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Window Seat
These charming portraits of young girls living far from home, 'secure' in their illicit relationships, of young men full of RSS swagger, of old women waiting late in the night for their grown-up children to come home, capture the lives of ordinary people in vivid and varied hues. Spread across the socio-economic spectrum, these stories are like snapshots of interesting faces in a crowd; faces around whom the author deftly sketches lives and longings, pet ideas and prejudices, loves and hates with bold, confident strokes. From 'Ganesha', the story of a middle-class housewife waiting for her son to return at night and thinking of her other son who died in a road accident, to 'A Game of Cards' about a young urban woman sunning herself on the beach, these pithy sketches are a colourful montage of modern Indian life.
- GenresShort Stories
First published January 16, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 28, 2025
While the book is divided into two sections, Part I: Mumbai Montage and Part II: Mumbai Medley, not all the stories have a visible Mumbai connection. In some stories, there is almost no reference to the city, while in others, there is only a brief mention of the city, Mumbai or Bombay, depending on the year, or of one of its suburbs.
Part I: Mumbai Montage
1) A Game of Cards: A young man and a young woman get to know each other over a game of cards. The setting is a beach destination, but the name isn’t mentioned.
2) The Storyteller: A young boy, ashamed of his humble background, tells tall tales of his family wealth and the privileges he takes for granted. When he makes it big as an adult, and begins to talk of his rags-to-riches story, no one believes him, thinking this is yet another of his fibs.
3) A Good Riot: This story takes off from the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the riots it unleashes. Here, two men, Ram and his son, Purushottam, play a big role in unleashing riots, and benefit from it, leading up to the title. Though they have been named after Ram, they act in a manner that is vile and unbecoming of their name.
4) Waiting for Ganesh: A woman, waiting long past bedtime for her son to return home, is reminded of another son that she lost to an accident.
5) Tivoli Park: A woman recalls the time her family lived in Calcutta, and a stately mansion, Tivoli Park, whose residents fascinated her. The entire story consists of her childhood reminiscences. Bombay mentioned by name.
6) The Couple: The villagers of a small town, especially those working in a sawmill there, are terrified of a ghostly couple that is supposed to be haunting the mill. No mention of Bombay.
7) First Cousins: Two cousins, extremely close as children, briefly cross the forbidden line. Yet while one remembers, the other doesn’t seem to. Story is set in Pune. No mention of Bombay at all.
8) Birthday Party: On his 70th birthday, a retired soldier re-lives the excesses he has seen and experienced while inventing stories about his scars for his young grandchildren. No mention of Bombay in this one.
9) Moonshine: An eight-year-old boy, son of a forest guard, seeks to shed the tag of coward and earn the admiration of his father. The plan has disastrous consequences. The child is fascinated by Bombay. The story is set in an unnamed forest area.
10) China: A young girl, named Chai Na (Unwanted) by her parents, learns to channel her pain through writing and earns a name for herself. The characters meet at the airport in Bombay.
11) Bambai ki Sair: The title is Hindi for Tour of Bombay. This story was set on an unnamed railway station concourse, which reminded me strongly of VT station. This story was rooted in the life and rhythm of Bombay. This story concerns the sighting of a covered corpse lying on a stretcher and the events that follow.
12) Miss!: An elderly teacher rues the decline in the behaviour and morals of the children in her care. Although the city isn’t mentioned here, we get a strong sense of the setting.
13) Sneha, 25: A divorced man, who starts a cybercafé, becomes fascinated with Sneha, a young woman who comes to his café to chat with a potential suitor. He opens a fake profile as a potential suitor and gets her to fall in love with him.
14) Pyjama Party: A woman attends the housewarming party of her college friend and comes face to face with someone she knows all too well. They pyjama party is the one at which a big secret was revealed.
15) The City as Cinderella: This one started with describing the city, then moved on to a romance cut short by tragedy.
16) Foreign Returned: A man returns home to Bombay from London to see his sick father.
17) Play it again, Sam!: This story brought the world of advertising to life. But there was no real plot to this story.
18) Freedom at Midnight: An 85-year-old man, once a freedom fighter, is a hero of sorts in his middle-class neighbourhood. This story is steeped in the city and brings out the intense loneliness faced by the older generation.
