Evocative and crisp, Joginder Paul’s stories in Land Lust offer poignant glimpses of the unequal multiracial relations in colonial Kenya. Translated from the original Urdu, they evoke insightful moments of compassion from within the harsh xenophobic environs. The characters breathe life into the paper and touch the readers not just intellectually; but viscerally. One feels the land, the wildness, the Nature, the people and their hearts’ and minds’ connection with Gaia palpably. Land Lust attracts empathetic attention to divisive follies of race and colour, and progress and development even more pertinent today than earlier. The writer deftly and gently asserts the dignity of the black people by including their voice and predicament in these stories.
Other translators: Punya Prakash Tripathi, Vandana R. Singh, Keerti Ramachandra, Chandana Dutta, Meenakshi Bharat & Usha Nagpal
