Adarsh Ajit
Name of the book : ek boond zindagi
Author : Balraj Bakhshi
Publisher : Oshin Publishing House
Price : Rs 300/-
Pages : 158
The short stories in ek boond zindagi written by Balraj Bakhshi are fascinating and interesting. But the prosaic statements are at times monotonous. Had the author lessened too much of narrations and focussed on humankind straight with direct dialogues, the plots of the stories would have become more punching and attractive.
Maklaavah is the story of a bride who is on way to her in-laws after wedlock. The baraatis and her bridegroom/husband accompany her through the difficult terrain. The bride is very much tired and cannot walk. She is feeling awfully thirsty. There are the traces of the water down the hill but the descent as well as ascent is very difficult. Nobody is prepared to quench the thirst of the bride at the cost of life. Not even the bridegroom gathers the courage to do so. Then the bridegroom announces:
‘The bride will belong to him, who will bring the water for her’.
Still nobody is prepared. At last a man, who has nobody at his back, is prepared to bring the water. He succeeds in bringing the water but only after very painful, risky and adventurous struggle. All quench the thirst except the person who brought the water. All rush towards him to offer the water but find him dead. The cremation of the man is done at the same place. The bridegroom now directs the bride to proceed for further journey. But the bride breaks her bangles and wails:
‘My husband is dead. I am a widow now. He sacrificed himself for me’.
In mukti, all the male members of a family have a genetic mental disorder bordering on madness. This results in their untimely deaths. Now the minor son of the youngest daughter-in-law also suffers from the same disease. His mother has exhausted all the medical options but of no avail. Now great-grandmother of the child wants to perform special puja during a rare period of eclipse in order to find some celestial remedy for the lone male survivor. She goes deep into the river Tawi after the culmination of the eclipse. All others are surprised. They suspect that instead of finding solutions she is going with the child to get drowned. The mother and the grandmother of the child plead her to come back but she drowns herself along with the diseased child saying:
‘There is no other way out’.
Most of the short stories touch social status, justice, standard of living, and the histories with very important comments like ‘culture keeps on changing’. Muzaffar Ali Rana, a judge by profession, is fond of non-vegetarian dishes. Due to heavy snowfall there is intense scarcity of meat. A wild cock comes down the jungle and people try to catch him. Rana is on way to the court and his hunting instinct raises head but he controls himself. He feels astonished to watch people chasing the cock even in the premises of the court. People succeed in nabbing the tired and harassed cock. Idea of justice pricks Rana and he orders that the cock be set free. The cock tries to convey his gratitude by looking back.
In Death Certificate a salesman repeatedly pleads the commissioner to issue the identity card to him. He has no record which confirms his identity as he travels from one place to another and has no permanent residence. The commissioner creates unnecessary hurdles on one pretext or other and tries to indict him. The commissioner himself disobeys the rules and smokes in the office. The salesman’s helplessness can be gauged when he pleads the commissioner to issue him a death certificate in place of identity card so that his children may not suffer for identity proof.
In the title story ek boond zindagi a man wants to live a free life. He fights traditions for he wants to live life on his own terms and conditions but is constricted within the four walls. Another young man stabs him just to relieve him from the imposition of established norms. The young attacker finds an opportunity to jump over the wall. He is also being chased by the people. The story is told mainly in metaphors. The protagonist wants the rules to be made by every generation and get rid of stale ideas and things.
In chore two managers of an insurance company get two lakh rupees each as bonus. One steals two lakh rupees from other. The hotel boy is accused of theft. He is beaten mercilessly. When the real thief (the manager) leaves the hotel he goes straight to the residence of the hotel boy to inform him that the real culprit is he himself. He gives him one lakh rupees saying:
‘You may not think me honest but I am not dishonest too’.
Mushtarka ailaamiya is a sad story of those who have become victims of human rights violations and are reduced to skeletons in the prisons due to tortures. At Geneva, in a meeting regarding Human Rights Violation, India and Pakistan decide to visit the prisons of both the countries. They jointly confirm human rights violations of the prisoners in both the countries but unfortunately they come out with a common declaration saying that the matter of human rights violations stands finished forever and there would be no further talk regarding this. They take no decision to address the problem.
Khaansi ki ek sham is a story of a father who is in habit of drinking but only within his reach and within the mould of ethics. He has a dream to have a dinner on the dining table with his wife and his only son. His aspirations and enthusiasm crumble because neither his son nor his wife shares the dinner with him. He receives a severe jolt when his son says:
‘You are retired now. You are an idle man now’.
One day he is in extraordinary cheerful mood and searches for his son to have an important chat. Instead of having a talk he is dangerously entangled in a scuffle with his son. His neighbours come to advise him. He falls cool and motionless after uninterrupted cough. In his hands is a photo of a twenty or twenty-two year old girl.
The stories in the book are captivating. The plots are interesting. The book is a good contribution to short stories. Besides Nand Kishore Vikram, Krishen Kumar Toor, Ibn-Ismail and Danish Allah Abadi’s adorning words, Ali Ahmad Fatmi, Dr. Maula Bakhsh and Dr. Mushtaq Sadaf have written detailed papers on the book.
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