Middle India: Selected Short Stories

A new translation of stories by one of the best modern Hindi writers In this collection of seventeen short stories, Bhisham Sahni examines middle India–the lower middle class–not rich or famous or educated in convent schools, not cosmopolitan but urban or semi-urban. In these tightly told tales, he explores with precision of thought and expression the humanity of individuals and their places in society. The collection includes some of Sahni’s best known stories: ‘Dinner for the Boss’, a tragi-comic tale of a man trying to please his employer and a mother’s attempt to please her son; ‘Paali’, the drama of a young boy shared between a Muslim and a Hindu family during Partition; and ‘Sparrow’, a story of love and loss in a marriage. Among the other stories in this anthology are popular favourites like ‘Veero’, ‘The Witch’, ‘Before Dying’, ‘Radha-Anuradha’ and ‘Salma Aapa’. The author, Bhisham Sahni, is a well known novelist and was recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Tamas in 1976. He lives in New Delhi.