The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Bhuvaneswar, Chaya. White Dancing Elephants. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Dzanc Books, 2018.

White Dancing Elephants is a collection of 17 short stories by Chaya Bhuvaneswar.

In the story “White Dancing Elephants,” a woman in her forties has recently suffered a miscarriage. She wanders around the city of London while grieving this loss, and worrying that she might never be able to have a child. While grieving, she imagines various futures in which her child is born and grows into an adult.

In “The Story of the Woman Who Fell in Love with Death,” an 11-year-old boy reads a fairytale about a woman whose husband dies, and who then falls in love with the god of death. The boy thinks about his older sister, who went missing and was presumed dead. Throughout the following years, the boy never loses hope that his sister might be alive somewhere. He eventually becomes a doctor. One day, the body of a recently deceased woman is brought to the hospital where he works, and he becomes convinced that it is his sister.

In “Talinda,” the narrator is a woman in her thirties named Narika. She has known her best friend, Talinda, since childhood. Talinda was diagnosed with terminal cancer in the relatively recent past. After the diagnosis, Narika began having an affair with Talinda’s husband, George. Narika feels guilty, but she also feels that she cannot resist her love for George. Talinda eventually reveals to Narika that she knows about the affair, and that all she wants is for Narika to remain her source of emotional support until she (Talinda) dies.

“A Shaker Chair” follows a Black, biracial woman named Sylvia, who is in her early forties. She works as a clinical psychologist, and she develops a romantic/sexual attraction to Maya, a new patient of hers. Maya is 20 years old and is of South Asian descent. Sylvia does her best to emotionally distance herself from Maya in order tamp down the aforementioned feelings of attraction. Maya, apparently feeling hurt and betrayed, films herself having sex with Sylvia’s married father. Maya then posts the video online in an attempt to ruin Sylvia’s career.

“Jagatishwaran” takes place in India. The main character, Bhuvan, is in his twenties and lives with his parents. He struggles with mental health issues, making it difficult for him to acquire a job. He aspires to be a writer. He spends most of his days wandering the neighborhood and observing everyday life. At the end of the story, he says goodbye to his sister, who is moving to the United States.

In “The Bang Bang,” a man named Millind moves from India to the United States with his pregnant wife. He finds a job as a driver for a wealthy family in New York City. He and his wife eventually have two sons. One day, Millind begins to gain notoriety for poetry that he has written. He goes on to become a renowned poet, but his success causes him to lose focus on his relationships. He becomes estranged from his sons. He also divorces his wife and marries a much younger woman.

In “Orange Popsicles,” the main character is Jayanti, a young woman from India who has matriculated to a university in the United States. Under pressure from her parents, she registers for a science course for which she is underqualified. She fears failing the class, which might result in the loss of the academic scholarship that allows her to attend the school. A classmate named Dave offers unsolicited help in cheating on the test. Later, the school administration investigates Dave and Jayanti for cheating. Dave pressures Jayanti not to reveal the truth to the administration. Jayanti, afraid and unsure what to do, does her best to avoid Dave. One day, Dave and numerous other male students attack and rape Jayanti. Jayanti does not wish to pursue a criminal case against Dave, but the social backlash against Dave drives him to transfer to another school. Jayanti is allowed to finish her education at the university, but she never fully overcomes the trauma of the rape.

“Neela: Bhopal, 1984” follows a young boy named Neela who lives in the Indian city of Bhopal in the 1980s. Neela’s family is very poor and lives in a shantytown. Due to an increase of factories in the area, the area has become increasingly polluted. The pollution kills many people living in shantytowns in the area, including Neela.

In “Chronicle of a Marriage, Foretold,” a writer named Mikki goes to an artists’ retreat to work. She has recently discovered that her husband is having an affair. At the retreat, Mikki finds herself involuntarily imagining a man named Harry, who is described as being a passionate and generous lover. She finds herself writing Harry into the novel she is writing. Eventually, she allows herself to fully indulge in the fantasy of this imaginary man.

“Heitor” takes place in the mid-1500s. The protagonist, Heitor, is born and raised in India, but he is eventually kidnapped by slave traders and sold into slavery in Portugal. There, Heitor falls in love with an enslaved woman named Sita. Sita eventually becomes pregnant by Heitor. Heitor steals gold to pay for their passage to North America. Sita manages to escape, but Heitor is captured and killed.

“Newberry” takes place in Boston. Vinita works at a nail salon that she discovers is a money laundering front for a crime syndicate. Vinita formulates a plan to steal a large amount of money from the business and then flee the country. She becomes reluctant about the plan, but then she decides to go through with it when her boyfriend, Marco, is in danger of being deported. They steal the money and then flee to Canada.

In “Asha in Allston,” the narrator is a married woman who has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Her husband has recently invented a realistic-looking robot with advanced artificial intelligence. The woman realizes that her husband views the robot as a possible replacement for her after she dies. She destroys the robot but leaves the AI files intact.

In “The Life You Save Isn’t Your Own,” 43-year-old Seema Vektramanan is generally disappointed with her life. She is unmarried, she has no children, and she finds her job to be boring and unfulfilling. Her one solace is her interest in art. One day, she goes to a gallery with the intention of buying an expensive painting. There, she witnesses a boy playing with a firecracker. The boy becomes injured. Seema stays by his side and then rides along in the ambulance as he is brought to the hospital.

“The Orphan Handler” takes place in an orphanage in India. The orphanage is run by nuns, and they specifically take in girls who have the power to transform into animals. The nuns essentially imprison the girls, and the orphanage is equipped with extensive means of restraining the girls during their transformations.

“In Allegheny” takes place in Pennsylvania and follows a woman named Michelle, who works as a doctor. She is in a relationship with John, a 30-year-old medical student. John has a son from a brief previous relationship. When John receives an offer for a job in California, where his son and the mother live, Michelle encourages John to take the job. John opposes the idea, as he has no actual relationship with the son or mother, other than helping to support them financially. Michelle breaks up with John, hoping it will compel John to take the job, but she is ultimately unable to commit to the breakup.

“The Goddess of Beauty Goes Bowling” follows Gopi, a 58-year-old Indian man who lives in the United States with his wife and children. They have a son and a daughter. The daughter is physically and mentally disabled. Gopi resents his daughter, in part because Gopi’s wife decided that they should send their son to a boarding school in India so that they could focus more on the daughter’s needs.

“Adristakama” follows Nisha and Lauren, a lesbian couple. Nisha is from India, but she came to the United States for college. She met Lauren at college, but Nisha’s parents do not approve of her sexuality. When Nisha’s parents arrange a marriage for Nisha with a man in India, Nisha feels obligated to obey. Nisha goes to India for the wedding, and Lauren follows her hoping to change Nisha’s mind.