Book Recommendation: The Greatest Kashmiri Stories Ever Told

Posted On February 5, 2023

Hello Readers! I had very strong coffee at 10 PM, which is why I am writing this review at 2.30 AM. I think my best writing happens after midnight. But, you be the judge of that depending on if you find this review coherent enough to make you pick this as your next read!

Well, I have been seeing Aleph’s Greatest Stories Ever Told books all over Bookstagram since a long time. I also wanted to read these books since then. Last year, I bought the Kashmir, Assam and Hindi Stories. I picked Kashmiri Stories first because it was the shortest and I had little to no idea what I was getting into. I must say, it was a rewarding experience reading this book!

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~

The Greatest Kashmiri Stories Ever Told spans almost a century of work by some of the finest writers of short fiction in the language. The storytellers included here range from the earliest practitioners of the craft of short story writing—Dinanath Nadim, Somnath Zutshi, Ali Mohammad Lone—to more contemporary writers like Dheeba Nazir.

Some stories in this collection are realistic dramas that hold up a startlingly clear mirror to society, such as Sofi Ghulam Mohammad’s ‘Paper Tigers’, or lay bare the pain of losing one’s homeland, as Rattan Lal Shant does in ‘Moss Floating on Water’. Then there are others like Ghulam Nabi Shakir’s ‘Unquenched Thirst’ and Umesh Kaul’s ‘The Heart’s Bondage’, that look beyond the exterior and focus on the complex inner lives of the women of Kashmir.

Selected and translated by Neerja Mattoo, the twenty-five stories in this volume, all born out of the Kashmiri experience, will resonate with readers everywhere.

~~THOUGHTS~~

When you think about a book titled ‘The Greatest Kashmiri Stories Ever Told’, you certainly form your own preconceived notions of what it might be about. You would think it will be about India & Pakistan. You would think about religion. You would think about the lives of Kashmiris. You would also think about the Army and war and death and loss. I thought of all these things as well. And yet, this book has decided to be so much more than that.

The Greatest Kashmiri Stories Ever Told is a collection of 25 short stories. Yes, a few of the stories highlight all the above topics in some way or the other, but because they are in the form of a story, the impact is so much deeper. Yes, there are sons and fathers and brothers fighting but the message is somehow between the lines as well as beyond the pages. Because, these might be the stories where we connect with Gula or Shahmal or Pedro or Mehar, but these are also so painfully real. So, reading those kinds of stories will really have you taking a moment and staring at the wall for a few minutes to absorb the amalgamation of literature and literal world. Some of these are The Boy is Guilty, Reply-paid Card, When the Light Dawned, Moss Swimming on the Water and The Enemy.

And then there are other kind of stories, that are quite relatable whether you are Kashmiri or not, like Human Heart, To Slavery Born and Paper Tigers. Some are fables which really take you into another world, like Man is of a Strange Breed and In the Terrifying Bosom of the Black Night. Some are just 4-page short stories, like The Generous Chinar, Anguish and The Trap, but leave you unpacking them for much longer. Some are subtle in their life lessons, like The Cockfight, The Strange Mohalla, The Beggars at the Dargah, Some Tableaux, Some Snaps and The Search, while others like The Road to Immortality and Whose Turn Now? are quite direct in what they want to convey. Some like The Stranger Beside Me really made me feel warm, muck like Murakami-esque writing style. Some simply portray unappealing yet realistic kind of human nature, like Radhakrishna’s Cat, The Mourners, Unquenched Thirst and The Call. No matter what your reading preferences are, I am sure you will enjoy most of the stories in this book.

I read this book over a period of 2 to 3 weeks and loved reading most of the stories. Almost all of them are 4 or 5 stars. I have rated The Greatest Kashmiri Stories Ever Told selected and translated by Neerja Mattoo at 4/5 stars!

Until next time,