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The second anthology of Telugu short fiction edited by novelist, short-story writer, translator, teacher and critic, Ranga Rao, That Man on the Road is the successor to the critically acclaimed Classic Telugu Short Stories. Bringing together some of the most renowned exponents of the contemporary Telugu short story, the eighteen stories in this collection are representative of experiences that are at once sharply individual and undeniably universal. From the horrific but apt view of justice advocated in ‘Cattle Thief’ to the delightful verbal sparring in “Can’t Dance? Blame the Percussionist”; from the disturbing vision of dehumanizing poverty in ‘Slush’ to the hilarious prospect of becoming a stock-market guru in ‘By the Grace of Our Goddess of Wealth’; from the domestic squabbles of ‘It Is the Way It Is’, to the futuristic world of ‘Manava Factor’, these stories straddle realms as diverse as Dalitism, feminism, religious fanaticism, Naxalism, personal relationships and individual idiosyncrasies. Carefully chosen and skilfully translated, this anthology is part of the series of contemporary short fiction in translation published by Penguin.