The Complete Short Stories

Ganges and feeding the poor constitute essential components of this ceremonypitambarlit., yellow garment; used as another name of the Hindu gods Krishna and Vishnu because of their yellow clothingpitra-pakshawhen rites are performed in honour of ancestorspooranmasifull moonPooswinter month in the Hindu calendar corresponding to December–Januaryprakritiraw naturepurohitHindu priestpurushmanqurbaniritual sacrifice of animals during EidRaghubansaa variation of Raghubansam, a play by KalidasaRathyatraHindu festival celebrating the life of Lord Ramarukhsatisend-off of the bride from her parents’ house to her husband’s; bringing a wife to her husband’s house when she hits pubertySafedavariety of mangosamdhifather of a son-in-law or daughter-in-law; fem: samdhansandhyaritual of worship and meditation performed three times a day by Hindus of the higher castessanjivanilit. life-giving; the herb used to revive Lakshman when he fell unconscious in the Ramayanasankrantithe day when the sun enters a new zodiac signsanyasrenunciationsanskargood upbringingsaraiinnSaraswatithe goddess of learningsattugram powderSatyanarayan kathareligious ritual recounting the story of the acts of kindness of a particular deity, Satyanarayan, representing a form of Lord Vishnusatyugthe era of justicesaubhagyawatistatus of being married and having a husbandsautco-wifesejgarhiwagon often used for carrying small childrensendhbreak-insermeasure of weight, approximately one kilogramsethaniwife of a sethsewaiyaansweets; Indian vermicellishaligramsacred stone representing Lord VishnushastrasHindu holy booksshehnaimusical instrument played during weddings and other occasionsshodashi(n)a girl of sixteen years, funeral ritualshradhin Hinduism, it is the ritual one performs to pay homage to ancestors, especially to dead parentsshuddhipurification; part of worship in Hinduism; also refers to conversion to Hinduismsipahisoldier; constablesomwari amavasnight of the new moon that falls on a Mondaysuhaagauspicious state of being marriedsurmakohlswangdramatic performance; jest, farcetaatsackclothtehsildaradministrative officer in charge of a tehsil, i.e., subdivision.talukdarholder of a taluk, i.e., land estate; zamindartam-tamone-horse carriage, meant to seat two people in front and two in the reartanzebmuslintapasvinifemale ascetictapasyaasceticismtasmairoasted vermicelli cooked in milkTeejfestival where married women keep fasts for the long lives of their husbandsthakurainwife of a thakurtibbiGreek system of medicineTiwarisub-caste of Brahmins in north Indiaudan khatolaflying saucervakulaMimusops elengi; tree with rich foliagevar rakshaengagementvilayatthe West; Europewah-wahbravo!yagyopobitritual pertaining to sacred thread

Acknowledgements

An extensive project that has gone on for more than a dozen years owes its completion to many. I thank all my colleagues and students in the Department of English, Jamia Millia Islamia, who participated enthusiastically in the project and were co-travellers with me in this long journey. Thanks are also due to Professor Sabiha A. Zaidi, director, Jamia’s Premchand Archives and Literary Centre, who placed the entire holding of the archives at my disposal and lent me some very valuable books. Shazia Alvi and Umaima at Zakir Husain library, Jamia Millia Islamia, were particularly helpful in tracking rare journals, newspapers and manuscripts. I would also like to place on record my thanks to the staff members of the Sahitya Akademi library and the Nehru Memorial Museum library for their help. Moazzam Sheikh, librarian at San Francisco public library, gave me important information about the holdings of Urdu journals in Pakistan and the USA.

Among the experts associated with the project, I recall with gratitude the advice given me by Professor Alok Bhalla and Professor Malasri Lal. Several writers-in-residence at Jamia interacted with the translators and advised them. Some of them also translated a couple of Premchand stories at my request. I would like to specially mention Anjum Hasan, Robert Rosenberg, Farzana Doctor, Annie Zaidi, Lakshmi Holmström and Mini Krishnan. The editorial team at Penguin led by Ambar Sahil Chatterjee and consisting of Arpita, Paloma, Shreya and Shanuj is thanked for its patience, rigour and painstaking attention to detail. And finally, a big ‘thank you’ to my ardent foot soldiers—Shailendra, Sarfaraz, Kalyanee, Sarah and Naseeb—who helped me in reading the proofs most diligently and meeting the punishing deadline that Penguin Books had set for me.

Note on Translators

A. Naseeb Khan holds an MPhil and a PhD in translation studies. His publications include Rip Not the Sore, a collection of poetry. The Evolution of Ghalib includes his translation of Ghalib’s Urdu poetry. He teaches at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

Abbasuddin Tapadar is associate professor of English at Shyam Lal College, Delhi University.

Adeel Mehdi teaches English at Jamia Millia Islamia.

Afroz Taj is professor of South Asian studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA. His published works include The Court of Indar and the Rebirth of Indian Drama (2007).

Alpana Neogy is former assistant professor of English at Ram Lal Anand College. She has worked on the effects of Partition and the notions of identity in regional and Indian English literature.

Anand Prakash was associate professor of English at Hansraj College, Delhi University.

Anindya Das has done his MPhil from Jamia Millia Islamia.

Anirudh Karnick is a doctoral candidate in comparative literature at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. At present, he is translating Prashant Bagad’s short fiction into Hindi and English.

Anjum Hasan is the author of the novels The Cosmopolitans, Neti, Neti and Lunatic in My Head. She has also published a collection of stories, Difficult Pleasures, and a book of poems, Street on the Hill. Her books have been nominated for various awards.

Annie Zaidi is the author of Known Turf: Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales, and several novels and collections of short stories. She has also edited Unbound: 2,000 Years of Indian Women’s Writing, and Equal Halves. She is also a film-maker.

Anuradha Ghosh teaches in the Department of English at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Her specialization is in the area of literature, cinema and culture studies. Presently, she is working on an Indian Council of Social Science Research project on the Muslim question in Bengali and Malayalam cinema.

Asmat Jahan teaches in the Department of English at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She translates from Hindi and Urdu into English. Her papers have appeared in Prison Writing in India (2014), and Looking Back: The 1947 Partition of India, 70 Years On (2017).

Ayesha Abrar is an MPhil student in English at Jamia Millia Islamia.

Baran Farooqi is a critic and a translator. She is a professor of English at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Her latest publication is a collection of Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s poetry in English titled The Colours of My Heart (2017).

Bharti