19) Driving Mr Dasgupta: This one was an entertaining story. Raghu, a new driver hired to drive Mr Dasgupta around, receives one strict instruction from his boss. He is never to look around or stare at the back seat through the rear-view mirror.
20) Home for Christmas: A young couple, in the market for a new home, befriends the real estate agent who helps them to find their new home.
My favourite stories in this section were A Good Riot; The Couple; Bambai ki Sair; Sneha, 25, and Driving Mr Dasgupta
Part II was titled Mumbai Medley on the Contents page and Mumbai Symphony in the text. This section included three parts.
Local Tales included stories set in Bombay’s lifeline, the suburban railway train.
21) Sakshi: This story, like many of the stories in this collection, was anecdotal and lacked a concrete plot.
22) Lily’s Wedding: Hindu bride Lily is preparing for her wedding with half-Christian, half-Parsi Mike. They are looking for a church in which to hold the ceremony. This story put me off more than any of the others because the author had failed in doing basic research. You can’t go around church-shopping. The practice is to get married in the parish that the bride or groom belong to. If neither is a practicing Christian, no parish would allow them to get married in a church. The name of the church they select, Prince of Mystics, was equally fake and unsuitable for a Christian church of any denomination.
23) Moksha: Moksha, new to Bombay, is living it up while hiding her real self from her father.
Overall, the stories were okay, well written and beautifully described, but most were slice-of-life or vignettes . The title, Window Seat, had given me the impression of a journey.
24) Jasmine: Jasmine is commuting home with cake, rushing to attend her beloved granddaughter’s first birthday, when something terrible happens.
Party Mix took us to the party circuit, with its theme-based stories.
25) Sold: An old artist, neglected in life, disillusioned and betrayed by his own, becomes famous after his death.
26) Discovered: An out-of-work model gets discovered while on a night out.
27) Bachelorette: A bride’s bachelorette party gets wild.
At the Salon took us to the closed world of beauty parlours.
28) Nose Job: On the morning of her engagement, a girl needs an urgent nose job when she walks headlong into one of the bamboo poles at her engagement mandap.
29) Virgin Wax: A ten-year-old girl comes with her mother to the beauty parlour for her first waxing session.
30) Botox and Buttocks: A former small-time model, now overweight, reminisces about her glory days.
The stories are well written. The author has a way of describing people and situations. Some of the stories capture the city’s night life, the inner circle of the ad world and the sleazy side of life on the street with an almost journalistic eye. But most of the stories are episodes and anecdotes.
Part I: Mumbai Montage
1) A Game of Cards: A young man and a young woman get to know each other over a game of cards. The setting is a beach destination, but the name isn’t mentioned.
2) The Storyteller: A young boy, ashamed of his humble background, tells tall tales of his family wealth and the privileges he takes for granted. When he makes it big as an adult, and begins to talk of his rags-to-riches story, no one believes him, thinking this is yet another of his fibs.
3) A Good Riot: This story takes off from the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the riots it unleashes. Here, two men, Ram and his son, Purushottam, play a big role in unleashing riots, and benefit from it, leading up to the title. Though they have been named after Ram, they act in a manner that is vile and unbecoming of their name.
4) Waiting for Ganesh: A woman, waiting long past bedtime for her son to return home, is reminded of another son that she lost to an accident.
5) Tivoli Park: A woman recalls the time her family lived in Calcutta, and a stately mansion, Tivoli Park, whose residents fascinated her. The entire story consists of her childhood reminiscences. Bombay mentioned by name.
6) The Couple: The villagers of a small town, especially those working in a sawmill there, are terrified of a ghostly couple that is supposed to be haunting the mill. No mention of Bombay.
7) First Cousins: Two cousins, extremely close as children, briefly cross the forbidden line. Yet while one remembers, the other doesn’t seem to. Story is set in Pune. No mention of Bombay at all.
8) Birthday Party: On his 70th birthday, a retired soldier re-lives the excesses he has seen and experienced while inventing stories about his scars for his young grandchildren. No mention of Bombay in this one.
9) Moonshine: An eight-year-old boy, son of a forest guard, seeks to shed the tag of coward and earn the admiration of his father. The plan has disastrous consequences. The child is fascinated by Bombay. The story is set in an unnamed forest area.
10) China: A young girl, named Chai Na (Unwanted) by her parents, learns to channel her pain through writing and earns a name for herself. The characters meet at the airport in Bombay.
