Moments Sweet and Sour: The short stories selected for inclusion in this volume come from Sanskrit, Kashmiri, Dogri, Rajasthani, Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindi. These give the specimen of concrete feeling that life generates in contemporary India under conditions of modernity and social evolution. The book is expected to familiarize readers also with larger questions of gender, alienation, and ethics. The lens is understandably art-centred and imaginative. Here, we come across women and men from different walks of life in post-Independence India. The range of life captured in these short stories is wide, from the village and small town, to the urban centre. Over all, the gaps and conflicts reflected in these short stories offer an India grappling with newly emerging aspects of modern-day experience. The healthy diversity of cultural give-and-take informing the selected fictional pieces is available here in English translation.

Anand Prakash is an academician, poet and dramatist. He has published books on literary theory, cultural trends and literary texts. Currently, he is editing the Journal of Literature Studies. He has scripted plays that have been staged at Shri Ram Centre, New Delhi, and have also been performed in Delhi slums.

This book carries short stories, in English translation, from seven Indian languages-Sanskrit, Punjabi, Hindi, Dogri, Kashmiri, Rajasthani, and Urdu. Written in the last few decades, the stories address contemporary concerns and cover a wide variety of themes. From the point of view of form, too, they are sure to appeal to the reader; a good deal of experiment, innovative technique, and creative use of language is manifest in their overall texture. One may also discern in them an awareness of changes that informed the cultural scene in the Indian subcontinent in the post-War years.

The Sahitya Akademi organised a five-day workshop at Mount Abu in Rajasthan in June 2016, in which translation work of these short stories from different Indian languages was taken up from the initial stages to the final one where the selected entries saw themselves emerge in English. After intensive discussion and ex change of views, the versions presented here were given concrete shape. We are sure that the work will earn appreciation from those interested in making sense of the prevalent cultural ethos through the reading of fiction.

**Contents and Sample Pages**