This three-volume English translation by Ratan Kumar Chattopadhyay called Selections from Galpaguchchha (Bengali for a bunch of stories)is a collection of sixty-one of Tagore’s short stories broadly grouped under the themes of parting of ways, the relationship between men and women, and the power within the woman, respectively.

Volume 1 includes memorable stories like the ‘The Pedlar from Kabul’, ‘Broken Nest’, ‘Punishment’ and ‘The Postmaster’. In the first, an Afghan hawker, Rahmat, comes to Calcutta and befriends five-year-old Mini, who reminds him of his own daughter back home. While ‘Broken Nest’ is a story of a lonely urban housewife’s friendship with her brother-in-law and her overwhelming sense of loss when the relationship ends abruptly, ‘Punishment’ set in rural Bengal is a poignant story of young Chandora and her grim resolve when her husband, to save his brother, persuades her to own up to a murder she did not commit.

Translator’s Preface
1 The Postmaster
(Postmaster)
2 Return of the Little Master
(Khokababur Pratyabartan)
3 Chhuti
(Holiday)
4 The Visitor
(Atithi)
5 The Exercise Book
(Khata)
6 The Pedlar from Kabul
(Kabuliwalla)
7 The Living and the Dead
(Jibito O Mrito)
8 The Golden Deer
(Swarnamriga)
9 A Bequest of Property
(Sampatti-Samarpan)
10 Trespass
(Anadhikar Prabesh)
11 Punishment
(Shashti)
12 Means of Freedom
(Muktir Upaay)
13 The Austere Woman
(Tapaswini)
14 The Silent Girl
(Subha)
15 A Single Night
(Ek-Ratri)
16 Jajneshwar’s Offering
(Jajneshwarer Jajna)
17 Taraprasanna’s Achievement
(Taraprasannar Kirti)
18 A Tale of Fantasy
(Ekta Asharhe Galpa)
19 Forlorn Hope
(Durasha)
20 Broken Nest
(Nashtanir)
Glossary