Just One Life and Other Stories is a collection of short stories about the ordinary person, the poor person, the underprivileged person—people about whom very little is written, who merely find mention in passing. The author has written about them, their relationships, their feelings, their emotions, their dreams, and their aspirations with great insight, understanding, sensitivity and compassion.
‘Just One Life’ is about the fate of Chotu, a young lad who lives in a slum, and is busy learning from his ‘peers’ the art of stealing from the rich passerby. Who to target, how to steal? Does not go to school because what is there to learn in school—doesn’t help you earn. The author, with her keen sense of observation, goes on to describe the mental perturbation of Chotu waiting for his first target. What happens when he captures his first target and what happens thereafter to Chotu brings out the writer’s initial point—‘who is interested in the likes of Ramu, Kallu, Munna, Pappu anyway. Not readers of the English press surely.’