Ulysses

by Khalid Mohamed

'No right, no wrong. No destiny, no karma, no kismat. It's all there, the tide of circumstances, evensts and results. That impels him know more about his history if there was one of a cindered family tree. His father , somewhere on the other side of the border, Pakistan, didn't arouse his interest. Never never never. The two mothers do. Abba, father,was instructed by ma with steely resolve, never ever to see the boy. He attemped to it would have been abnormal if he hadn't. He was humiliated. Like those countless treaties between India and Pakistan- ineffectual. Maybe abba is dead now, may be he's lech with a merry- go- round of a family and mistresses in Lahore,Karachi, Islamabad, Whereverabad, Who cares.'

Bravely personal with quantum leaps into the imagination, Two Mothers and Other Stories by film Critic, scriptwriter, playwright and director, Khalid Mohamed, explores a variety of themes ranging from familia bonds, the lingering indian royalty, and media stratagems to Mumbai's fast- vanishing Zorostrian irani cafe's and the bold new world of website sexual relationships. Unfailingly.

264 pages, Paperback

Published December 22, 2015

Reviews

[Anchal Goyal]

It was a horror to finish the book. Some of the stories were banal, with complicated vocabulary borrowed from french added to sound smart with no real context. It was a sheer disappointment.

[Shilpi Jain]

The only saving grace for reading this book for me was knowing the story about the real Zubeida. Other than that, the long-winded descriptions of the journalists', their sad childhoods, their difficult lives- who are invariably the central character of every story, no prizes for guessing- Khaled Mohamed's book is a biography of sorts, each story draws from his personal experiences. The language itself gets too poetic at times which for a hardcore story reader is boring but of course others might find it interesting. The lack of flow and too many details made the reading very difficult for me. I do give Khaled Mohamed credit for some dry humor. Read at your own risk.

[Sukaina Majeed]

Zubeida and Fayazi are emotional characters. Each of the stories has a child searching for an emotional support from a father like figure. The writing has humour. The ending statement of every story is so much filmy that it's predictable. One time read and quite forgettable to be honest.

[Khyati]

2.75 ⭐
It's a mixed bag of screenplays turned short stories !

[Tasneem Ali]

Read just a few pages and left. The interesting element is a miss. There is no grip ro the book from the first page to the the reader. The flow of the story is ambiguous.

[Book'd Hitu]

The beautiful book cover and the title attracted me to buy the book and it was a sheer disappointment for me.
This book has one of the weirdest writing styles I have come across.
Couldn’t get along with the stories except one or two and that too doesn't appeal me much.
I had high expectations from the author but all in vain.

[Vani]

This book is partially good, but for me it was at loss in many areas. Language was one major thing which didn't impress me much. Also, the stories are interesting and start off pretty well, however the endings were very disappointing, except for a few stories.
One can read it just for the pleasure of experimenting and trying the story telling Khalid-Mohammad-style.

[Abhishek Achal]

pretty average. Few stories were good , but there was none that gave me a "wow" feeling. Categorically A quick read and forget book. Probably i expected much from the author. 3 out of 5 for the poetic language.

[Dipika Bangera]

It is a nice collection of short stories and I especially love the story about Two Mothers . This story is based on his own life and a more elaborate version is the movie" Zubeida".

I have always liked Khalid Mohammed 's movie reviews, so I did want to read this book of his.

[Himali Kharkar-poduval]

Before I could even start reading I have stopped it as its not my kinda book.

[Zishan Ansari]

A couple of stories are good others are pretty much a drag. I liked Two Mothers and The Ballimaran Sisters.

[Sreesha Divakaran]

DNF-ing. Have already spent way too much time on this. Can't continue and don't think I'm missing out on much.