TALES OF KURLA STATION Paperback – 31 July 2021

Tales of Kurla Station gives the reader a rare and compassionate insight into the joys, sorrows, expectations and disappointments portrayed in the backdrop of a busy suburban railway station in Mumbai. For that matter, the tales will be more or less the same anywhere in hundreds of railway stations ( Metros, Please excuse !! ) and bus stations in most Indian metros. Experiences, sights and sounds will not be any different.Writing is simple, straight from the heart, unpretentious and reflects the empathy author feels for the lives around him. Author's compassion , sort of, rubs on to the reader.The book is a great read. Illustrations ( by the author himself !! ) are in a class of its own.

A garland of simple tales of everyday life woven together with a string of extraordinary introspection; great detailing in a style that is so balanced between lucidity, elegance and wit, that one can effortlessly stretch imagination to be there as the sequences unfold and be a part.The pace of the narratives is so much in congruence with the setting of a typical railway station in Mumbai, that one can almost listen to the dins and bustles around and feel the electric pace at which the events occur. A spectacular projection of mundane life in the light of art !

It's a must read. After a long time I could read something that I could relate to and is not preachy but gives us subtle insights to human behavior in every day life

Tales of Kurla Station is a delightful collection of short stories about life, narrated through the experiences of the protagonists on the platforms and local trains of Mumbai. The stories are written in a comfortable language that is easy on the senses, and the book lends itself to be read from cover-to-cover; or in a more languid fashion in order to savour each story. But in either case one wants to read the stories again and then again, as more and more layers enmeshed within the stories are revealed to the reader each time.The local trains of Mumbai (and their tracks) are firmly enmeshed with the lives of the people of that city. This is wonderfully elucidated in the prologue itself, which is also an analysis of how life and urbanity has grown outwards from the railway tracks and reflects a deep study and understanding of the subject by the writer.One identifies easily with the characters and the stories, irrespective of whether one has ever experienced a ride on the local trains of Mumbai, because Debashis’ writing has a very “visual” feel to it. Besides, the stories are about life, after all! The stories have no beginning or end to them – they are a chapter in the lives of the characters in which the writer (and the reader) are privileged to have been a part. Debashis provides his opinion often, but there are no grandiose value statements or judging of the characters, which makes the writing very endearing. Debashis disengages from his characters just enough to allow the readers to have their own experiences without being prejudiced by the author’s views. There is drama, there is tragedy, there is romance and there is mystery – but every story is also a message - one that must be pleasurably deciphered by the reader.And in a decidedly fascinating twist – it’s an amazement to return to the cover after reading each story, to look for and discover the many characters in the stories, who are all present in the scene on the platform that is viewed from above….. The cover is telling the stories too!All in all – a very pleasurable read and I look forward to reading much more from Debashis Mitra.

Debashis brings the images to life with a wonderful use of language. It almost feels like you are on the platform along with him. He obviously has been very observant, catching the little nuances of what’s going on at that moment.