Rakhshanda Jalil – författare

Is Urdu the language of Muslims? Or, to be more precise, the language of Indian Muslims? In modern-day India, is Urdu a language of Upper India? What of the Deccan plateau, then, which was once the cradle of Urdu? Can the India south of the Vindhyas lay claim to Urdu? What of the sweet cadences of the Urdu of the Malwa region or the princely states of Bhopal and Hyderabad or even the rural hinterland of present-day Telangana, which has suffused Urdu with a lilting charm over a period of slow distillation spanning several centuries? So, whose Urdu is it anyway? As long as Urdu is yoked to a religionIslamand a certain communitythe Muslimsit will never be understood in its entirety. This collection of sixteen short stories, entirely by non-Muslim Urdu writers, is an attempt to bust stereotypes and address a persistent misconception: that Urdu is the language of India's Muslims and that it addresses subjects that are, or should be, of concern to Muslims, and Muslims alone. It locates Urdu in its rightful placein the heart of Hindustan. Krishan Chander * Rajinder Singh Bedi * Mahinder Nath * Devinder Satyarthi * Kanhaiyalal Kapoor * Ramanand Sagar * Sarla Devi * Devendar Issar * Surendra Prakash * M. K. Mehtab * Ratan Singh * Balraj Komal * Joginder Paul * Deepak Budki * Renu Behl * Gulzar

It is very hard to endure the bombs, Father. It will be difficult for anyone to survive and come back safe and sound from the war. The son who is very lucky will see his father and mother…(Extract from a letter by an Indian soldier serving in France, written on 14 January 1915 to his father)The Great War, as the First World War was referred to, saw the service of over 1.3 million Indians, of whom 74,000 never made it back home. For their families, the War was something they could not fully fathom. Soldiers from the Indian subcontinent won over 12,908 awards for bravery, including 11 Victoria Crosses. Yet this unprecedented show of valour by Indian soldiers remains largely unsung and unrecognised-particularly in India.Commemorating hundred years of the end of the First World War, this volume brings together diverse voices-Rabindranath Tagore, Mulk Raj Anand, Sarojini Naidu, Mohamed Ali, Chandradhar Sharma Guleri and many more-that reflect a variety of attitudes among Indians towards the War. Included too are Rakhshanda Jalil''s original translations of the works of Urdu poets of the time capturing their responses to the War. This volume of writings, originally written in Urdu, Hindi, Bengali and English, attempts to recognise and remember the contribution of the unknown soldiers to the Great War.

It is very hard to endure the bombs, Father. It will be difficult for anyone to survive and come back safe and sound from the war. The son who is very lucky will see his father and mother…(Extract from a letter by an Indian soldier serving in France, written on 14 January 1915 to his father)The Great War, as the First World War was referred to, saw the service of over 1.3 million Indians, of whom 74,000 never made it back home. For their families, the War was something they could not fully fathom. Soldiers from the Indian subcontinent won over 12,908 awards for bravery, including 11 Victoria Crosses. Yet this unprecedented show of valour by Indian soldiers remains largely unsung and unrecognised-particularly in India.Commemorating hundred years of the end of the First World War, this volume brings together diverse voices-Rabindranath Tagore, Mulk Raj Anand, Sarojini Naidu, Mohamed Ali, Chandradhar Sharma Guleri and many more-that reflect a variety of attitudes among Indians towards the War. Included too are Rakhshanda Jalil''s original translations of the works of Urdu poets of the time capturing their responses to the War. This volume of writings, originally written in Urdu, Hindi, Bengali and English, attempts to recognise and remember the contribution of the unknown soldiers to the Great War.