THEIR LANGUAGE OF LOVE

Recently I read the book THEIR LANGUAGE OF LOVE (Penguin Viking) by Bapsi Sidhwa (BS). BS is one of the finest Pakisthani writer settled in the US. Stories by BS usually details THE TRAUMA AND EXPERIENCES of people (particularly Parsees) affected by the Partition in the sub-continent. One of her novels have been made into a film EARTH directed by Deepa Mehta and features Nandita Das and Amir Khan.

A melange of short stories comprises ‘Their Language of Love.’. While reading the book, I was being reminded of Jhumpa Lahiri’s Pulitzer prize winning anthology of short stories INTERPRETER OF MALADIES. This one by BS matches Jhumpa’s ‘Interpreter …’ in terms of tenor and depth and that of the immigrant’s experiences. BS has a way with words. A sample: “The vulnerability of mothers, daughters, grand daughters, and their metamorphosis into possessions; living objects on whose soft bodies victors and losers alike vent their wrath, enact fantastic vendettas, celebrate victory. All history, all these fears, all probabilities and injustices coalesce in Amma-ji’s terrible face and impart a dimension of tragedy that alchemizes the melodrama.”
There are eight stories in this collection. The experiences of a family against the backdrop of an ensuing Indo-Pak war; a Pakisthani Parsee mother’s encounter with culture shock when she visits US to meet her daughter’s prospective American bridegroom; the intermingling of Parsee and Islamic belief in the invocation of certain divinely icons; the commonalities in the extremism of the Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus; a newly married Gujrati bride has a taste of Americana when she visits the ‘promised land’ to live with her techie husband; a daughter comes to terms with her once beautiful mother (Sehra Bai) who became cantankerous in her illness ridden old age and discovers secrets about her father and the relationship between her parents. The subject of the stories span a wide gamut and provides quite a treat to the readers. A nice read.
Rating: 4 out of 5