The short story, like the novel, is an importation into Urdu and other Indian languages from the West. But, unlike the novel, the short story seems to have found congenial soil in Urdu, and has, since then, flourished to an extent that the Urdu short story, now may be said to have achieved a standard comparable to the best short fiction in other languages. The comparative success of the short story vis-à-vis the novel in Urdu is a subject of discussion among critics of Urdu literature. One reason is the Urdu writers' preference for the shorter form of a genre to the longer form, both in poetry and fiction. The immense popularity of the ghazal and the short lyric as against the longer poetic forms is a case in point.
Urdu has a fairly large number of writers who have written both novels and short stories. But, invariably, they have all excelled in the art of short story and the long short story. Comparatively, they have failed as novelists. Prem Chand is a world class short story writer but his novel Godaan does not achieve the same degree of excellence. Ismat Chughtai's novel, Tedhi Lakeer, is a failure compared to her short stories. Krishan Chander's novel Shikast, is a technical success, but does not have the quality of his short stories. None of Aziz Ahmad's novels like Aag and Marmar Aur Khoon reaches the standard of excellence of his short stories or long short stories, like Tassavvur-e-Shaikh, Madan Sena Aur Sadiyan and Zarreen Taj. Similarly, Qurratul-ain Haider, a consummate artist in her short stories and long short stories, like Housing Society and Sita Haran, is a comparative failure in her novels, even in the much acclaimed Aag Ka Darya and Aakhir-e-Shab Ke Hamsafar. Is this because of the Urdu writer's inability to sustain a long narrative, or his/her natural predilection for the short form, is a question which has to be probed in some depth. Is it the greater saleability of the short story and the short lyrical form which makes the Urdu writer choose these forms? A short story or a ghazal can be printed in a single issue of a literary magazine, but a novel or a long poem will have to be serialised over a number of issues. The serialised novel was a fairly popular form in English in the 19th century, and the formula which guided the writers was: "Make them laugh, make them cry, and make them wait!", in much the same way as TV serials are now telecast in a number of episodes, for weeks or months, and TV viewers wait eagerly for the next episode with the question, "what next?" on their lips. But, the serialised novel has its drawbacks, like lack of continuity and a kind of episodic quality pervading it.
Jeelani Bano has been writing short stories for the last five decades. She has published seven collections of short stories which have won wide acclaim. She has also written two novels, two novelettes and scripts for TV plays. She has received many awards including Padmashree, Eminent Women of Andhra Pradesh Award, Aalami Farogh-e-Urdu Award (Doha, Qatar), Nuqush Award (Lahore), awards from Urdu Academies of Maharashtra, U.P, West Bengal, and Bihar, the prestigious Modi-Ghalib Award and Soviet Land-Nehru Award. She has visited USA, USSR and Pakistan to lecture at Universities as well as at many seminars and conferences.
Jeelani Bano's work has been translated into several Indian languages and foreign languages as well. Translation is a tricky business. I have always maintained that, contrary to popular belief, translating fiction and drama from one language to another can be more difficult than translating poetry. This view stems from the realisation that in fiction and drama there is an extensive use of dialogue. The dialogue is spoken by characters of varying social/cultural/intellectual levels, and the language used by them is not the writer's language, but their own, and it may include slang, jargon, curse words, colloquialisms and regional varieties. How does a translator cope with this bewildering variety? He cannot, obviously, employ a standardised language for all types of characters, and he has to employ a language suited to the character/situation, and this is no easy job. Of the better known Anglo-Indian writers, Kipling, Foster, John Masters, Paul Scott or M.M. Kaye, only Kipling and Foster were able to render into English the speech of their Indian characters with a reasonable measure of authenticity, though they, too, stumble occasionally.
One would say that Jeelani Bano has been fortunate in getting her stories translated by Zakhia Mashhadi, a creative writer in her own right. One gets the impression that the translation appears like an original work, as she captures the spirit of Jeelani Bano's stories with effortless ease, making the present volume one of the most successful renderings of Urdu fiction into English.
The technical excellence of Jeelani Bano's stories and their thematic content, have taken her to a place of pre-eminence among the short story writers of Urdu. The outstanding feature of her short stories is their essentially humanitarian approach, the quality of compassion, a deeply felt concern for the deprived sections of society, specially, woman. Almost every story is a manifestation of her desire to portray and alleviate the misery and suffering of women.
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