A language of the people | Review of ‘Urdu: The Best Stories of Our Times’, edited by Rakhshanda Jalil

Discover contemporary Urdu fiction through diverse stories that challenge stereotypes and offer fresh perspectives on societal issues in anthology Urdu: The Best Stories of Our Times, edited by Rakhshanda Jalil.

In Urdu: The Best Stories of Our Times, edited and translated by Rakhshanda Jalil, we find stories from contemporary writers of Urdu fiction, on wide-ranging themes and tones, presenting a kaleidoscopic view of topical stories in the current literary landscape.

Jalil mentions in the detailed introduction to the book that she was keen to keep the focus on modern writing, from the 1990s, and hence the decision to omit the work of stalwarts of Urdu literature, Manto, Chugtai, Rajinder Singh Bedi and Krishan Chander. Also pointing to the widespread reach of the language, she writes, “Urdu belongs neither to a single state or a single community — it is a language of the people, by the people, for the people. It is ready to belong to whoever is willing to step forward and claim it.”

The stories included in the anthology challenge the perception that Urdu fiction revolves only around Muslims or Islam, or Sufism and the aura of romance associated with the language. This slim book of 14 stories brings to the reader narratives on varied themes — the desperate palate of people from marginalised and oppressed communities; disturbances that travellers face in public transportation; a promise in an ancient manuscript that foretells a view of the divine; a surreal post-modern world where the bodily functions of humans have ceased to exist; a youthful scheme to make money that ends in an unexpected tragedy — themes that take readers through multiple landscapes of fear and longing, greed and violence, oppression and othering. However, even though the stories court different subjects, their heart points to the desperate quest for survival in an unequal world, where differences are marked through caste, economic status, religion, regions, and even food.  

The opening story by Surendra Prakash titled ‘Scarecrow’ borrows Hori, the protagonist of Premchand’s Godan, to portray how hardworking people may be conned out of their rewards by the very entities they repose their trust in. Qurratulain Hyder’s ‘The Halfway View’, a three-sided love story told through the watchful gaze of the maid, closes with a startling disclosure.  An overcrowded bus and a stalled train become the vehicles in the stories ‘Suffocation’ by Khurshid Akram and ‘The Halted Train’ by Abdus Samad, revealing how the behaviour of a group of people can change swiftly when they are pushed into uncertain situations.

Even though the theme of communal disturbance finds place in many stories in the collection, the perspectives of presenting it offer a fresh look at the many layers to this simmering issue. In ‘The Vultures of Doongerwadi’, author Ali Imam Naqvi depicts how the corpse bearers at the Parsi Tower of Silence are perplexed by the absence of vultures that should have arrived to feast on the bodies of the dead. But if the birds can get a feast on the roads of the city, why would they come to peck on one or two bodies offered at the cemetery?

In Ghazanfar’s ‘Circumcision of Khalid’, we see a little boy hiding from the barber who has arrived for the ceremony, not because he fears the blade but because he is afraid that someday he might be asked to lower his pants by armed rioters looking to draw blood. The issue is once again the hidden force in the story ‘What Happened on the Ship’ by Anwar Qamar, where we read about people hiding in the cargo hold of a ship as they attempt to flee the violence rocking their hometown. In ‘The Line’ by Tariq Ansari, we see the plurality of traditions wherein people of all religions engage in collective celebrations breaking down as lines are drawn and communities are divided and excluded.  

Jalil does not claim that the collection represents the best stories written in Urdu, rather she says her attempt has been to present a fair sampling of some of the finest voices in modern Urdu fiction. By covering a range of voices, the collection offers nuanced perspectives and fresh viewpoints and showcases the plurality of the language in depicting myriad issues in different milieus.