By Nanak Singh. Translated from the original Punjabi by Navdeep Suri

Satnam’s ideals are also shaken and tested by his response to the brutal reality he confronts almost daily and the tragic story of the young refugee Krishna and her old Babaji who have lost everyone in the carnage which erupted in Punjab in March 1947. Ironically however, it is Krishna’s views on communal amity and the teachings of the Tenth Guru to ‘recognize all of humanity as a single creed of mankind’, which pull him back from the path of retribution and vengeance.


Reviewed by: Ranjana Kaul
By Harekrishna Deka. Translated from the original Assamese by Navamalati Neog Chakraborty

In a similar vein, the text also serves to convey a merger of the canonical and kitsch: ‘My acquiescence to the belief of these innocent people in the hands of a divinity sending this book for their spiritual solace, got a rude jolt. What the priest believed to be a religious book was in fact a book of pornography!’ (p. 47; translator’s italics). By enacting such reversals, the novel emerges as a specimen of the postmodern critical enterprise that seeks to uncover the ways in which artefacts acquire cultural underpinnings.


Reviewed by: Ajitabh Hazarika
By Sandhya Mary. Translated from the original Malayalam by Jayasree Kalathil

The brilliant presentation of contemporary life through anecdotes, especially, the one that narrates the incident of the madamma (white/foreign woman) who took a dog on rent for a week (pp. 197-198), are noteworthy for their wry humour and earthy witticism. Also satirical is the recounting of the event of the prophesying Mathiri Valyammachi (great-grandmother) who after having learnt the letters begins


Reviewed by: Annie Kuriachan
Edited and introduced by Haris Qadeer

Qadeer delves into the complexities of labour pain and pregnancy which mostly go unannounced, through Jeelani Bano’s ‘A Day in the Labour Room’, translated from the Urdu by Zakia Mashhadi. The story explores the intricacies of external authority over a woman’s body, which is subject to experiment and surgery, sometimes beyond the purview of her consent. The modern technology of advanced medical imaging has rendered the inner corridors of a woman’s body naked to investigative eyes.


Reviewed by: Shrishti Dey, Sree Lekshmi MS, Aratrika Das
By Pradeep Sebastian

We couldn’t linger. ‘There’s so much more to see,’ urged Pradeep as he led me away. ‘Let’s meet Potty’, he said, with what I thought was a mischievous smile. The captivating aroma of really old books wafted around the corner…and there sat Solomon Pottesman, alias Potty surrounded by mountains of lovely antique books. ‘I am an incunabulist’, read the legend on the back of his chair.


Reviewed by: Malini Seshadri
By Shubnum Khan

The novel uses the classic archetypal Gothic trope of an abandoned and deteriorating establishment inhabited by a paranormal entity. Of particular interest is Khan’s portrayal of Sana’s twin sister who is dead but continues to haunt the protagonist throughout the story. Further, Khan presents a poignantly eerie tale of Sana and her evil-spirited sister being born with conjoined hips and how the latter dies after the operation that attempts to separate the two. With efficacy, Khan renders Sana’s recalling of this moment as she lies unconscious on the operation table with her dead sister in the lines:


Reviewed by: Maneesha Sarda