Mapping Memories

Mapping Memories bring together writers from India and Pakistan. The powerful Urdu short stories written by eminent writers, after 1960, reflect the common sensibility evolved through a shared linguistic and cultural heritage.

The Statesman
(June 29 1998)

"All the stories in the collection, from the serious to the light-hearted, the poignant to the bizarre, the surreal to the frightening, are welletched vignettes that transcends all caste creed, language barriers to create a language of their own."

The Pioneer
(June 13 1998)

"Katha's Mapping Memories ... in the fiftieth year of Independence, appears as a timely panacea for the divisive ills festering in the nuclear heat of the current political imbroglio. This exquisitely produced collection of fifteen Urdu short stories has been fastidiously and lovingly put together in accordance with the laudable editorial principle of capturing the 'human predicament in the subcontinent' and telling 'the tale of the shared cultures nourished by India and Pakistan.' Perhaps the signal achievement of the collection is that it opens windows to a vista hitherto closed to non-Urdu speaking readers ... With apparent effortlessness, the translators have accomplished a marvellous job in capturing the idiosyncratic resonances of the spoken language. In becoming the vehicle for the message of peace and harmony, these stories acquire a 'godly' character and, as a body, take on the appearance of a welcome 'bridge over troubled waters.' ''

The Authors

Anwar Qamar
Bano Qudsia
Enver Sajjad
Farkhanda Lodhi
Gyas Ahmed Gaddi
Intizar Husain
Jeelani Bano
Joginder Paul
Mohammad Mansha Yad
Qurratulain Hyder
Salim Agha Qazilbash
Surendra Prakash
Syed Muhammed Ashraf
Umrao Tariq
Zaheda Hina

The translators

Rashmi Govind
Tahira Khan
Shobhana Bhattacharji
Neshat Quaiser
Krishna Paul
Naghma Zafir
GIllian Wright
Rashid
Qurratulain Hyder
Atanu BHattacharya
Sara Rai
Saleem Kidwai
Anupama Prabhala Kapse, P L Narasimhan
Ayesha Sultana

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Roma Sinai Mukherji
Cover Detail: Detail from Sheba Chhachi's cleave/to, photo-text-sculpture installation
Courtesy: Eicher Gallery
Category: Katha Urdu Library/Short Fiction
Statistics: 5.5" x 8" Pb 234 pages
ISBN 81-85586-76-4
Price: Rs 175 [India and the subcontinent only]