11) Bambai ki Sair: The title is Hindi for Tour of Bombay. This story was set on an unnamed railway station concourse, which reminded me strongly of VT station. This story was rooted in the life and rhythm of Bombay. This story concerns the sighting of a covered corpse lying on a stretcher and the events that follow.
12) Miss!: An elderly teacher rues the decline in the behaviour and morals of the children in her care. Although the city isn’t mentioned here, we get a strong sense of the setting.
13) Sneha, 25: A divorced man, who starts a cybercafé, becomes fascinated with Sneha, a young woman who comes to his café to chat with a potential suitor. He opens a fake profile as a potential suitor and gets her to fall in love with him.
14) Pyjama Party: A woman attends the housewarming party of her college friend and comes face to face with someone she knows all too well. They pyjama party is the one at which a big secret was revealed.
15) The City as Cinderella: This one started with describing the city, then moved on to a romance cut short by tragedy.
16) Foreign Returned: A man returns home to Bombay from London to see his sick father.
17) Play it again, Sam!: This story brought the world of advertising to life. But there was no real plot to this story.
18) Freedom at Midnight: An 85-year-old man, once a freedom fighter, is a hero of sorts in his middle-class neighbourhood. This story is steeped in the city and brings out the intense loneliness faced by the older generation.
19) Driving Mr Dasgupta: This one was an entertaining story. Raghu, a new driver hired to drive Mr Dasgupta around, receives one strict instruction from his boss. He is never to look around or stare at the back seat through the rear-view mirror.
20) Home for Christmas: A young couple, in the market for a new home, befriends the real estate agent who helps them to find their new home.
My favourite stories in this section were A Good Riot; The Couple; Bambai ki Sair; Sneha, 25, and Driving Mr Dasgupta
Part II was titled Mumbai Medley on the Contents page and Mumbai Symphony in the text. This section included three parts.
Local Tales included stories set in Bombay’s lifeline, the suburban railway train.
21) Sakshi: This story, like many of the stories in this collection, was anecdotal and lacked a concrete plot.
22) Lily’s Wedding: Hindu bride Lily is preparing for her wedding with half-Christian, half-Parsi Mike. They are looking for a church in which to hold the ceremony. This story put me off more than any of the others because the author had failed in doing basic research. You can’t go around church-shopping. The practice is to get married in the parish that the bride or groom belong to. If neither is a practicing Christian, no parish would allow them to get married in a church. The name of the church they select, Prince of Mystics, was equally fake and unsuitable for a Christian church of any denomination.
23) Moksha: Moksha, new to Bombay, is living it up while hiding her real self from her father.
Overall, the stories were okay, well written and beautifully described, but most were slice-of-life or vignettes . The title, Window Seat, had given me the impression of a journey.
24) Jasmine: Jasmine is commuting home with cake, rushing to attend her beloved granddaughter’s first birthday, when something terrible happens.
Party Mix took us to the party circuit, with its theme-based stories.
25) Sold: An old artist, neglected in life, disillusioned and betrayed by his own, becomes famous after his death.
26) Discovered: An out-of-work model gets discovered while on a night out.
27) Bachelorette: A bride’s bachelorette party gets wild.
At the Salon took us to the closed world of beauty parlours.
28) Nose Job: On the morning of her engagement, a girl needs an urgent nose job when she walks headlong into one of the bamboo poles at her engagement mandap.
29) Virgin Wax: A ten-year-old girl comes with her mother to the beauty parlour for her first waxing session.
30) Botox and Buttocks: A former small-time model, now overweight, reminisces about her glory days.
The stories are well written. The author has a way of describing people and situations. Some of the stories capture the city’s night life, the inner circle of the ad world and the sleazy side of life on the street with an almost journalistic eye. But most of the stories are episodes and anecdotes.
March 29, 2012
I bought this based on @Manuscrypts' review and the book is appropriately delightful. Though I feel the book could have been priced a bit more competitively, I didn't regret buying it. The stories are rich and the characters well etched out and I have a feeling she has borrowed a lot from her real life experiences, judging from how passionately she describes their seemingly mundane lives. At times she looks at her characters from a distance and there are times when she speaks from within them.
This is one of the better books by Indian authors that I've read. If you buy this book and don't like it any point in time, please read the story titled 'China'. That's easily one of the best short stories I've read in a long, long time. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who's a fan of short stories(and Mumbai too maybe).
