Dilo Danish (Hindi)
1993
Krishna Sobti
Rajkamal
pp. 235
The story of Dilo Danish focuses on the life of a lawyer, his wife and his concubine. He has children from both the women. His life is thus quite busy in managing his practice and the two families. The story is set in domesticity and is primarily not a genre I enjoy. But for Sobti’s writing style, this could have been quite boring. Set in a time when polygamy was common, you almost feel proud of the male protagonist as being faithful to his wife and lone concubine. In all fairness, he treats his children well and tries to provide for them in a decent enough manner although it does seem that it is far from equal. I noticed that the wife is Hindu like him, but the ‘other’ woman is a Muslim. I am not sure if this is a deliberate choice or am I just reading too much into it.
The book is a joy to read in the realistic portrayal of family life and very enjoyable language usage. The old school Hindustani held a strong appeal to me. It paints a beautiful imagery of the whole set up although it is not boring with details.
The women in the book are by no means weak. They are making the best of the circumstances but do play their own set of games to improve their situations and ‘power’ within the family. The preoccupations of the two women seem particularly banal but then that is only in contrast to contemporary lifestyles. So if the family drama does not dissuade you, and you like to read about the intricacies of relationships, this would be an enjoyable read.