The Bitter Fruit Tree and other stories (F.B)

Thirteen tales of village life in Sattari, a forested region in north-east Goa on the foothills of the Western Ghats. The stories are rooted in the joys and sorrows of poor villagers as they face Nature’s fury or revel in her bounty. They focus on the social, cultural, religious and agricultural traditions on the banks of the Mhadei, as the river Mandovi is known in these parts.

This rich tapestry of tales dwells on the diversity of flora and fauna and the paradoxes and inequalities in the social fabric in this little-known part of Goa. Pipelines break down leading to truncated water supply in these remote villages. The mighty Mhadei floods its banks causing havoc to crops. Tilgo the low-caste drummer cannot get a patch of land to bury his dead wife in the village he has always called home. Madhu the educated Mahar youth refuses to play the drum rebelling against the stranglehold of the upper caste.

Slices of life that highlight the umbilical ties the people of Sattari share with their land, even as they touch a chord that is of universal import.

About Author

Prakash Parienkar is an Associate Professor, Discipline of Konkani, at the Shenoi Goembab School of Languages and Literature, Goa University. He has written poetry, short stories, essays, drama and screenplays, and his novel Puran (2022) has received critical acclaim. He received the Sahitya Akademi award in 2023 for Varsal, his collection of Konkani short stories.