The Monkey's Wound: Hajra Masroor

Urdu Fiction Short Stories

Read it!

This I believe was recommended in the paper and I was lucky enough to find it in the bookstore. With such an eye-catching title, I had to indulge.

Urdu literature has it's own unique flavor the same way that other areas do. I know I repeat this a lot, but it's something that continually tickles my fancy. The Monkey's Wound is a collection of short stories from Urdu Literature. This is the first work from Hajra Masroor I've read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

The stories are women-centric. They are relateable to most women (I feel) and portray an average life that can be stretched in a few different ways to include a lot of people. I won't go into each short story, but there is an art to developing a collection of stories. Tahira Naqvi has done a wonderful job translating this work and I'm not sure who decided what would go into this collection of stories, but they fit together beautifully. It's not a short book, but well worth the time investment.

Read it!

~Becky~

The Paradise of Food - Khalid Jawed

Fiction

Verdict: Read it!

My forays into Urdu works thus far have largely been restricted to poetry. While this is delightful to indulge in, I feel I largely miss the important things. Delving into Urdu literature has been an interesting exercise and I look forward to exploring if other Urdu novels have the same flavor - because this one is odd.

I must say, the introduction to the book had me both hooked a little apprehensive about reading it because the person writing the introduction pointed out the author's obsession with tying together the kitchen, eating, and horror at the human condition. It sounded like the perfect formula for a quiet psychological horror fest. And that's exactly what I got. 

I'm not saying I didn't like the novel - on the other side, I quite did - but man was it a trip to read. The timeline begins with a classic hook of the author being dead. He goes back to his childhood home and gets metiphorically stuck in the mud as a ghost. We then move on to look back through his life. Most of the book is dedicated to his childhood and there are some left hooks that you may not expect. I won't give them away. There are many odd, obsessive themes that the main character has as a child as well that I would love to get to understand how they originated. The author was so smooht on this I can't understand if it's intentional as a main charachter trait, or if the author himself is similarly obsessed. It's worth reading more Khalid Jawed books if they exist. 

I would definitely recommend reading this novel just from the curiosity point of view. There are so many themes to explore and I found myself contemplating this book long after I was done with it.

Read it!

~Becky~

Firaq Gorakhpuri - The Poet of Pain and Ecstasy: Ajai Mansingh

Non-Fiction

Verdict: Maybe if you have an interest in poets or Urdu

I bought this books because 1: the cover is pretty, and 2: because I thought it was poetry and I'm trying to expand my understanding of poetry. It turned out not to be poetry per say, but a biography. 

The author is a relative of Firaq Gorkahpuri, and he makes it very clear from the beginning that he wishes to clear up misconceptions of the poet. Some of this he does, some of this he reinforces, so it's a little odd. 

Overall, the man behind the poetry struck me as a simple man. Fussy, flawed and normal as any other man. I was particularly unimpressed with his obsession with how he was fooled into marrying a sub-optimal woman in his words. 

It was interesting, as most biographies are, to watch the progress of someone's life and to understand how they ended up how they did. In spite of this not being a poetry book, there's quite a bit of poetry in this book to illustrate the poets mindset. I very, very much liked his poetry. I found myself spending way too much time translating in my head. I wasn't particularly impressed with the translations given, but that may just be a result of my not understanding Hindi/Urdu as well as I wish. 

The book was quite a bit longer than it needed to be, and often circled back to the same content.

Read it if you enjoy Urdu poetry or want to understand about Firaq Gorakhpuri.

~Becky~

Essential Rumi

Poetry
Verdict: Read it

Ah Rumi. You and your poety friends continue to elude me. I'll be honest here. I picked up Rumi because I saw a lot of nice Pinterest quotes and I was hoping to cultivate an appreciation and understanding of poetry - especially that of the Urdu variety.

Unfortunately, I did not have any more luck with Rumi than I did with Neruda, Ghalib, etc. This is not to say it wasn't worth reading, nor that it was poorly written. I just felt like I didn't get it.

What I very much did appreciate was the historical and cultural context this book shared with me in regards to Urdu poetry. It was all at once fascinating and terrible to read - I wondered if I was even qualified to understand the explanation, leave alone the poetry.

In the end it was beautiful to read and I will continue my exploration. Hopefully with time and some handy guides to poetry, I should be able to have a better grasp on this type of thing.

Becky

Do You Suppose it's the East Wind - Muhammad Umar Memon

This book is a collection of stories that started in Urdu - a language that is a mix of Hindi and Arabic and used by the Muslim world across India. Urdu has it's own colloquialisms and culture that I was fascinated to explore.

I don't know if I walked away with an increased understanding of either one, but it was still an interesting collection of stories.

Verdict: Read it.