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A Death in Delhi: Modern Hindi Short Stories
The hindi short story is one of the most editing genres in modern Indian literature. The fifteen stories in this vilum, by some of he most prominent writers in the field, provide an unique picture of the country today. Most of the stories focus on urban middle class individuals and especially those whose lives are marked by alienation and loneliness. They highlight the disruptions caused in a society that is modernizing at a tapos pace while still being blessed and burdened by a strong send eof traditional morality, duty and family ties.
211 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1972
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 12 reviews
November 24, 2019
It took me a long while to complete this collection of 15 short stories written initially in Hindi with setting of western modernity influence in Indian culture and translated by Gordon C Rodarmel, who taught Hindi language and Literature at UC Berkeley. The collection was published way back in 1972.
Most of the stories resemble the style of poignant kicking hardly in the gut and beneath kind of stories dealing with poverty, blasé attitude, frivolity, vanity, loneliness and alienation in various forms. Several stories like woman leaving her job and staying aloof in a faraway village, young kid working in a tea shop, two young blokes killing a stranger frivolously, fear and anxiety of a widow husband on raising his queer child, platonic affection of a cart driver over a drama artist, obligation of a man to attend the funeral of a prominent figure in town, futile attempts of young couple to get wife's salary balance from a bureaucracy, person running away from grandeur and schizophrenia and many more heartwrecking tales. I wouldn't recommend it to all but personally it has given more impact. Several stories among the mentioned reminded me of the style of Camus, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Bukowski and Kafka.
Somehow I felt most of the characters portrayed in here reminded me of the new acquaintances that I've made in the past few months. I feel able to understand things better that they have been saying to me. I could imagine myself, if at all it means anything, leading living lives from people getting their break from jobs, moving countries, changing life patterns, having adventures and misadventures, and all that. I'm happy people trust me with their stories and I'm fortunate enough to the extent I've been able to remain conscious and witness the shifting of human condition towards the postmodern era and beyond.
The book made me realize there are wide variety of wonderful Indian writers other the mediocre mainstream ones like Mr. Bhagat et al. Translator has had dedicated this work to all the Indian writers. I hope to explore more such Indian writers thanks to this anthology.
Most of the stories resemble the style of poignant kicking hardly in the gut and beneath kind of stories dealing with poverty, blasé attitude, frivolity, vanity, loneliness and alienation in various forms. Several stories like woman leaving her job and staying aloof in a faraway village, young kid working in a tea shop, two young blokes killing a stranger frivolously, fear and anxiety of a widow husband on raising his queer child, platonic affection of a cart driver over a drama artist, obligation of a man to attend the funeral of a prominent figure in town, futile attempts of young couple to get wife's salary balance from a bureaucracy, person running away from grandeur and schizophrenia and many more heartwrecking tales. I wouldn't recommend it to all but personally it has given more impact. Several stories among the mentioned reminded me of the style of Camus, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Bukowski and Kafka.
Somehow I felt most of the characters portrayed in here reminded me of the new acquaintances that I've made in the past few months. I feel able to understand things better that they have been saying to me. I could imagine myself, if at all it means anything, leading living lives from people getting their break from jobs, moving countries, changing life patterns, having adventures and misadventures, and all that. I'm happy people trust me with their stories and I'm fortunate enough to the extent I've been able to remain conscious and witness the shifting of human condition towards the postmodern era and beyond.
The book made me realize there are wide variety of wonderful Indian writers other the mediocre mainstream ones like Mr. Bhagat et al. Translator has had dedicated this work to all the Indian writers. I hope to explore more such Indian writers thanks to this anthology.
March 13, 2021
A Death In Delhi is an anthology of hindi stories selected and translated by Gordan C Rodarmel. In this collection, he presents fifteen stories of stalkwarts of Hindi story, who wrote extensively in the 1960s and almost all the stories anthologised here were first published in that decade.
All of these stories belong to the Nayi Kahani (the new story) movement of Hindi literature, and as Rodarmel points out, mark a sharp break from the stylistic and tgematic concerns of the hinsi stories that came before them. For one, the action in these stories is often internal, the external event either becomes a catalyst or remains a projection of what is going on in the mind of the protgaonist.
