Imaging the other /
edited by Sara Rai, G.J.V. Prasad.
- New Delhi : Katha, 1999.
- 99 + 109 p. ; Pbk. 20 cm.
Bound back to back in opposite directions. Gratis Rs.175/-
Sunset at noon / by Phul Goswami ; translated by Nandana Dutta -- Salt / by Mannu Bhandari ; translated by Rana Nayar -- Marwa / by Asha Bage ; translated by Keerti Ramachandra -- Please dear God / by Lakshmi Kannan ; translated by the author -- The offspring / by Indira Goswami ; translated by the author -- The dear ones / by Binapani Mohanty ; translated by Jatindra Kumar Nayak -- Retrospective / by Githa Hariharan -- The stove / by Premendra Mitra ; translated by Kalyani Dutta -- Theresa's man / by Damodar Mauzo ; translated by Augusto Pinto -- Kela / by Intizar Husain ; translated by Moazzam Sheikh -- Devi / by P. Lankesh ; translated by Vanamala Viswanatha and Sherry Simon -- Waiting / by Jaishankar ; translated by Sara Rai -- Finely chopped dill / by Cyrus Mistry -- Manjula / by Arvind Gokhale ; translated by Charusheela Sohoni -- Ganjifa / by Naiyer Masud ; translated by Mehr Afshan Faruqi. English translations of two sets of short stories, one edited by G.J.V. Prasad and the other by Sara Rai, seek to give wider representation to writing in various Indian regional languages.
The stories are set in the northern, eastern, and southern parts of the country, most of them in towns rather than cities. The section edited by Prasad emphasises the sensitivities of its various male protagonists. Conversely, Rai's portion of the anthology focuses on female protagonists.
The anthology centres on three very basic features of Indian society - family, religion and the home. Another unifying aspect of the collection is that each of its central characters has a defined place of work, such as an office or a home. Some stories bring out the subtleties of human relationships cutting across class; yet others talk about the yearnings of the human heart.
In "Please Dear God" by Lakshmi Kannan, Ramachandran, the male protagonist, feels resentful for having to visit his comatose wife in hospital until the death of a patient in the adjoining room. Filled with remorse, Ramachandran is suddenly desperate for his wife to regain consciousness.
Naiyer Masud's description of the reticent Amma, the female protagonist in "Ganifa", admonishing her son for speaking ill of her deceased husband is very poignant. Years of silent suffering forced Amma to eke out a living from chikan embroidery. Almost blind and consumptive, Amma protects her son financially even to the extent of leaving behind money for her own funeral. There are other stories, such as "The Stove" by Premendra Mitra, where the retention of fragments of the local dialect appears rather unnecessary. An interesting collection on the whole though the reader may feel a trifle inconvenienced by the back-to-back presentation of the two sets of stories.
Contemporary short stories, translated into English from various Indic languages.
8185586926
Library of Congress -- New Delhi Field Office Rs175.00
99938401
Short stories, Indic--Translations into English. Indic fiction--20th century