Khushwant Singh Selects Best Indian Short Stories - Volume I

Khushwant Singh Selects Best Indian Short Stories

by Khushwant Singh (Editor)

The Indian short story is extraordinary in its ability to stick to the traditional rules of the craft and still demonstrate remarkable originality. It revolves around a limited number of characters, confines itself in time and space, and has a well-plotted narrative that drives its central theme. Within the traditional framework, however, creativity flowers and a fresh and imaginative story emerges. This volume is chock-full with such stories, written by authors well known in their regional languages as well as those who have made a name for themselves in English literary circles. Carefully selected by India's literary giant, the late Khushwant Singh, these pieces represent the best of Indian writing from around the country.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Indian Literature, Literature, India

272 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2006

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

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of these stories (twenty six short stories) deals with everyday life, the dangerous lives, the wildlife, the cheats and the egoistic, the misogynistic mindset, tragedy, spies, the homeless and poverty, city versus village life, urban legends, refugees, substance abuse, the frauds and fate.

A few of these stories also present assault, how it affects the victims and their families.


My favourites in this collection are Ramblings on a Beach by Kabir Bedi (too good!), Ruskin Bond's stories, Those Thirty Days by Krishan Chander, The Half-cut Brinjal by Krishan Chander, Flight 303 by Suresh Chopra, Housewife by Ismat Chughtai, A Home Near the Sea by Kamala Das, Descent from the Rooftop by Anita Desai, It Was Dark by Sashi Despande, Honour by Qurratulain Hyder, A Tale of Hijras by Abdul Jabbar (this one made me cry and think a lot about our society) and The Birth of a Poem by Amrita Pritam.

[Thedesibookthief · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories set in different parts and eras of India. Some of the stories were so gripping and others were just badly written. My favourite from the whole lot is A Tale of Hijras by Abdul Jabbar. It sheds light on the plights of Hijras in India, how no one takes them seriously. How the religions and scriptures and even their own families abandon them. The writer has managed to write the story so very beautifully that you somehow long to make up for the wrongs the world did to them. There are 4 distinctly sublime stories written by Qurratulain Hyder. There were a couple of stories by Ruskin Bond too whom I love dearly. ❤️
All in all, a nice collection.

[Nivedita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a decent collection of 26 short stories written by 21 authors. There were some stories that deeply impacted me but most were either good but not that memorable or just ok. I do like that there were many stories which were translated from regional languages(predominantly Punjabi and Urdu). I wish that the book had brief biographies of the authors(and maybe even a little idea about the settings of the certain stories), I was unfamiliar with most of the authors in the list so it would have been nice. I loved both works by Ruskin Bond. 'The Leopard' was a poignant tale of human greed and how it's affecting our nature and wildlife. Ruskin Bond's descriptions of nature and wildlife is truly magical. Both of Krishan Chander's works were also great, especially 'The Brinjal Cut-Out' with its satirical take on religion and superstition. 'The Tale of the Hijras', which highlights the plights of hijras in society, was probably my favourite, it made me quite emotional. My other favourites were 'Midnight', 'It Was Dark', 'Ramblings on the Beach' and 'Memories of an Indian Childhood'.
While I don't think that this collection was exemplary, I had a pretty good experience with it. I can surely see myself revisiting my favourites some time in the future; plus I discovered some authors whose works I want to explore.

