5 Indian Masters: Short Story Masterpieces

by Khushwant Singh, Mulk Raj Anand, Munshi Premchand

New Reformatted Edition This book is a compilation of classic short stories by five great Indian writers Raja Rao, Rabindranath Tagore, Premchand, Dr. Mulk Raj Anand and Khushwant Singh. Though not necessarily representative of the authors complete works, the stories have been carefully chosen to showcase their versatility and skill as storytellers. The collection covers an extraordinary range of themes, styles and settings, allowing the reader a glimpse of another world gone by. Yet, these stories seem timeless, and the characters in them show the same foibles, fears and hopes as do people in the brave new world of the 21st century.

Genres: Fiction, India, Short Stories

304 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2005

About the author

Khushwant Singh, (Punjabi: ਖ਼ੁਸ਼ਵੰਤ ਸਿੰਘ, Hindi: खुशवंत सिंह) born on 2 February 1915 in Hadali, Undivided India, (now a part of Pakistan), was a prominent Indian novelist and journalist. Singh's weekly column, "With Malice towards One and All", carried by several Indian newspapers, was among the most widely-read columns in the country.

An important post-colonial novelist writing in English, Singh is best known for his trenchant secularism, his humor, and an abiding love of poetry. His comparisons of social and behavioral characteristics of Westerners and Indians are laced with acid wit.

Reviews

[zakariah · Rating 3 out of 5]

part 2 of trying to make my history degree not a history degree

[Priyanka · Rating 3 out of 5]

***3 stars for the publisher, 4 stars for the authors and their stories***

There are few typographical errors and reading didn't feel as smooth as it should therefore I would not recommend this book by this publication but the stories by the 5 authors are definitely worth reading at least once. There are 15 stories in total and I have categorically mentioned the titles under their respective storytellers.

There are 5 Indian authors out of which I am aware of 3 authors' (Rabindranath Thakur, Munshi Premchand & Khuswant Singh) works.

Rabindranath Thakur's 'Kabuliwala' has been one of my favourite short stories since I read it the first time. There are 3 other short stories titled 'Price of a Head', 'Guru Govind', and 'The Ungrateful Sorrow'.

I have read Munshi Premchand's works, again short stories and in Hindi language, as part of our syllabus but I didn't feel like I was studying even if I was reading them as part of my course. The 3 stories in the books are titled 'Box of Jewels', 'The New Bride', and 'The Police of Justice'.

Khushwant Singh's short stories too have been a part of my syllabus and I did not know that I would remember his story titled 'The Portrait of a Lady' but surprisingly I did. Other 2 stories in this book are titled 'Karm', and 'The Mark of Vishnu'. Reading the above mentioned authors' stories was somewhat nostalgic as it didn't spark any specific memories but they did take me back to my school days.

I have heard of Dr. Mulk Raj Anand and may have come across his works as stories, most probably, again as part of my syllabus (yes, I too am tired of repeating it but it's the truth, at least my truth) because even though I didn't remember the two stories that featured in this book, the story titled 'Lajwanti' felt very familiar. I did like the experience of reading them. The other story is titled 'The Gold Watch'.

I was not aware of Raja Rao therefore was not aware of his works until I read this book. His stories, at least the ones featured here, require a level of maturity and experience which would give the readers a ceratin amount of relatibility to comprehend them. And even more than that the readers need to have patience to absorb his words between the lines. I definitely didn't have the patience and I am almost sure that I don't have that level of maturity and experience either. Saying that his stories did kindle my interest and I do hope that I get to the point where I am able to read his books with more understanding irrespective of me agreeing with his point of views or not. The titles of his 3 stories are 'The Serpent and the Rope', 'The Cat and Shakespeare', and 'The Chessmasterand His Moves'.

[Sidharth Sabat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll go on to individually review the authors whose short stories were part of the book.

Raja Rao: This section didn't have short stories, they instead had excerpts of his novels. raja Rao writes philosophical and metaphysical literature. In a word, it's deep.
Premchand: The king of Hindi literature. His stories are rooted in real Indian village life. Although, since his stories were translated they didn't stand against the language of the other authors. Simply conveyed the story.
Tagore: My favorite among the 5. This is the first time I had read something from Tagore and I wish to read many more. The Cabulliwalah is one of the beautiful and moving short stories I have ever read. Takes my heart away.
Mulk Raj Anand: He writes like Premchand, his tales being rooted in Indian life, there's one major difference which you'll know when you read.
Khuswant Singh: Singh's "A train to Pakistan" has been one of my favorite novels ever! So I knew what to expect from his short stories and I got the same.

I'm now planning to read more of their short stories.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an odd collection. Rao gets half the book, by page count, but his three selections are excerpts from novels, not true short stories. This was disappointing since he was my main draw - and one of the three excerpts truly made no sense out of context. All of his stuff was very Important Idea lit, which bores me. Tagore's work was fine - I'd read him before. The other three were also new to me, however, like Rao. Premchand was moralistic, but well-written. Anand was moralistic and forgettable - melodramatic. Singh was really good, but only got around 15 pages. I left wanting to read more of his work.
Finally, the production value is not good - weird punctuation, spellings, etc.

[M.S.V.V.Sesharao · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average