
Syed Waliuliah’s Chander Amabasya (1964), rendered by Afia Dii as Night of No Moon, narrates the story of a young man whose world of innocent dreams collapses when he is forced to enter the world of experience. Arif Ali, a young man of twenty-four, has come from a village to work in a primary school in a small mofussil town. One dark night he stumbles upon the dead body of a murdered woman. His romantic idealism and his love of life keep him from acknowledging stark reality and he even thinks of forgiving the murderer whom he knows.
The poems in Time of my Life are about desh, motherhood and personal emotions. Imagination and poetic images turn the writer’s private spaces into interpretive verses. Her poems are subjective and discuss the challenges of a South Asian woman, a mother and a politically conscious citizen. Written in free verse with flexible punctuations, the poems reflect Rubana’s own space, which often crosses borders, puts clocks to shame, and tempts reality
A much-longed daughter is born with hair the colour of sunlight on the river. The shock of Daria’s silvery hair makes the midwife wet herself in the birthing room — an omen for the village gossip. The impropriety surrounding Daria’s birth travels round the village of Gulab Ganga, as the neighbours and relatives speculate what the future has in store for such a girl. Daria grows up affected by the rumours that circulate around the village each and every time she does anything atypical of a girl of her background.
From the Gangetic plains to the Karakoram Heights is volume I of Maidu1-Haq’s memoirs, Unknown, Unhonoured and Unsung. It recounts his early schooling at Delhi, his engineering studies at the Bengal College of Engineering, Shibpur, his military training at the Indian Military Academy, his experiences during his various postings as a soldier in the Pakistan Army.
Shahid Suhrawardy (1890-1965) was a man for all seasons: poet, translator, art critic, theatrical producer, academic, public servant, diplomat, man about town and bon vivant. This volume brings together for the first time his entire poetic output — two collections of his own poetry and one of his collaborative translations from Chinese. Beginning as a poet in the Edwardian manner, he quickly metamorphosed first a modern poet. He is the first modern poet of the South Asian subcontinent, and indeed one of the first generation of modern poets in the English language.
Tree Without Roots is the English translation/transcreation of Syed Waliullah’s classic novel Lal Shalu. With no land or skills to support himself otherwise, Majeed preys upon the simple rural folk by exploiting religion, becoming the self-appointed guardian of a mazar, which he claims is that of a saint. Not satisfied with his first wife, he marries again, this time a woman who is not as amenable as his loving first wife.