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punjabi review
Dharti Hor Pare ... Jaswant Deed is a noted writer and winner of the Sahitya Academy Award. This is Deed's 10th book, a collection of 16 short stories and an important addition to his oeuvre. The stories are from daily life, depicting the first-hand experiences of the author who has not hidden himself, but has come forward as an important actor in these tales that offer moments of potent love, longing, anguish and plenty of enjoyment with whisky sessions day and night.
In another story, a maternal uncle’s visit to Shahkot (Deed’s place) and the nephew’s (Deed’s) visit to Europe is a treasure of love, affection, respect and relationship sensibilities. M. Uncle, who migrated to England and became rich could never forget his humble background. He would state with pride in the social gatherings that his father had been a dyer and he himself had been a board painter in touring talkies. There were days when his family could not afford a single meal a day. This trait of M. Uncle taught the writer to value relatives however poor they may be. The author refers to the noted poet Misha who used to say that he was proud of being the son of a tailor. Deed points out how the rich NRIs flaunt their riches, depicting all this in a poem (a part of this story) he wrote during his visit to England, where NRIs call India a "hell". The author was reminded of a mythological belief when M. Uncle and he stayed together overnight. Mothers would be apprehensive of an ill omen and would ask the maternal uncle to sleep in a separate room and keep their sons in their laps. Deed is adept at drawing word portraits of men in the story Shahar Main Ja Raha Hoon. He describes Indira Gandhi, whom he viewed from a distance of four feet on the stage of a Punjabi conference in Delhi in 1983 while recording for All-India Radio, "light blue silky sari, face as if a Rishi (sage) of deep meditation, shine of natural glow, exuding immense confidence, extremely fair arms, artistic fingers, cutout features, fine thin lips, cool calm posture and attractive voice, she spoke for 25 minutes, I did not hear anything as if a Rishi in a fit of breaking his vow ... ." The writer kept his eyes glued to Gandhi’s face and back home, the whole night he had her face before him. The author is at his intellectual best in the story Nihatha Nahin Haan Main (I am not unarmed). The tale of terrorist days is so well knit and crafted that it looks more than an actual happening. The reader is carried along with the actors in the trauma, fear, loss, worry and incidents that are bound to happen which providentially do not happen. Deed throws away the fears and fortifies himself, while his thoughts echoing out in the poem eschewing the philosophical treatise. This story also hits at the machinations and misdeeds of the police who, in the garb of protectors, cost the innocent families dear. Away from any ideological touch, the narrative is like memory itself, meandering and powerful. Deed’s stories keep the reader deeply absorbed.
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Master
is a picturesque narration written in such an engaging style that the
reader feels as if it is his own story of primary school days. A
village school, phatti (wooden board) for practicing
handwriting, reciting of pahare (arithmetic tables) and
beatings by the schoolteacher all create a true-to-life situation of
schooling of yore.