{"id":892,"date":"2023-11-28T22:33:48","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T22:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/?page_id=892"},"modified":"2023-12-12T17:17:10","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T17:17:10","slug":"amma","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/amma\/","title":{"rendered":"Amma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Amma<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 A Short Story by Elaine Desmond<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amma <\/em>is set in India.  It is based on a newspaper article, a tiny clipping in a corner of a page, which I came across while researching for my PhD.

Amma<\/em> was shortlisted for the Fish Short Story Prize in 2019 and for the Bridport Prize in 2018. It was one of 96 stories out of 4377 to be shortlisted.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: Pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Excerpt from Amma<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weak sunlight is beginning to penetrate the early morning mist as you step from the auto-rickshaw.  Through the hazy chill, the train station, with its paved plaza and white stone pillars presides, with unyielding conviction, over a chaotic jumble of market stalls and already thronged roads. Car horns blare and the air is thick with exhaust fumes, as well as the more acrid stench of human excrement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even after the short walk to the station steps, your skin feels grimy and your eyes sting.  Once inside the relative calm of the echoing entrance hall, you buy a ticket then settle on a cold, stone bench on the platform.  Other travellers mill about or somehow manage to doze on the rock-hard seating. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018From where are you coming?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a query you respond to at least 20 times a day.  On this occasion, the question breaks into a longing for the cosy familiarity of home that has you wondering again what you\u2019re doing here. You\u2019re on the verge of snapping a curt retort – but one glance at the questioner causes the sharp words to remain unspoken. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excerpt from Amma Weak sunlight is beginning to penetrate the early morning mist as you step from the auto-rickshaw.  Through the hazy chill, the train station, with its paved plaza and white stone pillars presides, with unyielding conviction, over a chaotic jumble of market stalls and already thronged roads. Car horns blare and the air…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-892","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1490,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/892\/revisions\/1490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}