Apart from one story - The Third Vow - all of the stories are set in an urban landscape and deal with tge problems associated with it, especially that of alienation and frayed communications. All the characters in these stories are of people with broken communications- be it between lovers, friends or parents and children. The changing social and moral codes are also at work in these stories and often are the driving factors.These stories don't follow a neat pattern of buildup-climax-resolution and a reader looking for neat endings or solutions is bound to be disappointed. In fact, some of these stories don't give the readers and roadmaps, any pegs to hang on to and one is forced to draw one's own conculsions in stories such as My Enemy; His Cross and Intimate.
Irrespective of the fact that these stories were written more than half a century ago, they don't feel dated. The experience etched in these stories can often be the experiences of people today, where the tug of war between the old and the new seems to have become ever more intense. Read this collection if you would like an introduction to the modern hindi story writing and get a glimpse into the writings of all those writers collected here. Thr excellent introduction by Roadarmel gives a context to these stories and should be definitely not missed.
All of these stories belong to the Nayi Kahani (the new story) movement of Hindi literature, and as Rodarmel points out, mark a sharp break from the stylistic and tgematic concerns of the hinsi stories that came before them. For one, the action in these stories is often internal, the external event either becomes a catalyst or remains a projection of what is going on in the mind of the protgaonist.
Apart from one story - The Third Vow - all of the stories are set in an urban landscape and deal with tge problems associated with it, especially that of alienation and frayed communications. All the characters in these stories are of people with broken communications- be it between lovers, friends or parents and children. The changing social and moral codes are also at work in these stories and often are the driving factors.These stories don't follow a neat pattern of buildup-climax-resolution and a reader looking for neat endings or solutions is bound to be disappointed. In fact, some of these stories don't give the readers and roadmaps, any pegs to hang on to and one is forced to draw one's own conculsions in stories such as My Enemy; His Cross and Intimate.
Irrespective of the fact that these stories were written more than half a century ago, they don't feel dated. The experience etched in these stories can often be the experiences of people today, where the tug of war between the old and the new seems to have become ever more intense. Read this collection if you would like an introduction to the modern hindi story writing and get a glimpse into the writings of all those writers collected here. Thr excellent introduction by Roadarmel gives a context to these stories and should be definitely not missed.
October 13, 2019
A story should have a resolution or an ending. Most of the tales in this book end abruptly and, frustratingly, leave the narrative hanging. The only story I liked was "Big Brother" by Shekhar Joshi. Kamleshwar's "A Death in Delhi" painted a lovely picture of my city - Delhi.
January 15, 2012
A collection of 15 hindi short stories translated to English. I enjoyed reading this book and out of 15, around 5 stories really moved me. This book is worth reading.
May 16, 2013
Really enjoyed reading these collection of Hindi short stories. My favorites are "A Difference", "Sailor", "Miss Pall" and "Empty".
October 18, 2019
Underwhelming
April 25, 2025
All of these were so good, I am very excited to reread in Hindi. This is a collection of short stories translated from Hindi where the characters have been removed from their family and community somehow and experience loneliness without being able to identify the source of their sadness. Which was so appropriate because I started this book in Delhi and finished it in Boston. I was not expecting to relate to any of the characters in these stories written years ago but was pleasantly surprised that I did!
!Favorites! A Death in Delhi, Sailor and Big Brother (need to read everything by Shekhar Joshi rn for the garhwal representation)
!Favorites! A Death in Delhi, Sailor and Big Brother (need to read everything by Shekhar Joshi rn for the garhwal representation)
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March 20, 2026I have so much time that to cut it short is a real problem for me. I'm amazed when people say they have no time.
A Death in Delhi is an anthology of short stories written originally in Hindi and translated by Gordon C. Roadarmel. I picked this one purely judging the book by its title (my bias for anything that is remotely Delhi) and was pleasantly satisfied to have discovered such underrated work of Hindi literature that I feel is still very much hidden in plain sight obstructed by the obsession of western counterparts.
I only hope this translation in English bridges that distance between readers and the world of "good" Hindi literature.
May 30, 2020
Really interesting and well written stories about a world most of us would never penetrate- that of ordinary Indians dealing with everyday life. Most are awfully depressing in how they show class/caste, gender or social barriers as simply unavoidable and uncrossable. Fear lurks behind them all.
November 24, 2019
Perhaps, the stories read better in the original Hindi.
February 17, 2020
If It wasn't for the story "Big Brother", I wouldn't even have considered the book worth buying. Miss Pal and Sailor were still interesting, but the other stories were essentially pointless.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 12 reviews