Saturday, April 26, 2014

Gulzar's "Half a Rupee"

"Half a Rupee" is a collection of 25 short stories in Hindi written by Gulzar and translated into English by Sunjoy Shekhar. Gulzar writes simple stories that record day to day experiences of common men. As the writing is beautiful, the reader immediately warms up to the stories and starts sympathizing with the characters' plights. Gulzar takes the stories to a certain course and lulls the readers only to give them a jolt at the end. The denouement is so forceful and satisfying to the reader. Gulzar's exploration of human life and its vagaries in simple manner makes him the master of the genre. The translation has managed to capture the poetic flow of the stories. A must-read book. Strongly recommended!

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