. All of them leave impressions in your mind but Hasina in your heart. Really it’s a darkly humorous and touching story. Love you Hasina. But I am Hindu…..



(review as published in the bilingual magazine SAAF KOTHA( the STAIGHT VIEW), January 2014 edition. Visit www.saafkotha.in)

[Athul Domichen · Rating 2 out of 5]

After 'Vanity Bagh', this is the second book of Anees Salim that I have read. Tales From A Vending Machine is a simple story of a girl who manages a tea-vending machine in an airport and her various experiences and thoughts regarding the people in her life, events that she witness, from her perspective. There are many interesting moments in the story, especially regarding the family of Shahina, the protagonist.She has a twin sister as well who is not at all similar in character as her. We are led through Shahina's small adventures, memories, and struggle with life. The characterization of the people is in such a way that everybody is human- finding and paving their own rights and wrongs. With its simple language and decent plot-line, Tales From A Vending Machine makes for an interesting passing read.

[Rekha Vikesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took me back to those bylanes of my hometown in Kerala. To our ancestral home. The clothesline tied to the Mango tree and the Jackfruit tree. Reading about Haseena's hide-and-seek experiences with Eza reminded me of my own teenage crushes. Simple language, interesting plots and the complicated strings of their lives that formed a cobweb is this book. A must read for those who love getting nostalgic.

[Nethra Ram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Anees Salim's style of writing. There's a wry humour that runs through the backbone of his plots that delights my readerly radars. This one's a quick read but it packs a bunch of powerful characters described and dictated in typical Salim style. This is the kind of casual and sincere Indian written voice I'd love to read more of.

[Sudama Panigrahi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hasina Mansoor....what a character, hilariously humorous, innocent, simple yet crafty at times and laughable while her antics etch into memory. And her english will tickle your funny bone also. The writer has portrayed her excellently well. One of my breezy reads. Kudos.

[Achuthan Sivadas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A light read. Some wits are irresistible.

[Harish P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light and fast read. But very very funny.

[Sameer m · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry to say.. It was horrible one...!!
no direction, the plot wanders and there...!!

Only good thing that it have a few striking moments which makes you laugh..!!

[Wahdashakeel]

i luvddd dis book..........<3
at first i thought it wud b boring but it turned out to b a gud book

[Rajveer Prajapati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice book ...

[Aruna Kumar Gadepalli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy and quick read. Interesting story line and the narrative style is interesting.

[Dhanush · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brilliant characterisation of Hasina Manzoor. in the end you got to empathize with her. Good one from Anees Salim

[Rohit Khetan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really funny. Started off as a bit childish but then you realize it is childish in tone but the themes are universal.