3 Review(s)

This collection of remarkable stories depicts realistic vignettes of Himalayan life; from the predicament of hill women to the preservation of hill ecology and the devastation that callous commercialism brings to them. Standing out among these vignettes are stories of lust that depict a monk who has the passionate desires of any young man or nostalgia about courtesan life in Nawabi Lucknow, the tragic life of a village woman who becomes the fourth wife of an impotent man or the story of an estranged wife whose husband lives the secret life of a deviant in the title story and the touching love between a scrap seller and his wife. A Secret Life on The Alaknanda depicts various facets of life with a sensitivity that makes this collection memorable. Told in a traditional narrative this is a collection worthy of one's time.