Different Worlds, Universal Problems

Katha has been consistently bringing the latest in Indian fiction. Katha Prize Stories Volume 7, consisting of the pick of short stories published in '96-97 in a regional language journal, carries this tradition forward.

The short stories have been nominated and translated by the best in these fields. Several awards are given to people associated with each story Katha Award for creative fiction (as opposed to non-creative fiction), Katha Award for translation and so on.

This collection contains 16 stories written in 12 languages. Each story describes a different world, yet speaks of something universal. They draw heavily from immediate surroundings for both the setting and the imagery, which gives them a very Indian flavour. At the same time, they present a view of what lies beyond the apparent. They are like excerpts from life, magnified to allow the intricacies to come through. Together, the kaleidoscopic view of these worlds bring home the concept we know as India.

 

Several stories in this collection centre around Indian women: Women vis-a-vis society and man-woman relationship.

The Fifth One, The Descent, The Lies My Mother Told Me and The Bet particularly delve into what marriage means to a woman, though the authors are not all women. They feel the institution, as it exists in the traditional middle-class sense, is unjust to women. The fact that people (here, specifically women) have to spend their lives with someone they did not even know before marriage is seen to crush their individuality and their dreams all tied down in the knot. An undercurrent of anger runs through these stories, whether they use the abstruse (The Fifth One) or the mundane, like the description of a train journey (The Descent). A Memory Called Ammacchi brings out this essential conflict between a woman and society by playing on the strength of character.

The Season of Fever deals with man-woman relationship within this institution and the complexity of strains put on it by the exigencies of environment. It frequently refers to superstitions prevalent in orthodox Muslim households. The Whale speaks of the protagonist and his relationship with his sister-in-law. It uses a mix of imagery and plain narrative, making it an intense read.

Topi, The Broker and The Journey speak of a more general relationship set people with people and with society as a whole. They also draw from the immediate environment, and, therefore, the society they speak of tends to be region-specific and has its myopic qualities. Topi analyses the small town psyche, probably in Bihar, and its narrative, though amusing, is bitterly true. The other two stories look within and discover an innate goodness in people that is reflected in simple acts of kindness and concern for others.

The Sky Within Sight and Co Travellers, written of troubled areas (Sri Lanka and the Northeast, respectively) reflect on the misery caused by man-made destruction war, terrorism, etc. The Sky Within Sight plays with emotion and has a tragic end, while Co Travellers uses metaphors and imagery and is reflective throughout.

Aa Behn Fatima and Mohdi speak about urban life and reflect on change. The first story is about changing values and the generation gap, the other asks what roots mean to an individual.

Sisters and Sheesha Ghat stand out in the collection. Sisters, originally in English, is written in the colloquial, complete without punctuation in dialogues. This, along with a powerful description, gives it a visual quality that livens up the narrative. Sheesha Ghat almost speaks in metaphors and carries a vagueness about it that is difficult to comprehend or concretise.

The translations, on the whole, seem to have done justice to the original works. They keep the untranslatable untranslated, retaining the storys original flavour.

However, the books price leaves an impression that it is aimed at the elite and is selling what the boutiques, which have propped up in big cities, sell -- the ethnic; especially so when there are other magazines, like Indian Literature, that are much cheaper but are of comparable quality.

But then, Katha offers a window to the contemporary literature scene in the country, and peeping, which has always been tempting, here actually proves exciting.