For Now, It Is Night: Stories

(Paperback)

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18 lively short stories provide an irreverent examination of exile, drawn from the ever-observant pen of one of Kashmir's most prominent writers Brought into English by a team of translators, these 18 short stories are a masterful collaborative effort, often achieved through repeated listenings to recordings of the Kashmir. Together, they recover the small and large dramas of a syncretic society since unraveled in these musical, rhythmic stories. Rescued from an old Kashmiri home and brought together from the pages of out-of-print magazines and fading library copies, this collection resurrects the work of a doyen of Kashmiri Pandit literature, never before translated into English. Kaul's candid stories spill over with detail as they convey everyday life in a Kashmir rendered extraordinary by simmering political conflict and the 1990s exodus of the Pandit community. In prose that captures the dramatic intensity of the radio and television plays Kaul wrote for a Kashmiri-speaking audience, his characters navigate their ever-changing environs with biting humor as they make uncomfortable compromises to survive. From two students who fret that the world will pass them by as they fail to memorize their times tables, to a woman clinging to her pretensions while spending an uneasy exile at her daughter-in-law's Delhi home, to a father and son confined to a crumbling house under mysterious curfew - Kaul's stories catalog and dissect the tenuous way people struggle to find relevance in their new surroundings.

Reviews

Kauls stories are a testament to the power of literature to illuminate the subtleties of human experience, transcending regional and cultural boundaries, and provoking contemplation to find meaning in the entire scheme of seemingly random events, experiences, and actions. Manisha Gangahar, The Tribune

With an impressive eye for detail, biting wit, and deep empathy Kaul provides an irreverent examination of exile that resonates across time and place. Nawaid Anjum, The Federal

Author Bio

AUTHOR BIO- Hari Krishna Kaul was born in Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir, in 1934. He spent his youth and most of his adulthood there teaching at various academic institutions in addition to writing and producing radio dramas, plays, and televised series. He left Srinagar in the 1990 exodus of Hindus from the city, the place that served as the backdrop of Kaul's works, particularly in his Kashmiri short stories that span over forty years and include Pata Laraan Parbat (1972), Haalas Chhu Rotul (1985), Yeth Raazdani ( 1996) and Zool Aperim (2001). Kaul also wrote extensively in Hindi after leaving the Kashmir Valley, including his only novel, Vyeth Vyevasta, published in Hindi in 2005. He died in 2009. Kalpana Raina (translator) is a translator, financial advisor and committed patron of translation. She is a board member of Words Without Borders (WWB), a widely read online magazine for international literature. Raina also supports Yali, a multi-year literary translation project with Sangam House in Bengaluru, which funds fellowships and mentorship programmes for emerging translators today. She is the director of ISG, a technology research and advisory firm, and a managing partner at 252 Solutions, LLC, an advisory firm that specializes in strategic development. She is a member of Women Corporate Directors and The National Association of Corporate. She lives in New York. Tanveer Ajsi (translator) is an art historian and filmmaker who has worked as a professor at Jamia Millia Isamia (JMI) in New Delhi and also as the curator of the MF Husain Art Gallery at JMI. Asji co-founded a series of experimental performance pieces, Harkats, alongside performance artist Inder Salim. He has been awarded fellowships by the Ministry of Culture, the Ford Foundation, the J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, and his writing has appeared in various Indian and international magazines. Gowhar Fazili (translator) teaches political science and sociology to undergraduates and postgraduates. His published work explores political subjectivity in Kashmir and explores how fictional writing interacts with the very real, intimate agitations of life for Kashmiri people. His writing has appeared in numerous academic and popular journals, and Routledge India chose a monograph based on his doctoral thesis as part of a series on ethnographic innovations and South Asian perspectives. He completed his MPhil and PhD from the University of Delhi. Gowhar Yaquoob (translator) writes on Kashmiri literature and arts and has presented her work at various symposiums throughout India. She holds a PhD in Modern Indian Languages and Literary Studies from the University of Delhi and has received fellowships from the Indian Council of Social Science Research and the Indian Institute of Advanced Study. A grant from the Indian Foundation for the Arts allowed her to recently study the socio-cultural and political context of Kashmiri poetry. She lives in Srinagar.