If there is a God and other stories: Short stories

These are extra-ordinary stories about ordinary people - mostly women. Women with grit and determination distilled through challenges and hardships of life. Everything is happening here and now. In a way they hold a mirror to the contemporary life lived in our villages and towns.Imayam, the writer evinces an uncanny ability to delve deep into the recesses of the subconscious. Small little details of a scene or bits of seemingly casual conversations are deftly employed to bring out a mood of ease or tension. His subaltern women characters as varied as teachers, construction workers, house-wives and grave diggers emanate a high degree of verve, dignity and forthrightness normally not associated with their class in common perception.Prabha Sridevan's faithful rendering recreates the spirit and style of the original work in Tamil giving us the impression that nothing has been lost in translation.ADOOR GOPALAKRISHNAN, Filmmaker