Individual Story Rating(This fluctuates a lot according to my mood but still I'm gonna put it here):
1. An Indian Dream(M.J. Akbar) - 2
2. Why Does the Child Cry(Mulk Raj Anand) - 4
3. Ramblings on the Beach(Kabir Bedi) - 4.75
4. Intermittent Fever(Rajinder Singh Bedi) - 3
5. The Birdman(Margaret Bhatty) - 3.5
6. The Leopard(Ruskin Bond) - 5
7. The Tiger in the Tunnel(Ruskin Bond) - 5
8. Those Thirty Minutes(Krishan Chander) - 5
9. The Brinjal Cut-Out(Krishan Chander) - 5
10. Flight 303(Suresh Chopra) - 4.25
11. Housewife(Ismat Chugtai) - 3.5
12. A Home near the Sea(Kamala Das) - 3.25
13. The Crocodile's Lady(Manoj Das) - 4.5
14. Descent from the Rooftop(Anita Desai) - 4.5
15. It Was Dark(Shashi Deshpande) - 5
16. One More Dead Body(Kaptar Singh Duggal) - 2.5
17. Midnight(Wendy Fernandes) - 5
18. A Flavour of Myrrh(Colleen Gantzer) - 4.5
19. The Blue Hills Where the Sun Never Sets(Hugh Gantzer) - 3
20. Mataji and the Hippies(Balwant Gargi) - 2
21. Memories of an Indian Childhood(Qurratulain Hyder) - 5
22. A Candle for St Jude(Qurratulain Hyder) - 4.5
23. My Aunt Gracie(Qurratulain Hyder) - 4
24. Honour(Qurratulain Hyder) - 4
25. A Tale of the Hijras(Abdul Jabbar) - 5
26. The Birth of a Poem(Amrita Pritam) - 4.5

[dunkdaft · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was actually excited about this book, just because the one who had compiled this collection. Authors listed, promising, but many stories selected here, are not. First half has an engaging and diverse ensemble. Most enjoyable are Kabir Bedi, Krishan Chander, Suresh Chopra and Ismat Chugtai's picks. But the second half has some okayish and a few good stories. Anita Desai, Gantzers and Qurratulain Hyder (4 stories of her !) are dull except one by Hyder (A Candle for St Jude). Thankfully the book concludes with Abdul Jabbar and Amrita Pritam, fine selections. One more reason that makes this collection just an above average one is-there are no 'year of stories' written alongside the title, it would have made our perception easier while visualizing.

Ah well, lets see what the second book in this set has to offer.

[MadZiddi]

Khushwant Singh, one of the best known journalists, has collected a great collection of Indian short stories. Some of these stories were written are written in other Indian lanaguages and then included in translation.

[Payal Jena · Rating 3 out of 5]

An anthology of the finest writers across the country. To name some: M.J. Akbar, Ruskin Bond, Manoj Das, Kamala Das, Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande, Amrita Pritam, Qurratulain Hyder and many more.
Doesn't it appear tempting? It certainly does but honestly, the stories didn't really impress me much.
Like, not-too-bad-not-too-good kind of.
But, thanks to a wise person out there, who made me realize, ' not everything good you should like and not everything bad, you must hate'. So yes, this one great anthology by Khushwant Singh really didn't do the magic. But one thing that I liked about the book was that, it stuck to the traditional rules of the craft, as promised.

Personal favorite: Ramblings on a beach by Kabir Bedi.
Those thirty minutes by Krishan Chander.
Midnight by Wendy Fernandes.
A tale of Hijras by Abdul Jabbar.

Happy Reading.

[Pallavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a find this one as been. Each story bgins out a different human emotion. There is Mulk Raj Anand, Krishan Chander, Ruskin Bond, Ismat Chugtai, Kamala Das, Anita Desai, Amrits Pritam. and the like. Though the book has been favourable to the stories that relate to Punjab but I am not complaining. Its just a sly remark. Enjoyed the light read.

[Shalini Maiti · Rating 4 out of 5]

The layout and the title of this book can be a bit deceptive, so let me start off by clarifying that this is a book of short stories 'curated' by Khushwant Singh. It doesn't really have any of his work featured in it, aside from the introduction. This collection contains stories by Indian authors from the pre-partition and early post-partition era. A lot of the stories have been translated from their original Urdu or Hindi versions.

