Brief Synopsis
The
Veiled Woman and Other Stories from India, is based on his personal experience and observations
lived and felt after the Partition of India, in 1947. The author as a refugee
shares, in this collection, his own reflections on various characters as they
lived during the post-Partition era. With historical landmarks as a backdrop,
the stories carry a deep psychological realism in a world of ideas and in a
society marked at that time by poverty and human suffering. These are stories
of great historical and anthropological value presented in a time capsule
that the author carefully preserves while describing. An important aspect of
the book is the feminine psyche portrayed in her aspirations in various
situations and circumstances. The main story ‘The Veiled Woman’ talks of a secret love between an
educated but repressed woman (who is still confined to an environment of
repression and conservative moral values) and an ageing journalist. Their love
relation mark (while in togetherness) their own individual journeys towards the
outer and the unknown. The love affair ends as mysteriously as it began. The
collection of stories deal partially or wholly with the suffering of women and
the need for their full emancipation.