Page 80 - EW August 2025

Books

Pain of the HEART LAMP: SELECTED STORIES humour and sarcasm to
describe a range of charac-
disempowered Banu Mushtaq, Translated ters and their actions and
into English from Kannada by
behaviour. The mutawalli
Deepa Bhasthi saheb attached to each
HIS COLLECTION PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE masjid as custodian of
of a dozen short Rs.399 Pages 224 waqf property, distributes
Tstories authored benefits to the faithful as
by a Kannada writer, the stipulated by the trust. He
dominant language of wields a position of power
the south Indian state of sixth story in the collec- This International and wallows in the atten-
Karnataka, is the surprise tion, a heart-warming Booker Prize winner tion he gets, the petitions
dark horse winner of the tale of how “the lamp in is a collection of he can suppress or grant
International Booker Mehrun’s heart which had socially conscious on a whim, the little perks
Prize 2025 of the London- been extinguished a long explorations of of his job like biryani and
based Booker Foundation time ago” is lit again by identity, and critiques paan, drinking forbidden
(estb.1969). her 16-year-old daughter, of patriarchal sharab with which Yakub,
The Booker Prize for Salma, who comforts and oppression under the auto-driver bribes him.
fiction published in Brit- understands her mother cover of religion Yakub’s wife, Aashraf,
ain and Ireland and the like a friend and prevents waiting at the masjid
International Booker Prize a tragic suicide. through the rain, well into
(estb.2005) awarded for The themes woven into returned sister-in-law, the night, clinging to her
works of fiction globally, the stories unfold a tex- who mocks his homespun sick daughter, is ruth-
translated into English tured exposure of everyday wife Asifa; Mehaboob Bi, lessly kicked and faints
and published in the UK, life in Muslim communi- Yusuf’s dignified mother even as her child dies. The
are among the world’s ties in small towns and vil- whom his wife Akhila mutawalli is unmoved:
most acclaimed literary lages of south west India; jealously regards as a “Maut, hayat, death and
awards and pay winning gender relations; patri- savathi/co-wife; Mehrun life, is in Allah’s hands,” he
authors handsome prize archy and submission in who is ostracised by her intones, unaware that the
money (£50,000) in each middle-class households; mother, sisters, brothers educated Zulekha Begum
category. Unsurprisingly, inequalities, marginaliza- when she returns to her had explained Sharia law
competition for the Book- tion and power dynamics paternal home without her and the rights of Muslim
ers is intensive. in this social sphere. The husband. All these women women to Aashraf.
Against this backdrop stories are progressive and are trapped in patriarchy, Readers are also re-
the International Booker conscious explorations of often unable to bond over minded of the Shah Bano
Prize 2025 awarded to identity and human digni- a shared sisterhood. case of 1985 in which the
the author is a pinnacle ty, critiques of entrenched For married women the Supreme Court in a land-
achievement for Hassan- patriarchal norms and conventional injunction mark judgement awarded
based Banu Mushtaq, a oppression under cover of is “You should be obedi- Shah Bano maintenance.
lone feminist, Muslim religion. ent… he is God to you, you But the judgement was
voice of the Bandaya Mushtaq evidently should do whatever he tells over-turned by govern-
Sahitya (Rebel Literature) believes that every story you to, you should serve ment legislation prompt-
movement of the 1970s is worth telling as each him loyally.” Protest is ing the author to observe
and 1980s in Karnataka. reveals the extraordinary condemned, male hegemo- that men interpret laws for
Sensitively translated challenges endured by ny is resignedly accepted. their own benefit, and are
by Deepa Bhasthi, this women, their stoicism and In these stories in- against educating women
book is a selection of a in rare instances, momen- grained religious beliefs, beyond the madrasa.
dozen short stories writ- tary triumphs. crushing social mores, “These people have taken
ten over three decades by The collection is a blend rituals and observances over the Qur’an and the
the author, drawing on of penetrating stories such create a nuanced under- Hadiths.”
her first-hand experience as Shaista Bhabi’s, who standing of human behav- Refreshingly in this
as lawyer, journalist and is made to believe that iour. Writing from within story, the mutawalli sahib
champion of Bandaya she is the cynosure of her the Muslim community, is made to feel guilty of
Sahitya. The collection husband’s eye; Naseema, Mushtaq courageously murder and the women of
takes its title from the Nayaz Khan’s Saudi- spices her stories with the mohalla hurl abuses at

80 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2025