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Chhote Vadde Rabb
The impact of globalisation, consumerism and so-called modernity is starkly reflected in the stories. The description is mellifluous, chaste, and in unhurried flow of words that dip perceptibly into the lives of the characters in the narration. The first story Chowkidar is the portrait of a retired couple and a living example of senior citizens who can easily find their own images in it. The children whom the couple brought up with care, sacrificing their own comforts, now treat the elders as a burden. The couple is rendered helpless and become chowkidars of the house, relegated into the background looking after their grandchildren. The author has very skillfully brought in another character, an old man working as a night watchman in a mandi who gets a monthly salary of Rs 2,000. He is happy with life giving Rs 500 to his wife and Rs 1,500 to his son for the household expenses, saying he does not need to live on their doles. He is happy when traders in the mandi give him sweets and the day he is given a drink, he enjoys a sound sleep. Though the chowkidar innocently proclaims his happiness, the story highlights the good and bad effects of modernity. The story Kahde Layee Jayeeai (for whom to go) relates to a rich ex-service man, a hotelier of Punjabi origin, settled in Bangalore. His son and daughter after getting their professional degrees marry partners of their choice. The hotelier’s wife, a devout Sikh, dies of shock as she earnestly wished them to marry into Sikh families. The hotelier, with all worldly luxuries and comforts, lives the life of a recluse and does not feel concerned with anyone, much less his own kith and kin. Bir has the deeper perceptions of societal living and portrays the bittersweet truth of people’s lives. The language is no problem as he can present a character in its real portrait. In Bari Ma (elder mother), the protagonist speaks in a chaste Haryanavi dialect and the Haryanvi customs and traditions come naturally to all the characters. The language and skill with which the writer weaves the stories deserves appreciation. The philosophy and wide ranging subjects in the stories present interesting material for the reader and a distinctive space to the author in the community of Punjabi writers. Zindagi da Sach
It is not uncommon to recall some incidents of your life, put them in writing and come out with a book. However, such eventful memoirs become worth reading when they create history and Daon’s work is a good example. At the first go, the reader may tend to extend a lukewarm treatment to this book, but as he proceeds along, he clings to the book and tends to read it in one sitting. Reminisces of motherly affections, fatherly advice, austere living, hard working habits, craving for building a career, village origins, studying under the oil lamp light, covering long distances on foot or cycle, have been fondly and reverentially recorded in the book. This 80-page book contains pleasant and
touching material for all readers, especially those with a rural
background.
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THIS
collection of 25 short stories by B. S. Bir adds the fourth production
of stories to his oeuvre of writing in different genres, both in Punjabi
and Hindi. The stories are compact, well-knit and self-contained and the
reader goes through them unhurriedly.
The
author has placed in the 28 narratives much of his perceptions and
observations of his daily life. These incidents appear to have touched
his conscience and thus have become a memorable treasure for him. All
the write-ups keep the reader engaged. Words come naturally to the
writer and there is an unhurried flow. Each chapter is brief, hardly
covering two pages, but the matter is self-contained and meaningful. The
genre is uncommon and it is up to the reader to call them essays, short
stories or biographical pieces.