I enjoyed reading this collation primarily because of the rare glimpse that it gives you into the brilliant yet brittle mindsets of the writers of those times. It made me realize that the expression of a lot of progressive ideas that we take for granted now, were like a swim against the current for these writers. Be it the feministic voice veiled behind the heavy layers of sarcasm in Ismat Chugtai's story 'Housewife', or the futility of religious fanaticism expressed through Krishan Chander's story 'The Brinjal Cut Out', the narratives eventually reflect the strong and subtle stand that they had to take against the social norms of their time.

Another detail that I can't help mentioning, is the writing style of the stories. Although each story contained it's own individual style and editing, I was fascinated by the lack of pace and plot twists (which we seem to consider 'oh, so crucial' for a good story in 2017). A lot of these stories took a meandering pace, and didn't much care for the "Grand Finale" ending, but they made their point all the same. It gave me a new appreciation for the writers of that bygone decade, whose invested more on their artistic style to make an impact.

To wrap up this review, I'd like to say that I really enjoyed reading this collection, and definitely took my time to savor it. It's true that one or two of the stories might come across as excessively nostalgic or ambiguous, but overall the book holds together very well, and takes you on a journey into perspectives and social struggles that you might otherwise never stumble across.

[Roma · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading 'Train to Pakistan' I was naturally inclined towards reading this book. However I was unaware that the book is a compilation of Indian authors short stories that is selected by the legendary author. I did read great reviews about this book on Goodreads and few readers on twitter. It was a booster to get my reading going with this gem of a piece in my hand.

The book is a consolidation of twenty six short stories by the likes of Anita Desai, Ruskin Bond, Kabir Bedi, Suresh Chopra and many more. As the name suggests Best Indian stories, well it does complete justice to its title. It really is the best book on short stories I've laid my hands on.

The stories a very different from each other and it focusses on various relations one comes across in life. Every story makes you ponder on the new aspects of the relation. You just get engrossed in the book like it's happening right in front of your eyes. The descriptions are very vivid and can be easily adapted into a serial or short movie.

Some stories have been translated from other languages and still managed to do brilliantly portray the real essence of the actual stories. The book makes for a very intense reading and a true gem to own one.

I would most definitely get my hands on Volume II of the series and see the greatness of various master storytellers.

A recommended read by me.

[Ashima Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since I've picked up reading again, I find myself drawn to short stories for the snack-sized serving they offer in moments when you're not quite willing to commit to a seven course meal.

This book caught my attention at a book sale and I was taken by the cover and title. Best Indian Short Stories as selected by Khushwant Singh.

For a little over nine years, Khushwant Singh edited The Illustrated Weekly of India at which time it retained the top position in the country for the quality of short stories and poems published in it. It was a matter of prestige for young authors to have their work published in this weekly news-magazine.

From his time there, he put together a delectable selection of short stories that have been published by Harper Collins India in two volumes. These stories represent literature from different parts of the subcontinent and are written by authors who have made names for themselves in English literary circles as well as those known for their writing in regional languages.

With a strong central theme, and only a few characters, each of these stories carry the magic of an era long gone. They traverse a world of emotions and leave you stunned at the end with the simplicity of the plot and the hard-hitting punch to the gut.

Having read these, I'd say it is difficult to find such finesse in the craft of writing short stories today.

[Nate Rabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent collection. I grew up reading the Illustrated Weekly of India where many of these stories first appeared but really never read many of the magazine's articles. I was more interested in the pictures. And while I've read a fair amount of contemporary Indian/Pakistani literature I was amazed by the diversity of the voices in this collection. Punjabi, Bengali, English, Urdu, Hindi originals dealing with the everyday lives of everyday Indians.

The one criticism is that this collection seems to ignore completely stories from central and southern India and of course the many peripheries. And so in that sense is a pretty conservative, mainstream selection: Rajinder Singh Bedi, MJ Akbar, Ruskin Bond...very well known names. But still there are lots of gems in this volume. Especially toward the end where Qurattalain Hyder dominates. A tremendous, humane and delicate writer.

I look forward to Volume II.

