The Fine Print and Other Yarns

By Dinesh Verma

The first seven stories in this collection are set in Paris in the 1980s and 1990s, when India was considered a poor, developing country with a closed economy, and France was still regarded as a leading world power. Stringent foreign exchange restrictions made a long stay in Paris almost impossible those days for an average Indian. These stories are about some who were able to do so and their struggle to come to terms with Paris, facing numerous constraints. The last two stories, 'The Mobile Phone Dealer' and 'Bawa and His Fiat', are set in India in the late 1990s, just after the advent of mobile phones and the internet.

'Buddy the Impressionist': Buddy has a fixation for the bohemian life of the Impressionist painters in Paris. During a rare opportunity to visit Paris for two days after attending a seminar in England, he hopes to experience it first-hand himself. He searches in vain for something that would correspond to his image of life in Paris, which is based primarily on his reading of Irving Stone's novels. A remark by a waiter when he asks for a glass of absinthe in a bar provides him a clue to what he was looking for.

'The Fine Print': Krish, pursuing an MBA in a Business School in Paris, is aspiring to become a marketing guru. Living on a shoestring budget, he is thrilled when he is invited by a classmate to her birthday party in a restaurant in a chic quarter of Paris. That dinner in that expensive restaurant proves to be a valuable lesson in marketing that Krish ends up learning the hard way.

'The Transformation': When Amitabh and his friends arrive in Paris, they are overwhelmed by all that the city offers, though most of it is beyond their reach given their meagre finances. His friends expect a lot from Amitabh who is known to be a generous and hospitable person. After indulging them for a few days Amitabh stops entertaining them to save money. It leads to an interesting rivalry in which each one is trying to boast about his exploits in Paris yet unwilling to provide any further details of expenses to the others.

'The Visitor': Dr Chopra, a widely travelled doctor, decides to take a short stopover in Paris during one of his foreign tours. Not knowing a word of French, the jet-setting doctor finds himself driven to despair finding his way and thinks of taking a flight back to Delhi the same day but is unable to do so. After a harrowing experience finding his hotel, he decides not to step out till Amitabh--a friend of one of his juniors in India--arrives and takes him out to show him the city. By the end of a two-day stay in Paris, Dr. Chopra is so smitten by Paris that he is already making plans for his next visit there.

'Another Visitor': When Dr. Singh, a distant relative of Amitabh, who is a professor of Sanskrit, informs him about his visit to Paris as a part of his international tour. He is worried about how a person like him will find his way in a place like Paris, where even a seasoned traveler like Dr. Chopra had such a harrowing experience, as he could not speak French. He is however in for a great surprise when not only Dr. Singh manages to reach him at his suburban hostel on his own but narrates to him his exploits in the city.

Note: This collection was originally published in paperback by UBS Publishers' Distributor Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi in 2009. Rights reverted to the author in 2016, after which this revised edition was independently published on Amazon.

Some reviews of the first edition:
"Parisian adventures: Stories that skirt around the bothersome issues of crossing cultures." (Literary Review, The Hindu)
"A smorgasbord of unforgettable characters." (India Today)
"A kaleidoscope, each turn of which presents an eminently interesting and unforgettable character." (The Sunday Tribune; Spectrum)
"The stories provide a keen insight into the mind of an average Indian abroad, his resilience and adaptability." (Asian Age)

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1542795168
• ISBN13: 9781542795166
• Release Date: March 2017
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.0" x 8.0"