The latest edition from the Aleph Olio series, Ways of Dying brings together essays and short stories on the theme of death. The anthology as a whole comes across as a collection of different portraits of death, each made from a different angle. The motif that runs throughout the collection is that death is the ultimate destination of all human endeavors- be they personal, social, political or communal.
The collection opens with Amitav Ghosh’s essay on the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and communal violence ensued by the event. Ghosh’s essay comes across as a card picked up from the deck of communal violence, by which the country has been plagued since long. Featuring personal loss with the death of close ones are the entries by Ruskin Bond and Khushwant Singh.
Moving on the same lines of personal loss but at the same time presenting a close up of death and the rituals associated with it, is Amitava Kumar’s account of his mother’s death. The personal and the social get intertwined in the stories by Munshi Premchand and Mahashweta Devi, wherein the death of an individual becomes the occasion for larger critique of the society in which we live.
The last two stories figure something that looms larger than death itself- the dying person in David Davidar’s “Death of a Patriarch” and the cause of death in Kolakaluri Enoch’s “Hunger”. The two essays that stand out from the collection for me are George Orwells’s “Shooting an Elephant” and Atul Gowade’s “Being Mortal”. Whereas the former presents a complex dynamic between the white man and the native man, the latter contemplates the issue of euthnasia- assisted death.
The choice of stories and essays is indeed eclectic, and I enjoyed the whole collection thoroughly. If asked, I would say Orwell and Gawade’s essays, and the last story “Hunger” are my favourites from the collection. What I did not like about the collection is the appearance of certain stories that have already been featured in other anthologies by the Aleph Book Company. It would have been really great if more effort were put in selecting the stories and essays, and works were not repeated. Another thing that I found to be lacking in this edition is a nice Introduction to the anthology. Nevertheless, it makes for a delightful read. Definitely not to be missed.
My Rating: **** (4/5)
What do you think about this book? Have you read any of the work featured in this collection? Which is your favorite work on the theme of death? Do share your thoughts. Thanks.
*I was kindly sent a copy by the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. Views expressed are entirely personal and unbiased.*
Books N Myself 
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Thanks for your review Suraj Kumar. I have read excerpts from Atul Gawade’s work ” Being Mortal” when it was reviewed after publication. I found his work interesting. Similar themed book i have read [ excerpts ] ” When Breath Becomes Air ” by Paul Kalanidhi. He has vividly described about his last days and his emotions and feeling on saying goodbye to planet earth.
Thanks
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Even I have read When Breath Becomes Air. It’s poignant portrayal of a person (with a scientific bent of mind) facing the inevitability of the death- something that we all have to face, but that eludes because of the uncertainty around it.
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