My Top Ten Novels by Desi Writers

Very confusing title and even more confusing list...
The category - "Novels written by desi writers" include a lot more than just the Hindi-Urdu literature. In fact - literature written in other "desi" languages is by far much more impactful (by a couple of orders of magniture at the very least) if measured by sheer numbers of readership and - obviously arguably - has accomplished much more finnesse. Take the bong or the malayali literature - and each one of them would probably have a treasure trove just as worthy as the list you have provided. Hence, the effect is something like the author promising a travel guide of Asia and then delivering a travel guide of his hotel room.

If you are interested in exploring the Desi literature - I'd suggest going for Hindi/Gujrati/Marathi (whatever your native language is) translation of them rather than the English one (yes - they are there even though a little more difficult to find). Because the languages are linked more closely than English is with any of them This works for me for all source languages except Kannada/Tamil/Telegu/Malayalam.

Best of luch on your exploration of Desi literature!

Anita Desai and Jhabvala rock my world as far as Indian writers in English is concened.

bulleya

i agree broadly with your list...

anyone else read kamila shamsie? she's also quite good in parts...and rather cute too :-)

Naqshbandi #: "husseini is an afghan...?"

...yes he is an afghan migrant to usa, who lives in Silicon Valley - the largest afghan neighborhood in usa.......he has authored the kite runner (now a major motion picture) and a thousand splendid suns.....

kite runner is very well written and a must read......i haven't start the second one yet......he definitely has a lot of talent......i assume the best afghan writer in the english language.......

if i were to list the best writer/book from author's of south asian heritage, from each country:

- pakistan - (maps for lost lovers - nadeem aslam; head and shoulders above all pakistani writers)

- india - (an equal music - vikram seth)

- sri lanka (english patient - michael O)

- afghanistan (kite runner - khalid husseini; perhaps the only major afghani writing in english, hence head and shoulders, as well)

vikram seth made it onto the bestsellers list, as has mohsin hamid and monica ali and gautam malkani etc. but bestseller doesn't always equal good novel...

husseini is an afghan...?

it's true many desi writers have won prizes but very few have made it to the best sellers list. khalid husseini is probaly an exception.

ana:

I won't read GOST a second tim. I am perhaps too conservative to enjoy a sympathetic description of incest.

While y'all are talking about what should have been included or what should not have been left out, please to remember that this is Asif's list. Not a bad one.

I need to reread GOST. I can't remember the brother being gay. I remember molestation and incest (m'aafi for the spoilers) but. . .

Chaltahai, you liked Red Earth and Pouring Rain?

dash dot

my criteria was twofold (1) novels whose stories I enjoyed (2) PROSE style. i.e. novels WRITTEN beautifully. I am an aesthete and so beautiful language and prose is vitally important. That is also why Nadeem Aslam tops the list...

Naqsh sahib,

(a fictionalised account of the writing of the Kamasutra )

I think the work you are referring to is the Mrichhakatika or the Little Clay Cart but I am not sure that is a novel. It is a Sanskrit Drama.

Regards

ShoreSaheb:

Yes, spoken Hindi and Urdu are the same languages with different scripts, the language of Munshi Prem Chand or of Bollywood.

Asif - what was your modus for the selection. Going through the list - i can see that there is a certain eclecticism in your choice
. Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam
2. Psychoraag by Suhail Saadi
3. An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
4. Umrao Jaan by Mirza Muhammad Hadi Ruswa
5. Aag Ka Darya (River of Fire) by Qurratulain Hyder
6. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
7. Twilight in Delhi by Ahmed Ali
8. A River Sutra by Gita Mehta
9. Bazaar e Husn (Courtesans’ Quarter) by Munshi Premchand
10. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy


huge volumious efforts (both in chronological time as well as in pages) have found place here - aagka darya, suitable boy etc. Historical novels - or stories set in a psecific historical period (umrao jaan, Twilight). also a nod towards eroticism in there (and given your comments on God of Small things - i would put it there (but I would disagree vehemently that homoeroticism is thekey issue win the book but lets tqke your take on it). Ofcourse a soft corner for brit authors.

