Parikrama - Paperback

by Radhika Vyas Sharma (Author)

In this stylish, taut and meditative collection of eleven stories, Radhika Vyas Sharma explores through the prism of short fiction the challenges posed to individuals and families by the processes of migration of homelands while simultaneously dealing with the never ending human quest for love and closure. From rural Rajasthan to the San Francisco Bay Area, each of these stories is homage to human resilience. In the title story Parikrama, a young man embarks upon a journey, a personal spiritual circumambulation, to connect the dots of his deceased parents' lives stumbling upon some unexpected secrets of his own. In another story, Agony Aunt a young immigrant Indian mother makes a difficult choice between a sustaining a rare friendship and preserving her self-respect. While Beneath Her Veil the Stars Faded Away set in the late 1980's in small town Rajasthan tells the tale of an uncommon friendship between a childless middle-aged school principal and a young bride. Parikrama is eleven stories like sashes, sari pins, flowers, waves - a range of style, motifs and voices strung together in a garland of storytelling.CONTINUED....

Author Biography

Radhika Vyas Sharma has been writing for over fifteen years and is currently at work on a novel. Radhika received her MFA in Creative Writing from the SF State University; notable honors include a teaching assistantship at SF State', a stint as Assistant Fiction Editor at 14 Hills: SF State Graduate Literary Journal. Postgraduate work includes VONA: Voices of our Nation Foundation Workshops at UC Berkeley and Vermont Post Graduate Writer's Conference. Radhika's writing credits include reviews and features for The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Jose Mercury News, The Times of India, The Economic Times, KQED FM's Forum, Pacific Time and Perspectives, India Currents and several others. A short story Daddy Cool was featured in The Santa Clara Review, Spring 2010. Another story, Just a Photograph was showcased by Kearny Street Workshop in APAture 2013: Window into the work of Emerging Asian Pacific Artists.