[Apurva Sheel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first volume of the book brings together 26 short-stories depicting all things Indian. From culture, religion, society to beliefs, superstitions, magic, and everyday routines of an Indian household, the book has deep variety in stories to offer. Each story narrates a different aspect of an Indian life that is not devoid of wonder, witt, comedy, pain, and thoughtfulness.
My favourite stories, even though they were very hard to choose, from the book are:
 Why does the Child Cry? By Mulk Raj Anand
 Housewife by Ismat Chugtai
 A Home near the Sea by Kamala Das
 A Tale of the Hijras by Abdul Jabbar
Edited by Khushwant Singh himself, these stories are for anyone looking for a light read that does not require a lot of commitment but is still interesting enough to have an impact on you.

[Bindu Reddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 4/5
Positives: A quick walk around the works of good Indian authors.
Cons: Not many stories struck me as I would believe.

I am glad that I read this book. To be honest, I did not enjoy all of the stories, but the book gave a irreplaceable overview of how the game changers of Indian short stories weave their tales.
Some of the stories are haunting. Anitha Nair's story stood out to me- I will pick up her work in the future.
As more times than ever, preface was one of my enjoyable parts. I like how the author breaks apart the life of an Indian short story, how different it is to the western counterparts.

A quick read.

Would recommend.

[Anup Sinha · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started out much better than it ended. The early stories of this 26-short story anthology were readable with some meaning, but many were word jumbles due to translation. Most of the last 5-6 stories were completely unreadable to me; in their efforts to translate from another language, they created sentences that didn't make sense and lost their flow.

I'd say I got something out of about half of the stories but was disappointed in the editing of the others. In general, I try to avoid translations, even of classics, because you really don't get the pure voice of the author. This anthology was the extreme of it.

Being of Indian descent, I did appreciate the backdrops.

[Anita Govind Bhatia · Rating 2 out of 5]

An anthology of the finest writers across the country.
To name some: M.J. Akbar, Ruskin Bond, Manoj Das, Kamala Das, Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande, Amrita Pritam, Qurratulain Hyder and many more.

Doesn't it appear tempting?
It certainly does but honestly, the stories didn't really impress me much.
Like, not-too-bad-not-too-good kind of.

Personal favorite: A tale of Hijras by Abdul Jabbar

[Anamika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read!

Khushwant Singh's idea behind selecting an eclectic set of short stories is novel - That to present everyday prejudices and the dithering state of human nature in India. The fact that not much has changed since the book, makes me sad.

Loved a few stories, favourite being A Tribute to St Jude. A good read for short story lovers.

[Amiya Hisham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up this collection of Indian short stories selected by Khushwant Singh to overcome my inhibition towards Indian literature. It was rather pleasant to find some real gems in this volume. Felt like inhabiting several cultural milieus of the Indian subcontinent all at once, all rich and vibrant and loud in their faithful portrayals.

[Paul Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the preface to this collection of short stories states one of the key charcteristics of Indian short stories is that they are short; which is as it should be (if I wanted to read a novella I would buy one). This is a good and varied collection but it will aid your enjoyment if you know a bit about India.

[Arvind Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthology assembled from well known Indian authors across India. Some stories struct the right chord of the usual feel good warmth of Indian short stories, while others emphasized more on writing adroitness than story.

[Jhelam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed with the stories..

[Digvijay Nikam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent short stories

[John Buchanan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't work for me... They are tight, sparse and some just finish without ending, so it seems.

[Siddhartha]

Some interesting stories, some not so interesting!

[Bharat Trehan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good easy reading.

[Pushkar Pandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag

[Sundarraj Kaushik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories are good while some, in my opinion, are rank bad. The authour seems to like the story teller Qurratulain Hyder very much. There four stories of this writer and for some reason I did not like any of them.

The best story in my opinion was the story A Tale of the hijras by Abdul Jabbar, where a hijra rejected by her parents comes back to her village on the occasion of the birth of a grand child to her mother. How she aspires to go back to live with her parents and how she turns back considering the reaction of the society.

