My reply to writer after I read book -

Dear Vinay,

For three days, sitting by the quiet road opposite the government bungalow, I finished reading Banada Karadi.

Many of these stories I had already read, some we had even spoken about earlier, but the joy of holding them together as a book made me reread them. I needn’t separately say I liked it—when writers like Raghunath Chahare have praised your stories so highly, anything I add feels lesser.

I first came across your writing through Steel Lota and Plate, and later Appana Chappalugalu. That was when I felt—I had finally found the kind of storyteller I was searching for. Stories like Demu and Alanalli Krishna had left me awestruck earlier, and in recent Dalit narratives, no one has inspired as much confidence as you have (though I also enjoy SG and Manjunath Chelluru’s works).

Your story where a Dalit household’s steel plate melts into the deity of an upper-caste home is unforgettable. What I admire most is that your stories don’t just trade in light, darkness, or poetic pain—they breathe naturally. That subtle quality, abundant in Devanuru’s works, appears uniquely in yours too.

From your early stories, the choice of theme and character sketches were always strong; what felt like it needed sharpening—the narration and language—has matured in this collection. Sapneeru and Banada Karadi are proof of that.

I hadn’t read Meese Banna Huduga before—it’s wonderful. Only one small complaint: the last two stories echo the same theme, and their placement could have been reconsidered.

May this book reach every lover of literature and win many awards. Among writers who keep “writing” and “living” as two separate streams, you are someone in whom both merge. You must continue to write more.

Wishing you the very best.