Dilo Danish (Hindi)1993Krishna SobtiRajkamalpp. 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…
Yeh Daag Daag UjalaQuratul Ain Haider2009Bhartiya Gyanpithpp. 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…
Kore Kagaz (Hindi)Amrita Pritam2007Bhartiya Jnanpithpp. 95 (audiobook on Storytel.in) Kore Kagaz, loosely translated as blank papers, is a novel by Amrita Pritam. The story starts with a young man who comes home to witness the death of his mother and discovering the mysteries surrounding his birth and life. He realises that he is not his…
Bhali Ladkiyan, Buri Ladkiyan (Hindi)Anu Singh Choudhary 2016Eka/Hind Yugmpp. 228 I wanted the first read of this year to be a book by an Indian woman author. I had started reading other books simultaneously but this is the first one that I have managed to complete. With this beginning, it promises to be a good year….
Saat Sau Bees Kadam (Hindi)Amrita Pritam 2014Bhartiya Gyanpithpp. 266 A collection of short stories by Amrita Pritam like much of Pritam’s work revolves around the undefined aspects of life. I love how she defies logic, social boundaries, norms, and embraces everyone and everything as part of the normal. In this time of conflict and strife, I…
Ibnebatuti (Hindi) Divya Prakash Dubey 2020 Hind Yugm pp. 160 Ibnebatuti is a story of revolving around a mother son relationship. Like all of Dubey’s writings, this is contemporary, it is new age, and it is very refreshing. I picked up this book with a lot of expectations and it did not disappoint. The subtle…
Janta Store Naveen Chaudhary 2018 Radhakrishnan Publication pp. 300 Janta Store is a story of three friends written in first person narrative of one of the three protagonists. The story revolves around the three friends’ experiences in college, hostels, and coffee shops. Much of the story revolves around university politics. A thinner, parallel strand revolves…
Ek Chithda Sukh Nirmal Verma 2017 (first published 1979) Vani Prakashan pp. 242 The book title, loosely translated as a patchwork of pleasure, is an exploration of pleasure, happiness and contentment. The life of each of the characters presents a struggle for finding meaning, purpose, and peace. These are ordinary people with not so ordinary…
Chaurassi (84) Satya Vyas 2018 Hind Yugm pp. 160 Chaurassi is a fictional story of Rishi and Manu (Manjeet). Set in Bokaro, the story details out the lives of the members of a middle class Sikh family. The romance that brews between the landlord’s daughter and the young man is sweet. The characters are not…
Tim Tim Raston ke Aks (Hindi) Sanjay Vyas 2014 Hind Yugm pp.160 Another collection of short stories in Hindi. I have made it a point to read Hindi regularly and have started enjoying some of the contemporary writers in Hindi. I remember picking up this book by Sanjay Vyas from the New Delhi World Book…
