Author: K S Duggal
Publisher: Abhinav Publications
Year: 1991
Language: English
Pages: 312
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8170172829
Description
Birth of a Song is a collection of 50 short stories by K S Duggal, one of the leading fiction writers in India today. This is the author's third collection of short fiction in English. His earlier works were: Come Back My Master (Vikas), and Death of a Song (Arnold-Heinemann). K S Duggal's short story entitled Come Back My Master figures in the World's Greatest Short Stories.
These stories written originally in Punjabi, the author's mother tongue, have mostly been translated into English by the author himself. He has over 500 stories in 21 collections in the original. They reflect the prevailing milieu in the resurgent India, torn with internal conflicts and external pressures whether it is Punjab in turmoil or the rest of the country blown off its feet by the severe westerly winds. A master craftsman, every story in the collection has a moment of truth, a moment of aesthetic pleasure. It helps the reader to know the whatness of things before the effects fades away in the quiet. It is a genre close to Mr Duggal's heartbeat, ingesting both poetry and drama. The stories reflect an inventive strain that is remarkable.
Contents
The taxi driver
The pilgrimage
Ahimsa
The women's lib
Mummy, when will this father die
Pakistan is not yet born
Shama
Wanted a man
Nobody sleeps tonight
Agony and ecstasy
Live without him
Master shudda
When the drums beat
The damned
Running away from it
The gift of the guru
Nasibo returned to her village
Punjab singh
The letter will never come
What is a hindu
The flower of the night
Work and wages
Half shut door
A wall of darkness
Prices remain the same
Rukko
What is life
The lonely traveller
Where should manjira now go
The fan
What should mary do now
Live sex on the stage
A beam of moonlight
Husband must beat
How make ends meet
The slap
Sordid moments
Manglo
An evening at the fair
First and last letter
Echoes and re-echoes
All alone
A study in boredom
Gherao
Meghdoot
Repeat performance
Wanted an exorcist
Mundu
The sins of her father
Pakistan zindabad
Birth of a song
Afterword