Hyaachho

Hyaachho by Ullas Malick is a Bengali short fiction collection weaving thirteen tales of laughter, longing, and everyday human frailty through a richly drawn cast of neighbourhood characters. Here lives Pulin, the perpetually drowsy inspector; Ganesh, the ludo-addicted constable; Nabakanta, the bribe-hungry officer; Jaga, the thief who has lost his own name; and Haru, the surprisingly compassionate criminal. Ullas Malick populates this world further with Gandhadada, the sharp-tongued local theatre director; the miserly history teacher Haldar Sir; the whimsical but kind Uncle Potu; Nobel-winning scientist Satyasadhan and his cow Mugili; the mischievous ghost Apodeb; the sharp-minded Diti; the hot-tempered Aalo; and the simple, good-hearted Bhajahori. Together, these thirteen Bengali stories map the full emotional spectrum — comedy, melancholy, warmth, and absurdity — of ordinary neighbourhood life. Readers who love character-driven Bengali literary fiction will find Hyaachho utterly impossible to put down.