Sleepwalkers

A story of migration, oblivion and strange forgetfulness, Sleepwalkers is a moving tale of shifting identities and locales. Revolving around the two cities, Lucknow and Karachi, it depicts the predicament and misery of post-Partition refugees, uprooted from their homeland.

This is Lucknow ...tilting their caps in the Lucknavi style, several street converge upon the square ... the mohajirs had transported an entire city within the folds of their hearts ... Who knows what remains at the spot where this city had earlier stood! Here it has acquired such splendour that any visitor to Karachi repeatedly asked, "Have you seen Lucknow in Karachi?"

So starts this much-acclaimed novella about migration. Simple, suggestive, subtle, Joginder Paul's Sleepwalkers makes for a satisfying read.

The Hindu
(June 7, 1998)

"Throughout this amazing tale of the real and the imaginary, what is and what was, paradise lost and paradise regained only to be lost again, there is a compassion, a sense of complete empathy with these troubled, night-walking souls. Joginder Paul has obviously trod similar ground and experienced at first hand the bewildering uncertainty of the migrant sensibility. Reading the novels in English one feels truly in a world transported, not created or re-created as most translations attempt to do."

The Statesman
(1 June, 1998)

"This collection is multifaceted and worth buying. The translators give the reader a taste of the richness of Urdu literature."

The author

Joginder Paul

The Translators

Sunil Trivedi and Sukrita Paul Kumar

The Editor

Keerti Ramachandra

Publishers: Katha
Cover Design: Geeta Dharmarajan
Cover Painting: Sanjay Bhattacharya
Courtesy: Neera and Rakesh Malhotra
Category: Katha Urdu Library/Novel
Statistics: 5.25" x 7.5" HB 128 pages
ISBN 81-87649-14-3
Price: Rs 120 [India and the subcontinent only]