The short story The Leopard by Ruskin Bond is another highlight. He describes how he used to pass through a forest where a leopard lived and how he could here is growling and how on occasions he had, had a glimpse of it. This tranquility is broken when shikaris come to the jungle as the leopard skin sells for 1000 rupees in Delhi. They lay a trap for it and soon hunt it down and triumphantly take it away. As he walks away from the rejoicing shikaris he feels that the whole forest has fallen silent, almost as though the birds and animals knew that their trust had been betrayed. He goes on to say in a very sarcastic way "And God gave Man dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth". A very sad story which repeats even today, only the scope has increased be it whales hunted by Japan, or seals hunted in Canada, or rhinos and elephants in Africa and India and Tigers in India. Man has no scruples and no heart.

Ramblings on the Beach by Kiran Bedi, yes the very same Kiran Bedi surprisingly made for delightful reading. He speaks about how the society corrupts the children. He says how he tried to bring up his daugther to be brave, not be afraid of the darkness and of the sea. But all this changes when they start going to school where the other children, thanks to the elders in their family, scare his daughter's wits so much that she starts clinging to him telling him about a Buddi Mai who is out to catch the children. He observes how the schools uses fear to make the children behave, fear of ridicule, fear of punishment, fear of humiliation. He observes that the elders do not want children to behave, but only to conform. He observes that bit by bit the elders kill what makes each child distinct from others. He observes that the children are told "all good children go to heaven. And good children are children who think like other good children. The best children, of course, win races and comes first in class. Try to be like them. He also says that he feels sad for his daugther as he can do nothing much for her as he cannot isolate her from the society in which she has to live. He also observes how introverts suffer more in this society. He quotes a Zen poem
Children are Masters of Zen,
Curious about everything.
Adults are serious and boring,
What happened?

Flight 303 by Suresh Chopra is about how a man comes to riches, thanks to his ability to pick locks. It is a fine story with a good twist.

Others are just OK or rank bad.

[Avinash Gupta · Rating 3 out of 5]

llustrated Weekly of India was the popular print magazine in the 80s. It was edited by Khushwant Singh and one of the its major contribution to the pop-culture of that time, was reading and writing of short stories. If you were featured in the magazine, it meant you have arrived as a writer. The journalists, the wanna be writers and even the established ones use to send their stories. Mind you, there were no blogs and self-publishing in those times and it was only medium to satisfy the writing itch.

This book brings the best short stories featured in the magazine. These stories were edited by Khushwant Singh and his team. The book includes stories not only from eminent writers like Ruskin Bond, Anita Desai, M.J Akbar but also regional stories translated for publishing.

Full Post: http://wp.me/p18IHE-iV

[Bookworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful collection of 26 stories! Each and everyone was such a satisfying read. I usually avoid short stories because either I don't understand what the whole point of the story was or the ending just leaves me underwhelmed. But this one! Just amazing. They all have "a distinct beginning, a build up and a dramatic end and of course a well formulated theme", in Khushwant Singh's words. But don't be mistaken that these are HIS stories. No, he has just selected what he feels the finest short stories and we have stories from people I had never heard of before (Krishan Chander, M J Akbar, Qurratulain Hyder, to name a few) and the usual big names like Mulk Raj Anand, Amrita Pritam, Anita Desai, Kamala Das etc. This book is ideal for light reading and also is a good one for people who are want to make a foray into reading. I will definitely be looking out for the second volume.

[Debamitra · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best collections of short stories that I have ever come across. Along with the familiar writings of Ruskin Bond and Anita Desai , reading for the first time stories by Ismat Chugtai and Quarantulain Haider was sheer literary delight. A rare gem in this collection is the short story penned by Kabir Bedi which is so sensitive and almost prophetic in nature. I am waiting for Flipkart to deliver Volume II.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a few stories I liked (30 minutes), but I felt that many of them were rather wooden. And there are so many Indian writers that I really love, and I really love the short story, so I was surprised.