Half a rupee stories by Gulzar

"Half a rupee stories" by Gulzar. Translated from Urdu to English by Sunjoy Shekhar. This book is published by Penguin in 2013 and has 232 pages.

This book consists of 25 stories. The stories are divided into eight sections and each section has a theme. First section has stories about cine personalities, second is for stories from slums and footpath. One section is for stories about Indo-Pak border. One section is for Naxalite movement. Another section is for miscellaneous stories.  And so on....

'Dusk' and 'The adjustment' are old age love stories, 'Ghugu and Jamuni' is the love story of a bird, 'Kuldeep Nayyar & Pirsahib' is mystique, 'LoC' depicts futility of war, 'The stench' gives slum dwellers perspective on redevelopment, 'The charioteer' shows how change of surrounding makes a king out of a lowly man, 'The search' provides a Kashmiri angle of the story of terrorism.

In the story titled half a rupee, bhau tells Chandu that he counts everything in athanni (Half rupee) because common man like us eats half plate, half night sleep, half laughing, half crying and half living.

Of all these stories I liked 'Ghugu and Jamuni', 'Pickpocket', 'Sahir & Jadu' the most.

I felt that some of the stories were too short. Since they were too short they did not create the intended impact. In some, author appeares to have left a lot unsaid and to readers imagination; deliberately.

The stories cover wide range of emotions, wide range of strata of the people and various cities. However the common theme is human emotions. Gulzar's ability to see the story in the most unlikely places, where a common man can not see it, is amazing. The stories intrigue you, make you wonder, laugh and pity. It is a light book that makes you think and introspect.

When I first read the title of this book it felt strange. After reading the book I realized that 'Half a rupee' is title of one of the stories and the book takes name after it.

A good book. Recommend reading.