Book Review 60: Land Lust by Joginder Paul.

Joginder Paul's Land Lust is a collection of twelve short stories in English, translation of Dharti Ka Kaal, originally written in Urdu. Beautifully narrated, each tale is about the hardship, poverty, racism faced by the people of Kenya. The author has brilliantly portrayed the harsh reality prevalent in society.

The book begins with the story 'Miracle' (translation of 'Mojaza'), in which we come across young Kenyan boys forced to jump into a dangerous lake to pick up coins thrown by foreign tourists, just for their amusement. The boys put their lives in danger to retrieve the coins which are not of any value to the tourists, but for them, it is a lot of money.  All the stories are equally beautiful and do not fail to strike a chord with the readers.  Another brilliant piece is 'When Life Dies'. In this tale, the protagonist Jagore is an enthusiastic and well-meaning African employee - becomes a victim of institutional racism when he is abruptly fired from his job. The stories in this collection unravel the sensitivity of the author to the incipient racism and the operative colonial hierarchies, as also the tussle between nature and development.

The book is an absolute masterpiece. Often, in translated texts, the essence of the original text is lost. However, this is not the case in this book. The translation was just as good as reading the original Urdu version. The lucid language and crisp narration make it an interesting read. 

Absolutely recommending this beautiful book!

About the author: Joginder Paul (1925-2016) was born in Sialkot (now in Pakistan). His first story was published in the well-known Urdu journal Saqi in 1945 while his first book of short stories in Urdu, Dharti ka Kaal, was published in 1962. The Partition of the country resulted in his migration to Ambala as a refugee. His marriage led to another migration – to Kenya, where he taught English, throughout expressing in his stories the angst of being in exile. Back in India in 1965, he was principal of a college in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, for another fourteen years before coming to settle in Delhi for full-time writing. Joginder Paul published over 13 collections of short stories, including Khula, Khodu Baba ka Maqbara and Bastian. Amongst his novels are Ek Boond Lahoo Ki, Nadeed, Paar Pare and Khwabro. He published four collections of flash fiction (afsaanche), a genre with which he is known to have enriched Urdu fiction significantly. A number of his novels and short stories have been translated into Hindi, English and other languages in India and abroad. In English, his fiction has been published by National Book Trust, Penguin India, Katha, and Harper Collins. Paul is a recipient of many important literary honours – including the SAARC Lifetime Award, Iqbal Samman, Urdu Academy Award, All India Bahadur Shah Zafar Award, Shiromani Award, and Ghalib Award. He was also honoured at Qatar with an international award for contributing to creative writing in Urdu. His fiction has received a lot of critical acclaims, and many Urdu journals in India and Pakistan have published special issues on him. His fiction has been translated into many languages in India and abroad. Land Lust is a translation of Dharti ka Kaal, Joginder Paul’s first collection of short stories in Urdu.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars.

Publisher: Niyogi Books.

First Published: February 2019

Pages: 144

Price: ₹350/-

Buy this book from Amazon.

Thanks to the publisher, Niyogi Books, for the review copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.