If only we knew the criteria for this list. Just saying those that I read doesnot make sense and cannot make a discussion.

Re: # 21 read the perfumed garden

Dostmittar sahib,

I understand your point, but I can transcribe urdu poetry in english alphabet as well; It wouldnt mean that I wrote it both in Urdu and English.

I hope you understand what I mean. Writing in two scripts the same thing physically means not the same thing as writing in two different languages with a distinct expression. I have seen javed Akhtar's urdu poetry written in Devnagri script and published.

Its still Hindustani poetry and not Hindi.

Dosto,
let me reiterate that I only included those novels which I had READ. I made that abundantly clear in my article but it seems we desis often only skim read...

I'm sure there are many great novels I have not read...there is one--a fictionalised account of the writing of the Kamasutra by the sage Vatsyavana which I've been meaning to read for a while but cannot recall the name...

Shoresaheb:

You are both write and wrong. Munshi Premchand did write in the ordinary language spoken by the people of central UP. But it is also true that he wrote in both Urdu and Hindi, since he used both scripts. He started out writing in the Urdu script and later wrote in the Hindi script as well.

Munshi Prem Chand wrote neither in Urdu of Pakistan, nor the Hindi of modern India. He wrote in Hindustani!

Asif Ji,
Great to see Munshi Premchand on your list. If he was a Western writer, streets and universities would have been named after him. Writing equally beautifully in Hindi and Urdu is something few have tried, let alone succeed in it.

Re: # 16

Very soon this article is going to be " My Top TWENTY Novels by Desi writers". LOL

yaaron, how you could have a list and not include "Red earth and Pouring rain" by Vikram Chandra is beyond me... :(

What do you guys think about " Raja gidh" by Bano Qudsiyaa?

Naqshbandi sahib:

Thanks, for some reason it was not showing on amazon.com. I ordered. I grew up reading Munshi Premchand's short stories in Hindi. One that remains etched even after 45 years, is the short story "Idgaah". Little boy Hamid goes to Idgaah on Eid, and few paise he had saved to enjoy, he spends it on buying a "chimtaa" for his grandma so that she would not burn her hand while cooking.

Simplicity of plots gave powerful visualizations for a child me. I would rank Munshi Premchand as the best short story writer on the sub-continent. Manto as close second.

Not a bad list......

Nadeem Aslam's Maps for Lost Lovers is, hands down, the best book ever written by any author of Pakistani heritage, writing in english....Nadeem Aslam is, head and shoulders, above any Pakistani english author...in fact, it is the only, "world class" piece of english literature ever written by an author of Pakistani origin.....

i haven't read all the books in your list, but i cannot think of any better piece of english prose than, "An Equal Music" by Vikram Seth.....a story of a deaf musician who is married, yet is in love with the author of the book......I read it in one go, and regularly read it again and again...

it inspired me to pen a similar story of my life, for chowk....

This list appears to be incomplete

Midnights Children and Shame are missing.

Although the same author also wrote the worst book...

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Naqs Sahib,

Could you explain the homoerotic subtext in TGOST to which you allude, using examples? Thanks.

the whole point of Lists is to encourage discussion and disagreement!
So bring it on!!!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Courtesans-Quarter-Classics-South-Asia/dp/0195977106/ref =sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1202990476&sr=8-1

Anil bhai:

Thanks first of all for the correction. Yes, the Untouchable is by Mulk Raj Anand not Narayan but as it not on my list I didn't check--my fault. I did mention it in passing though...

I could probably make another list of 10 equally good novels by desis but one has to draw the line somewhere. The order btw is not meant to be from best to worst...

Hanif Qureishi: I've read almost everything he's written and seen all his movies but I don't rate him very highly. Of all his stuff the Buddha of Suburbia almost made it...!

