60 “Best” Books from India
To celebrate the Indian Independence day, Hindustan Times has published a rather interesting list of 60 best books from India. From the list, my favourites are:
Aag Ka Dariya:Qurratulain Hyder’s generation was divided by Partition. But she refused to make an irrevocable choice and instead found home in both India and Pakistan. In this magnum opus spanning centuries, she narrates the tragedy of being forced into such a choice.
Train to Pakistan: in a far cry from his usual lighthearted and witty style, Khushwant Singh somberly etches out the agony of a village brutally torn apart at independence.
Rasidi Ticket:this autobiography of the popular Punjabi poetess Amrita Pritam created controversy when it came out, which was predictable given her unconventional life lived very much in the public eye.
English August:Upamanyu Chatterjee’s fresh and quirky take on the dilemmas of a young civil servant who finds himself ill at ease in small town India.
God of Small Things:mix a fractured family from southern India and a gifted author. Result: a Booker-winning gem from Arundhati Roy.
Golden Gate:690 wonderful sonnets describing the life, love and times of San Francisco’s young professionals by Vikram Seth.
Tamas:this powerful Bhisham Sahni novel captured the country’s imagination when Govind Nihalini turned it into an equally forceful telefilm. Sahni drew upon his experiences as a relief worker during Partition to write this anti-communalist saga.
Terhi Lakeer:Ismat Chugtai’s magnum opus centres on the rebellious affirmation of female desire: “A woman’s heart has so many chambers, a mother’s love residing in one, love for her husband in another, for her beloved in a third. Then Shaman tried to peep into her own heart.â€
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My most beloved is The God of Small Things. I remember reading Tehri Lakeer when I was a child. I went through the same feelings as the protagonist when I entered the college.
Comment by Mayank Austen Soofi — August 16, 2007 @ 6:53 am
God of Small Things felt like… How do I describe it?…
A Collage. Dabbling of an imaginative mind. It felt like a uneasy dream I wouldn’t like the to repeat. It was very violet. Pricking.
I read Train to Pakistan. The vivid picture of the violence was touching.
Comment by Manas Shaikh — August 17, 2007 @ 1:15 pm
God of Small Things felt like… How do I describe it?…
A Collage. Dabbling of an imaginative mind. It felt like a uneasy dream I wouldn’t like the to repeat. It was very violet. Pricking.
I read Train to Pakistan. The vivid picture of the violence was touching.
Others I have not read.
Why don’t you tell us your pick of Pakistani literature?
Comment by Manas Shaikh — August 17, 2007 @ 1:16 pm
English August was quite a disappointment; God of Small Things was an interesting readf, as was Tamas. As for Golden Gate, that was really Seth’s swan song; all those that followed were such a let down! The others you’ve mentioned I haven’t read but now I will. Was “azaadi’ by Nahal one of the sixty mentioned? I rquite liked that novel.
Comment by I Me My — August 17, 2007 @ 6:20 pm
Mayank: I agree- God of Small Things is sheer poetry..
Manas: thanks for the comments; I will also post the best of Pakistani literature!
Id: English August was no great shakes but it had its moments ( I read it at a time when I related it to the most:)). Golden Gate is arguably the best of Seth. No, Azadi was not mentioned in the list. thanks for visiting
cheers:)
Comment by RR — August 17, 2007 @ 6:59 pm
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