This is one of the better books by Indian authors that I've read. If you buy this book and don't like it any point in time, please read the story titled 'China'. That's easily one of the best short stories I've read in a long, long time. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who's a fan of short stories(and Mumbai too maybe).
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January 9, 2024This book is a collection of short stories based out of Mumbai. They range from varied topics and most of them are really interesting. Overall it is a good book.
The collection ranges from unrequited love of an artist, two people that end up meeting over a game of cards, a diver caught up in an honest mistake, a real estate agent almost becoming a part of his client's family, a very touching story about a daughter who was bullied all throughout her childhood because of her unusual name 'China', stories about riots, about a girl living on her own in Mumbai while coming from a conservative family, about a kid's expedition in the jungle.
It is a good book. Most of the stories were relatable. It truly felt like a collection of stories from people you would meet near a local train's window seat.
May 8, 2020
A wonderful collection of simple yet real life-like stories take you to a journey were you can relate to any of the characters easily.
The book brings out stories where you can identify as the character or feel like you have come across such people. The stories are woven across our normal day-to-day lives as seen in trains, buses, parties, parlours etc.
The writing is simple and each story takes you very near to beiy part of the plot.
Very enjoyable coffee table read which will be thought provoking as well as entertain the reader.
The book brings out stories where you can identify as the character or feel like you have come across such people. The stories are woven across our normal day-to-day lives as seen in trains, buses, parties, parlours etc.
The writing is simple and each story takes you very near to beiy part of the plot.
Very enjoyable coffee table read which will be thought provoking as well as entertain the reader.
July 7, 2017
Not sure why the author titled the book as 'Window seat'. The train and life in Mumbai starts only at the end of the stories. Why does all the stories have a sexual element added to it and most of the stories have a sad ending only.
February 27, 2012
There couldn't have been a more apt title for the book than 'Window Seat'. If you were told that most of the characters in the book are people you happened to see from a window seat while traveling within a metro, chances are that you'd probably believe it.
The book consists of 30 stories, and though the blurb would have you believe that it's mostly Mumbai-centric, it's only in Part 2 that the city actually becomes a veritable character. The first part, with 20 stories, wins you over with the simplicity in narration, and the tales themselves. Stories and characters I could identify with, regardless of their ethnicity, connected only by the human-ness. The author's ease with Malayalam (thanks to the husband) and the subtle use of Bengali in 'China' is worth a mention. The copywriting skills come to the fore in several anecdotes and witticisms, which add to the characters.
The amazing part is that each story in the first part is completely different from each other - not just in terms of settings (slum, advertising agency, Kerala, Banaras, Goa....) and characters, (from a newspaper vendor to a 'freedom fighter') but also in the way each story is made to work (for me) - a twist in the end, melancholy, subtle wordplay, events that one can identify, humour, nostalgia, the human emotions portrayed and so on. Each card is a different trick. Several stories are rich with layers, a few words here and there that speaks volumes about the character. Each story has something that I could connect with. I could go on and on about the characters, but I wouldn't want to spoil your experience. It's better you meet them yourself. :)
The second part has 3 sections, each with a setting that's probably quintessentially Bombay - the local train, a beauty salon, and a Page 3 crowd. (featuring the epic Rajkumar song "If you come today, it's too early") The stories within each section are connected. I liked this a little lesser than the first part. It almost seemed that the author wrote this as a preparation.
This one goes into my favourites list - not just because of the stories themselves, but also for the craft that's displayed superbly in the telling of each story. Must-read!
The book consists of 30 stories, and though the blurb would have you believe that it's mostly Mumbai-centric, it's only in Part 2 that the city actually becomes a veritable character. The first part, with 20 stories, wins you over with the simplicity in narration, and the tales themselves. Stories and characters I could identify with, regardless of their ethnicity, connected only by the human-ness. The author's ease with Malayalam (thanks to the husband) and the subtle use of Bengali in 'China' is worth a mention. The copywriting skills come to the fore in several anecdotes and witticisms, which add to the characters.
