Following the success of Athwani - 1 Manaswini has brought to you the next instalment of short stories (laghukathaa) of her Athwani series. The focus of this book has shifted from being pure memoirs to capturing all the finer detail in her descriptions. Stories like 'Bangadipuran', 'Lekhan samagri', 'Diwalicha killa', 'Kapde kharedi' are journeys into the past and readers get a taste of how things were in those times. While 'Thikari sagargote' and 'Khel patangaacha' describe traditional Indian games in great detail, other stories like 'Milkat vyavaharachi', 'Appalpote lok' depict social interactions and yet others like 'Haranachi goshta', 'Balvargatil savangadi' are sweet childhood memories! The writing illustrates a continuum showing things as they were in the past and how they have evolved into 'now.' Welcoming that 'change' graciously is the way forward, but we cannot afford to disconnect from the past totally! Stories like 'Super market' highlight just that and pose moral questions to readers. Quite a few stories are reflections of Manaswini's experiences as a school teacher – her students and their parents and the societies they came from! A couple of stories are actually based on school arithmetic and this is NEW! A unique subject mater for laghukathaa is being experimented for the first time in Marathi language.
The book is written in Manaswini's own words; she is the central character of each of the stories. The style of writing is simple and direct making it easy to assimilate all she is saying. Manaswini takes her readers in another world while she narrates encounters with different people, situations and times. Her stories describe interactions from various communities from a cosmopolitan Mumbai and appeal to native and non-native Marathi speakers alike! There are delightful comparisons, opinions and observations made, but they are subtle and cleverly worded. One is exposed to a wealth of nearly forgotten knowledge, traditions and moral standings of past and contemporary issues from 'deshi' and western point of view. A treatise to Marathi readers, surely this book is one above the previous volume.
