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New Urdu Writings:
From India & Pakistan
Renowned storyteller Joginder Paul speaks volumes with remarkable brevity. In Living Happily Ever After, a writer chances upon his two runaway characters who defied plot construction to give themselves a happy ending. Entertainment at any cost motivates an oblivious voyeuristic audience and an uncaring organiser to repeatedly risk a man’s life in a savage spectacle till his luck runs out in The Last Show by Mazhar-uz-Zaman Khan. In The Slaughterhouse Sheep by Khurshid Akram an alert sheep is uneasy at the sudden change in the usual route and does not follow the herd which saves her life as the others are hardly being led to greener pastures. A bizarre turn of events is witnessed in Faiyaz Riffat’s A Night’s Paradise, where three broke unemployed men fake a death, while planning to have a good time with the collection for the funeral. But tragically, this pretence becomes real before the night ends. In cautionary tale The End of Time, Perveen Atif presents a woebegone Bacillus and Coccus hoping for a new beginning as they lament the annihilation of the human race among the charred remains of a post-apocalyptic world. See things from a rat’s point of view who has triumphantly survived numerous attempts on his life but is now dying of loneliness as he misses terribly the family he scared away in the Azra Abbas’ The Killing of a Rat. On a completely different note is Mirza Hamid Baig’s account of the eerie experience of a backpacking couple who soon suspect that the ostentatious resort "Mughal Serai," offering an out-of-this- world experience might actually be just that. In the Salma Awan’s unconventional love story By the Time You Know, Jahan Ara is absolutely certain that a brief blissful union with her one true love will sustain her through a lifetime; promising to relinquish all claims to him thereafter. This short story collection is a veritable smorgasbord in terms of form, style and structure. Some are traditional, some modern and others experimental. Thus appealing to different moods, tastes and predilections. Varied yet displaying a level of thematic and emotional cohesion befitting an anthology. With remarkable ease, these skilled writers in a few choice words conjure up a whole new world that quickly immerses the reader and before they know it they are involved and invested in the lives of these characters. Social, economic, and emotional problems are the individual circumstances of characters and protagonists affecting them all but differently; victims and conspirators alike. And while politics and religion occupy a place, it is not a focal one but merely experiential and situational, varying contextually. Brief vignettes and abstract ruminations are offered instead of starkly articulated opinions. The prose possesses the musical and melancholy quality distinct to Urdu carried through the translation. Translators, both experienced and first-timers, bring a vast spectrum of learning and experience that helps them capture subtle nuances even in another language thanks to their commitment; thus minimising loss in translation. Contributors; writers and translators alike also have a section devoted to their brief yet fascinating biographies.
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