topics: |  fiction-short | india | translation

Contents

    Many of these authors are relatively unknown outside their own
    linguistic spheres; kudos to Sahitya Akademi for bringing together this
    set of diverse voices.  I include some links to literary biographies
    (external pages).

A defective coin :         Roma Das (1909-1981, _Assamese_)           1
Boatman Tarini :           Tarashankar Banerjee (1898-1971 Bengali)   17
The great big city :       Premendra Mitra (Bengali)                  31
The golden watch :         Mulk Raj Anand (English)                   45
Another community :        RK Narayan  (English)                      55
Gulamdin the tongawallah:  Gulabdar Broker (1999-2006, _Gujarati_)    61
The earning son :          Chunilal K. Madia (1922-1968 _Gujarati_)   75
Jaya dol :                 Agyeya (Hindi)                             83
Jahnavi :                  Jainendra Kumar (Hindi)                    95
The cock-fight :           Amin Kamil (b. 1924 _Kashmiri_)           114
The flood :                Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (Malayalam)   137
Birthday :                 Vaikom Muhammad Basheer (Malayalam)       142
Wet and shine :            Kusumvati Seshpande (Marathi)             156
The bridal crown :         Rajakishore Roy (b.1914, Oriya)           165
The whirlwind :            Sant Singh Sekhon (1908-1997, Punjabi)    172
Manjri :                   Lekhraj Tulsiani (Sindhi)                 186
Redemption :               Pudumai Pitthan (Tamil)                   190
Attar of roses :           Sripada Subrahmanyam Sastri (Telugu)      197
Lajwanti :                 Rajinder Singh Bedi (Urdu)                211
Glossary                                                             226

Biography: Sant Singh Sekhon

Sant Singh Sekhon (1908-1997) was a Punjabi playwright and fiction writer.
He held Masters' degrees in Economics and also in English, and initially
started writing in English, but then shifted to Punjabi. 

He is best known for his short stories and drama.  His drama corpus runs
into ten full-length plays and four one-act play collections.  He also
wrote five short story collections. In addition, he also wrote two novels
and five books of literary criticism, as well as several histories and
translations.

Works
One-act plays:
* ''Chhe Ghar'' (Six Homes, 1941):  one-act plays - popular in Punjabi theatre. 
* ''Tapia Kyon Khapia'' (Why the Ascetic Got Confused, 1950), 
* ''Natsunehe'' (Dramatic Messages, 1954) 
* ''Sundrepad'' (Beautiful Feet, 1956)
* ''Wiaholi'' (Bride) : verse play
* ''Baba bohar'' (Old Oak) : verse play

Full-length plays: 
* ''Kalakar'' (Artist, 1945)
* ''Nal-Damayanti'' (Nala and Damayanti myth, 1960)
* ''Narki'' (Denizens of Hell, 1953) [originally written as Eve at Bay in English]
	full-length plays explore more of the man-woman relationships

Historical plays (theme of Sikh history): 
* ''Moian Sar Na Kai'' (The Dead Knew It Not, 1954)
* ''Bera Bandh Na Sakio'' (Fleet They Could Not Harness, 1954)
* ''Waris'' (1955)
* ''Banda Bahadur'' (1985)
* ''Vada Ghalughara'' (Holocaust 1986)
* ''Mittarpiara'' (Beloved Friend, 1971)

Novels
* ''Lahu Mitti'' (Blood and Earth).  

He was a Professor of Eminence at the Punjabi University in Patiala; after
his death, a chair was set up at the university in his name. 

Links:
  * http://www.museindia.com/showauthor1.asp?id=83
  * http://www.indianetzone.com/33/sant_singh_sekhon_indian_author.htm
  * http://www.sikhnet.com/news/honoring-professor-sant-singh-sekhon