Ashok Ogra
Some books entertain. Others provoke thought. But a rare few quietly hold up a mirror-not just to society, but to the writer’s own soul. Low Hanging Fruits belong to that category. This collection of forty short stories, written by Dr.Sachchidan and Joshi is a reflection of a humane, empathetic, and observant mind. The writer doesn’t merely tell stories; he reveals himself through them. His pen records not just events, but the subtle shifts of emotion, irony, and contradiction that define everyday life.
“Many hands were stretched in my direction. They were saying, “Please give me something in the name of Lord Shani,Lord Shani be always with you… It took me a while to remember that I had recently seen them outside the Dargah two days ago, where they were all begging. Most of them were the same lot, who were asking for alms from me at Dargah.”
The collection stands apart for its simplicity. The language is accessible, but never pedestrian. The tone is conversational, yet layered with deeper meanings. Like the proverbial low-hanging fruit, the stories may seem easy to grasp at first glance, but beneath their immediacy lies a nuanced critique of human behavior, class dynamics, social hypocrisy, and personal frailty.
The author’s strength lies in his acute observation of life’s raw moments-the things we usually overlook. Whether it is a driver in Chennai who turns out to be an ex-cinematographer now forced to drive taxis after financial ruin, or a maid who returns a costly saree as a “return gift” after receiving two inexpensive ones, the stories consistently reveal life’s ironies without ever being cynical. They are not dramatic tales of crime or heroism, but gentle slices of life where small incidents carry profound lessons.
At the heart of the collection is the author’s worldview: secular, compassionate, quietly progressive. That explains why he dedicates the book to his English teacher, Shri Kamaluddin NIzami, and acknowledges the help received from Dr.Tausif Rehman, Rumi Malik and, of course, his wife Malavika, who is also a poet in her own way
Dr.Joshi concern for the marginalized is not expressed just through polemics but through lived empathy. There’s no rhetorical posturing, just an honest attempt to capture life in its complexity-without glossing over either the beauty or the blemishes.
Dr.Sachchidanand Joshi is a noted academician, poet, scholar and is currently working as Member Secretary of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, GOI. The center serves as a comprehensive resource and research hub fostering dialogue, collaboration, and understanding across arts, culture, humanities, science, technology, communities, and global institutions.
The story My Beard is My Identity deals with communal profiling and how personal appearance becomes a trigger for prejudice. The author rightly underscores the everyday dangers of stereotyping.
“It was not just my friend but many people who see things through a biased perspective and decide about people’s religion and intentions by their outer appearance. We seem to have become enslaved to our prejudices and have started judging people or communities by the way they dress up, live their lifestyles etc.” He adds: “Earlier it had never been like this, we all lived together without any such prejudices. I am not sure when and how our society started getting segregated into clusters, and we started seeing beards, dresses, food habits, customs and traditions through a biased viewpoint.”
In Karwa Chauth & American Elections, the author cleverly juxtaposes cultural chauvinism on both sides of the globe. A conversation with an American couple on a flight moves from political debates about Trump and Hillary to mocking Indian rituals like Karwa Chauth. The narrator defends Indian traditions while exposing Western contradictions about gender equality. The story deftly highlights the discomfort that comes when cultural judgments that boomerang, back on the so-called progressive West.
In Royal Air Travel, a Tamil family’s exuberant joy on their first flight-removing armrests, swapping seats, and chatting loudly-contrasts with the uptight behavior of elite passengers.
The book recurrently returns to themes of class difference, not to sensationalize them, but to expose the silent walls society builds between people. A Job is a Job tells the story of a well-educated, affluent man in Manipur who chooses to work as a driver out of love for the wheel. His humility challenges societal definitions of success and status. Yet, the narrative also raises questions about privilege-can everyone afford to follow their passion without worrying about livelihood?
Similarly, Foeticide unearths uncomfortable hypocrisies. A domestic worker’s decision to abort a female fetus is condemned by his employer, only for the narrative to reveal that the employer’s family once chose a similar path, camouflaged under the label of “family planning.” The tale reflects how class status often sanitizes moral failures.
Children appear frequently in Low Hanging Fruits-not as passive figures but as active commentators on the adult world. In Silver Lining, a young girl donates her birthday money, meant for an expensive restaurant outing, to buy books for underprivileged classmates. Her action rebukes the adults’ cynicism about the younger generation.
Our Baaz Bahadur romanticizes childhood resilience, portraying a boy named Roshan as a modern-day Baaz Bahadur for his sense of responsibility toward his family. Yet, the narrative gently reminds us that such precocious maturity stems from systemic neglect, forcing children into roles of survival.
Child Labour strikes a more jarring note. The author critiques societal hypocrisy by pointing out how people pontificate against child labor while employing underage domestic help in their own homes. The story is a subtle indictment of everyday complicity.
The stories also hold up a mirror to the ironies of modern existence. In Fest, Fast and Feast, urban families juggle religious rituals with consumerist indulgences, turning sacred observances into logistical exercises. In The Other Side of Spirituality, the author critiques the commercialization of faith, where temple visits are reduced to transactions, yet acknowledges moments of personal grace that defy systemic rot.
Likewise, Jungle Safari and Wi-Fi Password humorously highlight how urban elites seek “nature experiences” in luxury resorts while obsessively checking their phones for connectivity-an emblematic contradiction of modern leisure. That is why travel writers often lament: “The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.”
In Independence Day, Dr.Joshi critiques performative patriotism, where people flaunt flags and slogans while ignoring real poverty. The reflection stops at personal guilt, perhaps missing a chance to probe deeper into systemic change.
In Old Age Home, the biting irony of public charity masking private neglect is evident. The narrative portrays social work as often self-serving, a critique that risks cynicism but remains honest. The book is not without humor and warmth. Stories like Bunty and Babloo and Times Have Changed capture generational quirks, family bonds, and social etiquette during travel or family gatherings. Yellow Soap and Black Tooth Powder contrast frugal past lifestyles with today’s consumerist self-care rituals, evoking both laughter and nostalgia.
In As If Nothing Happened, a family learns humility when a parking attendant, initially dismissed as rude, returns their lost camera without accepting a reward. His detached conduct reflects the Bhagavad Gita’s idea of Sthitpragya-action without attachment. It’s a subtle yet sharp critique of entitlement.
Ultimately, what binds Low Hanging Fruits is not just its thematic diversity but the author’s consistent voice-humane, self-reflective, often self-critical, and always observant.
The author doesn’t pretend to have all the answers. His stories do not lecture; they provoke reflection. However, most stories tend to lean towards idealism and overlook the broader social forces influencing values and behavior today. Similarly, the narratives risk sentimentality or self-absorption, but that’s a small price to pay for writing that comes from the heart. In the Editor’s note, Rumi Malik, notes that these stories lead to an understanding of simple, joyful pleasures of life.
With excellent sketches by Madhav Josh, the printing quality and the typecast are reader friendly.
As George Saunders once said, “When you read a short story, you come out a little more aware and a little more in love with the world.” Low Hanging Fruits by Dr.Sachchidanand Joshi achieves precisely that. It gently nudges the reader to notice life’s everyday ironies, to examine personal biases, and above all, to embrace empathy.
In a world obsessed with the sensational, this collection celebrates the ordinary-and therein lies its extraordinary power.
(The author works as Advisor with reputed Apeejay Education, New Delhi)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