Jannat ki Talaash: Not read it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Not read any of the Malgudi novels either...

I feel Aslam will win the Booker in the next decade.
He is a genius of a writer.

naqshabandi....thanks for the list. I think it is about time such a list was generated.

However a few points before the other things.

DM-Sir has touched upon the untouchable and Narayan's malgudi days...Narayan's Malgudi days are a set of novels which are very easy to read, and they are alive even today (alive as in meaningful). Another aspect which I think - I feel it is my opinion - Arundhati Roys Smallthings - has the flavour of Malgudi Days (with the dark aspect as a extra). When I firts read Smallthings I went and read malgudi days all over again and there is a similarity there.

However, I felt your list was great for another reason. I have been to Bradford and driven through it and seen the place up close. It is a very sad place as well as a place where you can feel the bravery/courage of the people who came here first many years back - from a bright sunny country to a bleak, rainy and claustrophobic place. When I read the Aslam first I sort it sort of echoed bradford to be loud and clear and some of characters were right out of the streets of the city. It is great to see this here (though to put it first or at the top .....but hey its your list ...but its nice to see it make the list).

Somewhere you missed out on another great - Hanif and his Launderette. This is a great piece - I think Aslam's work in a way resembles the launderette (though not the prose - but the overall, braod story). IMHO Hanif and his Launderette should have been on the list.

Vikki baba and his books - the guy can write and has great patience to write pages and pages of stuff (I am always reminded of Satyajit Ray's movie Jalsa GHar - I saw whnI was young and found it extremely boring and tedious - long shots of a smoke filled room of this zamindar smoking his hooka etc - but it was a classic (ask a bong and he goes raving about the movie). But Come on you cannot put them ion the list and miss our Hanif Mian and his Launderette! (you are surely mocking us).

I have read Aag ka darya - and I think if you can put this on the list you are essentially pandering to the Urdu rabble-rousing-crowd. Seriously there are other works which are equally good if not better then this with equal scope and span. But then such lists are a personal opinion, and I will not hold you to it


However, given the off-beat list, I feel you missed out on another great book- English August by Upamanyu Chatterjee.

Thank you, Naqsh, for sharing this list with us. I have read only three of these novels and hope to read at least a few more.

First, The Untouchable, was written by Mulk Raj Anand and not by R.K.Narayan. In my opinion, no list of great desi novels would be complete without one of Narayan's Malgudi novels. He is unique at least in India in having created a fictional city, Malgudi, where all his stories take place and, which, to his readers, is as real, as a real city, with various characters and institutions common to hall his stories.

Back to the list, you should also read some of Rohinton Mistry's novels, including his A Fine Balance and Family Matters.

There is also a rich desi literature in native languages other than Urdu-Hindi, especially in Bengali, Marathi and Malayalam. I haven't read Bazaar-e-Husn but of the Prem Chand novels I have read, I liked his Ghaban and Godaan the best.

The list is also incomplete without "Udaas Naslain" by Abdullah Hassan.

Naqshbandi sahib:

What is the correct name for Munshi Premchand's novel. I searched Amazon.com for "Courtesans’ Quarters" and did not find it. I would love to buy and read it.

naqsh"
1. Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam
2. Psychoraag by Suhail Saadi
3. An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
4. Umrao Jaan by Mirza Muhammad Hadi Ruswa
5. Aag Ka Darya (River of Fire) by Qurratulain Hyder
6. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
7. Twilight in Delhi by Ahmed Ali
8. A River Sutra by Gita Mehta
9. Bazaar e Husn (Courtesans’ Quarter) by Munshi Premchand
10. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy"


In my humble opinion,this list would be incomplete without Raheem Gul's novel "Jannat ki Talaash" It is absolutly a gem, one of the masterpieces of cotemporary Urdu literature. I Cannot understand why this novel is not given a due credit and attention it deserves. If you have not read this novel you are missing something.