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Life Was Here Somewhere
- GenresShort Stories
264 pages, Paperback
Published September 20, 2023
About the author
Ajeet Cour
37 books20 followersAjeet Cour (born 1934) is a Punjabi Indian writer. She has written novels and short stories in the Punjabi language on social-realist themes such as the experience of women in relationships and their position in society. She received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1985 and the civilian honour of Padma Shri in 2006.
Ajeet Cour was born in the family of S. Makhan Singh in 1934 in Lahore. She had her early education there. After the partition, her family came to Delhi, where she earned an M.A. (Economics).
(Taken from author's wiki profile)
Ajeet Cour was born in the family of S. Makhan Singh in 1934 in Lahore. She had her early education there. After the partition, her family came to Delhi, where she earned an M.A. (Economics).
(Taken from author's wiki profile)
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 24, 2024
Rating 3.5*
Review - Life Was Here Somewhere - Stories by Ajeet Cour, translated from Punjabi by the author herself and Minoo Manocha packs 14 stories, mostly set in Delhi, villages & towns of undivided Punjab spanning in time from Partition to Punjab insurgency until recent years. In these stories, lines between fiction and facts blur as the author's personal angst, a sense of her defeat/helplessness at many things that cannot be changed come forth. If one is familiar with the author's bio, these first person narratives exude a stronger sense of intimacy.
Two stories, ‘Death Among Strangers’ and ‘A Losing Battle’ cover most of themes in the collection - incalculable losses people suffered due to Partition in the name of gaining freedom, how women had to guard their family honour with a dignified silence enduring all hardships her marital home put her through, that she should even consume poison with a smile on her face if that was her husband's wish, and then the contemporary issue - incessant land grab & continuous degradation of natural resources in name of development aided by several governments. Another subject dealt with in the collection is how no job is done without a letter of recommendation from a person in power or doling out bribes generously in this country that reeks of corruption at every step.
‘Unsought Passion’ where a victim of sexual abuse becomes its perpetrator and ‘The Kettle is Whistling’ where two women become friends over cups of tea and debate if laws can help preserve the sanctity of a marriage, are set in a working women's hostel.
A sister ponders why her dear brother who never had enemies was murdered in the first story ‘Dead-End’, quite like a little boy who wonders how his father who never harmed an insect, who poured his gentle care over a nest full of fledglings or stray kittens could be termed a terrorist and gunned down by the police in the story ‘Eyes’, both stories are powerful & fraught with tension.
Some stories felt unduly long. The translation is good, drawing neither complaints nor accolades. The author's note on ‘Why do I write ‘ at the start of the book enriches the reader's overall experience. Overall, a good collection!
Review - Life Was Here Somewhere - Stories by Ajeet Cour, translated from Punjabi by the author herself and Minoo Manocha packs 14 stories, mostly set in Delhi, villages & towns of undivided Punjab spanning in time from Partition to Punjab insurgency until recent years. In these stories, lines between fiction and facts blur as the author's personal angst, a sense of her defeat/helplessness at many things that cannot be changed come forth. If one is familiar with the author's bio, these first person narratives exude a stronger sense of intimacy.
Two stories, ‘Death Among Strangers’ and ‘A Losing Battle’ cover most of themes in the collection - incalculable losses people suffered due to Partition in the name of gaining freedom, how women had to guard their family honour with a dignified silence enduring all hardships her marital home put her through, that she should even consume poison with a smile on her face if that was her husband's wish, and then the contemporary issue - incessant land grab & continuous degradation of natural resources in name of development aided by several governments. Another subject dealt with in the collection is how no job is done without a letter of recommendation from a person in power or doling out bribes generously in this country that reeks of corruption at every step.
‘Unsought Passion’ where a victim of sexual abuse becomes its perpetrator and ‘The Kettle is Whistling’ where two women become friends over cups of tea and debate if laws can help preserve the sanctity of a marriage, are set in a working women's hostel.
