Author Armeen Kapadia Basavaraju recently launched ‘Crossroads’ – comprising short stories – a window in the Parsi community. These stories explore the everyday conversations and emotional nuances that alter and shape the lives of Parsis in modern India, revealing the community’s unique character, quirks and issues that our dwindling community faces. A thought-provoking collection of tales and rib-tickling essays provides a humorous and refreshing read.

The book provides an easy reading experience. Two of its stories, including the namesake. ‘Crossroads’, tackle difficult family decisions involving tensions between loyalty to expanding the Parsi community set against desires for non-traditional, unmarried life or love for an outsider. The poignant and thought-provoking stories share slices of life in Mumbai. The book offers deep experiences, a window into a community that is not easily accessible, and a partial remedy for the heretofore scant presence of books involving Parsi life on the shelves of booksellers and libraries. Readers from Mumbai are likely to get a dose of nostalgia on top of the plotlines.

Armeen, a graduate from Mumbai’s Sophia College and a post-graduate from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, believes that words and design are not too different. Her stories have been published in literary magazines such as Amarillo Bay and The Louisville Review. Besides books, she cultivates a growing stamp collection.

‘Crossroads’ is available on Amazon (https://bit.ly/armeenk) at Rs. 179/- (paper-back) and Rs. 81/- (E-book).