Title: Marquez, EMS, Gulam and Others
Author: Benyamin 
Genre: Short stories
Publisher: HarperColl-ins India
Cost: Rs 399

In the first chapter of his short story collection, Malayali writer Benyamin writes about a protagonist who wakes up one day and realises he is Márquez. Gabriel García Márquez. And that his so-far failed attempts at writing a novel will follow the same trajectory as the master novelist’s. So, does Grechayan actually end up writing like Márquez? You will have to read the story to find out. But rooted in his keen observations of the nuances of human lives — so often, puppets at the hands of government policies, class and caste divides, religion, borders or just dumb luck — Benyamin captures realism, magically in the short story collection, Márquez, EMS, Gulam and Others.

Translated from Malayalam by Swarup BR, the stories make for a relishing read, relaying the essence of Benyamin’s humour and sensitivity. We travel through his words, sometimes to US military camps in war-torn Baghdad, at times to the ancient ports of Kalyan, Sopara and Muziris with a Roman sailor, to bus rides from the parched fields of Solapur, and into a street of the indigenous Hmong people in America.