A sister ponders why her dear brother who never had enemies was murdered in the first story ‘Dead-End’, quite like a little boy who wonders how his father who never harmed an insect, who poured his gentle care over a nest full of fledglings or stray kittens could be termed a terrorist and gunned down by the police in the story ‘Eyes’, both stories are powerful & fraught with tension.
Some stories felt unduly long. The translation is good, drawing neither complaints nor accolades. The author's note on ‘Why do I write ‘ at the start of the book enriches the reader's overall experience. Overall, a good collection!
December 20, 2024
India’s independence in 1947 came with its own set of political as well as social uncertainties and challenges. For the people displaced from their native places, it was a struggle to find a home in unknown places amidst strangers, a firm footing to hold. The stories in this collection by Ajeet Cour, a profound and powerful voice in Punjabi Literature, offer observation of everyday lives of common people in the wake of Partition and during the early years of settling of migrants in Delhi and Punjab. But more than accounts of struggle for their livelihoods, these are stories of interpersonal relationships, of pain, anguish, betrayal and heartbreaks.
Ajeet Cour was born in 1934 in Lahore and migrated to Delhi in 1947 after the Partition. She began writing short stories as a teenager and today is the author of twenty-two books which include novels, novellas, short stories, biographical sketches and translations. In 1986, she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for her autobiography. In 2006, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her writing and her contributions in the field of social upliftment. She is the Founder President of the Indian Council for Poverty Alleviation, and has been President, Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature. In 1977, Ajeet Cour also founded the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, a non-commercial institution in New Delhi for the promotion of the arts, literature, theatre, music and dance.
This book is a collection of fourteen short stories translated from Punjabi to English by Ajeet Cour and Minoo Minocha. In her note at the beginning of this collection, the author says:
“I write because I am a witness to the horrors of daily life, day-to-day existence of people living next door, or in Punjab or Kashmir or Assam, or in Bosnia or Chechnya or Rawanda, or anywhere else in the world, feeling my destiny entwined with theirs, living in fear, dying like flies. And I can’t look the other way. I write because I believe that those who remain silent become a part of the dark conspiracy.”
The stories comprising this collection are accounts of everyday horrors faced by common people, of the brunt of estranged and conflicted relationships bore by people even as they grappled to find and hold onto a ground in life after the suffering endured during partition. Most of these stories are women centered and carry a first person narrator. The story ‘Walking a Tightrope’ is that of a woman torn between her husband and an irresponsible son disowned by his father. The author offers a nuanced glimpse into before/after the partition in a big household. She employs the image of kitchen to demonstrate a married woman’s domain as well as her confines in a patriarchal household. ‘Death Among Strangers’ is a story of a grief stricken daughter who could not take care well for her father post Partition due to the apathy of her husband. Both stories use death as the pivot which jostles the main women characters out of their pre-determined roles of mother and wife respectively.
In some of the stories, characters navigate through the ‘babudom’ of Indian Bureaucracy. Trying to find ways to get their problems addressed, they often surrender to the system which becomes increasingly inaccessible to them. Often, the characters are irritated by the system which makes them invisible and works only at the behest of those in power. The title of such a story ‘Clerk Maharaja’, otherwise an oxymoron, denotes the high esteem accorded to a regular class government employee who carries enormous power when it comes to the movement of files from one desk to the other.
In the titular story ‘Life Was Here Somewhere’, a helpless and disgruntled narrator declares the whole country as a heap of garbage no one is interested in cleaning, and those running the country as visceral creatures feasting on the stinking pile.
The story ‘The Kettle is Whispering’ explores kinship between a single and a widowed woman whereas the story ‘Unsought Passion’ explores the ugliness of unwarranted attention. Both stories take us to the corridors of working women hostels in the early years of Delhi post independence, presenting a window to the dynamics of interactions and disagreements.
In a couple of stories the horror of terrorism is explored where the loved ones are either targeted by extremists or by the forces fighting extremism. These stories focus upon the suffering families, their anxieties and pain as they try to make sense of their loss. In ‘Dead-End’ a young woman tries to save a young wounded extremist even though she is apprehensive that he might have killed her brother.
