Yeh Daag Daag Ujala
Quratul Ain Haider
2009
Bhartiya Gyanpith
pp. 190
Yeh Daag Daag Ujala is a collection of short stories by Quratul Ain Haider. The stories have been translated by Dr. Sadiq. The stories are interesting although some of them are written in a context totally alien to me. The symbolism in some stories are totally lost on me. I found the stories hard to follow as the language, despite the translation, was very unfamiliar to me.
What I found most interesting was the interview of Haider which was presented in the end. The interview provided an insight into her life. I had not come across her interview earlier and I found this engaging. She answered some of her critiques but more importantly, her stories were put into a context with this interview. I understood the stories better after reading her interview, and in fact read some of them again for a better experience.
Over all, the book is an okay read. I did not particularly enjoy it. This may be because of my distraction due to the increasing incidences of disease around us, my general disinterest in short stories, lack of proficiency in the language, or my poor comprehension of the stories. Or all of these. If you generally like Haider’s work, some of her best writings is in this compilation.