The vulnerabilities of human life and the problems of geography

‘A Red-necked Green Bird’ is a collection of short stories that transport us to an imaginative realm even though the themes are about everyday human experiences.

Birds have a distinct charm and mean different things to different people and cultures. But for a storyteller, the most peculiar meaning would most likely be the freedom to think and create. An artist’s preoccupation is to transform something tangible into something imaginative. Ambai’s short-story collection “A Red-necked Green Bird”, translated by GJV Prasad, also has many facets to it; the stories fetch different meanings for different people. An array of experiences has been captured, and Ambai begins with the art of storytelling right from the author’s note when she narrates about her ritual of buying new notebooks in every new city she visits. It is a ritual she rigorously sticks to, and it presupposes that new stories will be written on these newly bought notebooks.