Ajeet Cour poignantly portrays the internal and interpersonal conflicts as faced by ordinary people in the course of their everyday lives in the stories of this collection. Her writing resonates with their pain, her words capture their mindscapes bearing witness to horrifying bestiality humans are capable of and continue to exhibit in their dealings with their fellow human beings.
The review first appeared here:
https://borderlessjournal.com/2024/01...
Ajeet Cour was born in 1934 in Lahore and migrated to Delhi in 1947 after the Partition. She began writing short stories as a teenager and today is the author of twenty-two books which include novels, novellas, short stories, biographical sketches and translations. In 1986, she was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for her autobiography. In 2006, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her writing and her contributions in the field of social upliftment. She is the Founder President of the Indian Council for Poverty Alleviation, and has been President, Foundation of SAARC Writers and Literature. In 1977, Ajeet Cour also founded the Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, a non-commercial institution in New Delhi for the promotion of the arts, literature, theatre, music and dance.
This book is a collection of fourteen short stories translated from Punjabi to English by Ajeet Cour and Minoo Minocha. In her note at the beginning of this collection, the author says:
“I write because I am a witness to the horrors of daily life, day-to-day existence of people living next door, or in Punjab or Kashmir or Assam, or in Bosnia or Chechnya or Rawanda, or anywhere else in the world, feeling my destiny entwined with theirs, living in fear, dying like flies. And I can’t look the other way. I write because I believe that those who remain silent become a part of the dark conspiracy.”
The stories comprising this collection are accounts of everyday horrors faced by common people, of the brunt of estranged and conflicted relationships bore by people even as they grappled to find and hold onto a ground in life after the suffering endured during partition. Most of these stories are women centered and carry a first person narrator. The story ‘Walking a Tightrope’ is that of a woman torn between her husband and an irresponsible son disowned by his father. The author offers a nuanced glimpse into before/after the partition in a big household. She employs the image of kitchen to demonstrate a married woman’s domain as well as her confines in a patriarchal household. ‘Death Among Strangers’ is a story of a grief stricken daughter who could not take care well for her father post Partition due to the apathy of her husband. Both stories use death as the pivot which jostles the main women characters out of their pre-determined roles of mother and wife respectively.
In some of the stories, characters navigate through the ‘babudom’ of Indian Bureaucracy. Trying to find ways to get their problems addressed, they often surrender to the system which becomes increasingly inaccessible to them. Often, the characters are irritated by the system which makes them invisible and works only at the behest of those in power. The title of such a story ‘Clerk Maharaja’, otherwise an oxymoron, denotes the high esteem accorded to a regular class government employee who carries enormous power when it comes to the movement of files from one desk to the other.
In the titular story ‘Life Was Here Somewhere’, a helpless and disgruntled narrator declares the whole country as a heap of garbage no one is interested in cleaning, and those running the country as visceral creatures feasting on the stinking pile.
The story ‘The Kettle is Whispering’ explores kinship between a single and a widowed woman whereas the story ‘Unsought Passion’ explores the ugliness of unwarranted attention. Both stories take us to the corridors of working women hostels in the early years of Delhi post independence, presenting a window to the dynamics of interactions and disagreements.
In a couple of stories the horror of terrorism is explored where the loved ones are either targeted by extremists or by the forces fighting extremism. These stories focus upon the suffering families, their anxieties and pain as they try to make sense of their loss. In ‘Dead-End’ a young woman tries to save a young wounded extremist even though she is apprehensive that he might have killed her brother.
Ajeet Cour poignantly portrays the internal and interpersonal conflicts as faced by ordinary people in the course of their everyday lives in the stories of this collection. Her writing resonates with their pain, her words capture their mindscapes bearing witness to horrifying bestiality humans are capable of and continue to exhibit in their dealings with their fellow human beings.
The review first appeared here:
https://borderlessjournal.com/2024/01...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews