A girl embarks on a train journey to obliterate old memories which have destroyed her childhood; a young girl is transformed into a veritable Krishna to destroy a modern day Kansa; an unmarried surrogate mother readies herself to give birth to a child;  a young civil servant stops believing in miracles when she is abducted and kept captive in the hills of Manipur; a young woman visits Munnar and discovers her family’s best kept secret in the hills. ‘The Future is Mine’ by Vandana Kumari Jena is an eclectic collection of stories, some humorous, some serious and yet others suspenseful. The underlying thread running across the stories is women, their resilience, their infinite compassion and indomitable courage. These stories are hard-hitting, yet soul- stirring and will strike an emotional chord with the reader. ‘The Future is Mine’ makes for compelling reading.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Contents

Preface —Pgs. 7

Acknowledgements —Pgs. 9

1. Déjá Vu —Pgs. 13

2. Long Distance Romance —Pgs. 20

3. Retribution —Pgs. 25

4. My Own Prison —Pgs. 30

5. Silent Night —Pgs. 34

6. Illusions —Pgs. 40

7. The Tsunami —Pgs. 44

8. The Tempest —Pgs. 51

9. Spider’s Web —Pgs. 58

10. Charade —Pgs. 63

11. Of Hope and Despair —Pgs. 67

12. Fantasy —Pgs. 72

13. The Price —Pgs. 78

14. Nightmare —Pgs. 83

15. The Encounter —Pgs. 91

16. Amita’s Mother —Pgs. 96

17. Anti Love —Pgs. 100

18. Memory Games —Pgs. 104

19. The Dilemma —Pgs. 107

20. The Unwelcome Guest —Pgs. 114

21. Autumn Leaves —Pgs. 120

22. Not Another Silas —Pgs. 127

23. The Hero —Pgs. 135

24. Nemesis —Pgs. 141

25. The Revelation —Pgs. 146

26. Not by Memories Alone —Pgs. 151

27. The Memsaab —Pgs. 161

28. The End —Pgs. 170

29. A Night to Remember —Pgs. 175

30. The Future is Mine —Pgs. 182

31. Storm Warning —Pgs. 191

32. Once upon a Time in Munnar —Pgs. 201

Vandana Kumari Jena is an officer of the 1979 batch of the Indian Administrative Service. She belongs to the Odisha cadre. She writes middles, novels, short stories and poetry. Her stories and poems have been published in over twenty anthologies. Her first novel ‘The Dance of Death’ was published in 2008. Her collection of short stories entitled ‘The Incubation Chamber’ was published in 2014. Another collection of short stories entitled ‘The Future is Mine’ was published in 2015. She is married with two sons. She lives in New Delhi.