This was a book of 19 short stories selected and translated by Khuswant Singh.
The stories were around Punjab/Pakistan /Independence. They were nice to read because of the Indian context and I could somewhere relate to them as I have heard my grandparents version on the partition.
Overall, I think the stories lost their charm in translation. The couplets and the phrases which would have been oh so powerful in Punjabi/Urdu became very drab in English.
Many of the stories did not have a punch/twist in the end which is so typical of a short story by a Jefferay Archer type of an author. ….Some just end with a “and life goes on!” type of scenarios and you are left thinking what did I read this story for!!?
In fact one of the stories in the book “The night of the Full Moon” written by Kartar Singh Duggal, was used in the movie “Dus Kahaniya” and it was my favorite story in the movie. It was somehow better portrayed in the movie than in the book…again I think it has been lost in translation.
Overall a nice easy quick read…despite all its flaws….it was one of those books I picked up and actually finished it in about a week.. I have not been reaching the end of too many books I pick up lately so I guess that speaks for itself!
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3 comments:
Hey Little Princess...It wud be nice to read abt your grand parents 'good old days' ...what they have been up to in the past decades ??? ...pls do share their stories...
I think every language has it own beauty ...Few Days back I tried to watch english/hindi movies dubbed in tamil ...it was no close to original and it takes the whole essence away . I wish i cud read the original phrases in Punjabi/Urdu...but again then it is like expecting little sunshine on night of the full moon...hav fun !!!
Hey Anand.....you dont seem to have moved to my new blog..Do go check out http://restlessprincess.wordpress.com/
I dont write on bloggger any more!
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