The amazing part is that each story in the first part is completely different from each other - not just in terms of settings (slum, advertising agency, Kerala, Banaras, Goa....) and characters, (from a newspaper vendor to a 'freedom fighter') but also in the way each story is made to work (for me) - a twist in the end, melancholy, subtle wordplay, events that one can identify, humour, nostalgia, the human emotions portrayed and so on. Each card is a different trick. Several stories are rich with layers, a few words here and there that speaks volumes about the character. Each story has something that I could connect with. I could go on and on about the characters, but I wouldn't want to spoil your experience. It's better you meet them yourself. :)
The second part has 3 sections, each with a setting that's probably quintessentially Bombay - the local train, a beauty salon, and a Page 3 crowd. (featuring the epic Rajkumar song "If you come today, it's too early") The stories within each section are connected. I liked this a little lesser than the first part. It almost seemed that the author wrote this as a preparation.
This one goes into my favourites list - not just because of the stories themselves, but also for the craft that's displayed superbly in the telling of each story. Must-read!
June 20, 2011
Window seat: Rush-hour stories from the city’ by Janhavi Acharekar has a captivating cover page, with a collage of scenes from around Mumbai. And essentially, that's what the book is about too – a glimpse into the lives and times of current day Mumbai dwellers. The book contains thirty stories that cover multi-colored facets of day-to-day lives – the stories deal with human emotions that surface daily – ranging from love, family troubles, marriage woes, nostalgia, deceit, to glamor and immorality. The stories live up to their ‘rush-hour’ tag, and really do portray the effect of witnessing the happenings from the window seat of a speeding Mumbai local train. You are able to relate with the characters, you find them entertaining, but you tend to forget them as soon as you get off the train and get on with your life. Acahrekar's stories are the same – arresting while they last, and forgettable later on. The book consists of below-average stories that deal with lame mundane plots and some absolutely brilliant tales, that are intense and talk about deeper issues like communal riots. (The story that talks about the riots is “The Good Riot” and is my favorite from the collection. This talks about the onset of Mumbai communal riots and how this seeds villainy in young minds. This story was shortlisted for The Little Magazine New Writing Award 2006 .)
Janhavi Acharekar seems to be skillful at her play of words. Her mastery of the language and her creativity are a class apart; and the plots are all original and refreshing, even if some of them are not very interesting. If what you are looking for is a light read, it would pay to stay off this book. If you do not mind being swept through dark emotions and metro drama, this might be worth a read.
Janhavi Acharekar seems to be skillful at her play of words. Her mastery of the language and her creativity are a class apart; and the plots are all original and refreshing, even if some of them are not very interesting. If what you are looking for is a light read, it would pay to stay off this book. If you do not mind being swept through dark emotions and metro drama, this might be worth a read.
September 3, 2016
A good collection of stories, but not all of them have a link to Mumbai as touted by the blurb. The two sections in the end - set in Mumbai Local trains and a beauty salon - seem a trifle force-fitted, as though they were part of some other collection but for want of word-count, included in here.
Janhavi Acharekar is not quite the consummate word-ster yet, but if this collection and the bits of sparkling prose are anything to go by, she's getting there.
Janhavi Acharekar is not quite the consummate word-ster yet, but if this collection and the bits of sparkling prose are anything to go by, she's getting there.
July 3, 2013
Another nice set of short-stories; a genre which I enjoy a lot!
Mumbai and the places around have been well woven around the stories and presents an intriguing picture of the Mumbai enigma!
Didn't enjoy 2-3 stories much but all-in-all this one is a recommended read for people looking to read books based on a Mumbai theme or a one with short-stories...
Mumbai and the places around have been well woven around the stories and presents an intriguing picture of the Mumbai enigma!
Didn't enjoy 2-3 stories much but all-in-all this one is a recommended read for people looking to read books based on a Mumbai theme or a one with short-stories...
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March 24, 2011Till now, it has been a great read!!! I love her writing style, reminds me of Jhumpa Lahiri!
September 14, 2015
fine shrt fiction...rainbow of emotions and moods...well captured
September 14, 2013
It was a nice set of 30 short stories set in Bombay. Covers riots, jolted artists, out of work models, tenants, botox, internet cafes, families, grand pas and first cousins ...
March 29, 2015
short stories giving multimessages.some stories can be understood with feelings but some couldnt.
April 7, 2022
Loved the bit where characters made cameos in other chapters than the ones in which they were the main ones.
April 18, 2017
I read this book few years ago, but still remember it very fondly. It had a lingering effect on me for a long time. I highly recommend it!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews