Title: Urdu ki Prasiddha Kahaniyaan
Genre: Short Stories
Author: Multiple Authors (mentioned below)
Publisher: Rekhta Books
Price: MRP Rs 199/- (Usual discount 10- 20%)
Click here to buy on amazon.
Whenever I attempt to read quotes, Shayari, stories related to Urdu, I am quite often reminded of a quote by Kushwant Singh who once said, “Agar aap Urdu seekhna chahte hain to ishq kar lijiye Aur agar ishq karna chahte hai to urdu seekh lijiye”. Till you decide whether you want to learn Urdu first or go searching for love first, I think I’ll complete my review.
I got this book at a book fair organised by Sahitya Akademi, Delhi inside its premises. Book Fair is the place where I usually feel lost among the stacks of books as I fail to decide what to buy and what not. Despite this, I prefer to visit such fairs to lose myself among the herd of books, to hold and feel them. While exploring the books in the stalls set up by different publication houses, I came across this book placed placidly on the corner of the shelf. Tempted partly by the cover and partly by the quote I mentioned above, I decided to go for it. On enquiring, I found that they’re giving a 25% discount too.
It’s a collection of ten short stories written in Urdu, all by popular authors such as Premchand, Manto, Ismat, Intezar Hussain and others. I’ve included a picture of the content below.
If you’re not acquainted with the popular Urdu words, the book will be slightly difficult to go through, if you’re expecting a smooth reading. However, footnotes have been provided to help you with Urdu words wherever you feel stuck. This might break the flow of your reading for a while but I think that’s the actual purpose of reading it. You’ll get to know the Urdu words, their meaning and their usage in the sentence. Moreover, you can note down these words so that you can use them in your writing in order to add beauty to them. Isn’t it a good way of language acquisition?
Now coming to the stories, most of the stories deal with the intricate portrayal and the earthly description of rural areas, their way of living, sufferings and widespread poverty. Some of the stories are humorous too, which satirizes the hypocrisy prevalent in society. The stories vary in length, the minimum being five pages to a maximum of thirty-five. There is no need to follow the chronology. One can pick any story of one’s interest.
All the stories are written in such a way that you can feel, think and reflect upon them. One can grab a copy to adore their shelves.
– Shashank
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