Short Story: Under the Tamarind Tree by Paromita Goswami

In this short story, Paromita Goswami narrates an incident that will make a reader go from Wow! to Oh my gosh! by the end of the story.

It is only recently that our village has become rather famous for eco-tourism, as the village with the gates to the celebrated tiger reserve – the favourite destination of city tourists who descend in hordes, hoping to see the big cat. So, it is only recently that we have become guides and drivers and workers in resorts. Before this our village was just like any other unknown Adivasi village with mud-walled homes and muddy lanes. A dirt track led to the village and a red government bus rattled down twice a day picking up and dropping villagers, baskets of vegetables, chicken, sometimes a goat and what else have you. The large tamarind tree was just a stone’s throw from where the bus stopped and it is under this tamarind tree that the finest drama of my life took place.