Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress
    Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress
    Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress
    Ebook43 pages55 minutes

    Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress

    By Mohan Sikka

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook


    It is the 1970s, pre-liberalization Delhi. Sanju, a shy ten-year-old boy, lives with his grandparents in a Delhi Colony while his parents work abroad. A close relative, Uncle Musto, begins a love affair that leads to division and discord in the family. Long-suppressed secrets come to light, and Sanju sees and hears things that change him forever.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarper XXI
    Release dateSep 21, 2013
    ISBN9789351361312
    Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress
    Author

    Mohan Sikka

    'Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress' won a 2009 PEN/O. Henry Prize. Mohan's story 'The Railway Aunty' was published in Delhi Noir, part of the renowned urban noir series from Akashic Books that was brought to India by HarperCollins.

    Related to Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress

    Related ebooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Every CLOUD

      Aug 31, 2022

      Every CLOUD
      6 min read

    • Article

      Making Peace

      Mar 1, 2020

      Making Peace
      10 min read

    • Article

      GHOSTS Got Me A JOB!

      Dec 29, 2021

      GHOSTS Got Me A JOB!
      2 min read

    • Article

      Nugrybauti

      Apr 24, 2019

      Nugrybauti
      8 min read

    • Article

      Who Was My Mother?

      Sep 12, 2019

      Who Was My Mother?
      7 min read

    • Article

      Visitor from HELL

      Dec 21, 2021

      Visitor from HELL
      4 min read

    • Article

      Living Nightmare

      Oct 1, 2019

      Living Nightmare
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Southern Christmas

      Nov 1, 2023

      A Southern Christmas
      7 min read

    • Article

      Shanda

      Jan 1, 2024

      Shanda
      13 min read

    • Article

      A Voice In The Storm

      Sep 25, 2019

      A Voice In The Storm
      2 min read

    • Article

      Breaking POINT

      Nov 1, 2022

      Breaking POINT
      6 min read

    • Article

      Rag Doll

      May 3, 2018

      Rag Doll
      11 min read

    • Article

      You Girls Are Good

      Mar 31, 2022

      You Girls Are Good
      16 min read

    • Article

      Dressing THE PART

      Oct 6, 2021

      Dressing THE PART
      6 min read

    • Article

      I Finally Feel That I’m Free

      Jan 29, 2020

      I Finally Feel That I’m Free
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Woman On The ELEPHANT

      Jan 19, 2022

      The Woman On The ELEPHANT
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Storyteller of Sura

      Feb 6, 2019

      The Storyteller of Sura
      3 min read

    • Article

      Sibling RIVALRY

      Apr 14, 2021

      “ Here is a question for any big sisters who happen to be reading: Is there anybody in the known universe more plainspoken and tactless than a little sister? My own little sister, Deb, phoned recently, mainly to complain about her two cats. ‘They ke

      3 min read

    • Article

      AUNT MAUD’S SECRET Part 1

      Sep 1, 2021

      “WHAT! SERIOUSLY?” “Settle down, Martin,” said Ms. Phelps as she poured herself a second mug of coffee that morning. She sat down at the kitchen table, gently blowing on the steam. “Aunt Maud is so excited about her visit and really looking forward

      6 min read

    • Article

      THE DUKE OF Edinbrough Hotel

      Nov 13, 2019

      THE DUKE OF Edinbrough Hotel
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress - Mohan Sikka

      abc

      UNCLE MUSTO TAKES A MISTRESS

      Mohan Sikka

      abc

      Table of Contents

      Title Page

      Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress

      About the Author

      Copyright

      Uncle Musto Takes a Mistress

      Uncle Musto had hired the services of a female secretary. In our slow-paced colony, news like this gave the street a charge, with its hint of juicy developments, its premise of slowly revealed impropriety. The secretary’s name was Rose: a Goan lady, dark complexioned, with two pigtails tied in bouncy red ribbons and looped on top of her head, the arrangement embellished with rhinestone brooches and Little Mermaid hairpins. ‘Trimmings suitable for a girl of thirteen,’ Grandma remarked at dinner with a sniff. She’d seen Rose when she’d paid a bedside call on Uncle Musto’s wife, but there’d been no introductions: ‘Skitting about here and there like a doe, eyes made up with too much kohl, Sir this, Sir that, running circles around our Prince Musto. She has taken up quarters in the room above their garage, rent free!’

      ‘Why are we discussing Musto’s affairs?’ Grandpa said gruffly, over his plate. ‘He works hard to put food in many mouths. Leave him alone and eat your own meal.’

      Grandma cracked off the end of a radish. ‘Arré? His welfare is our welfare. I don’t say he shouldn’t have an assistant. But that sort of person? And live-in? How does it look?’

      I was ten and living with my grandparents (my mother and father were abroad). Musto was my mother’s cousin and lived two streets over from my grandparents. Since Musto’s own parents had passed away some years before, he often came to seek Grandpa and Grandma’s guidance on matters both personal and professional. The two households, his and ours, were known in the colony as the junior and senior Chopras respectively.

      Recently, Grandpa had helped Musto make a series of useful business connections—Grandpa was retired from the Ordnance Corps of the Indian Army—and Musto had clinched a large deal to make special field radios for soldiers.

      After dinner it was time for my glass of warm milk with almonds in the kitchen. Grandma stood by to make sure I downed every drop. Meanwhile, Dheeraj, our servant, scraped vegetables with gusto from the bottom of a steel skillet, his unruly thatch of hair flopping over his boyish face. ‘Mataji,’ he piped up, ‘it is not my place to meddle in big people’s affairs, but the market talk is that Musto Master and this Sister Rose are taking long evening walks. What should I say when I hear such words against our family? It makes my steam rise.’

      ‘Those who cast aspersions on decent folk should look inside their own black hearts,’ Grandma snapped. Any other day, she happily ate up the tidbits of street news Dheeraj brought, clicking her tongue at colony

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1