Of eternal virgins and Gobi Manchurian

Writer, activist and lawyer Banu Mushtaq's short-story collection Heart Lamp, masterfully translated by Deepa Bhasthi from Kannada into English, brings together 12 stories set in Muslim households in south India—a world familiar to Mushtaq, who has spent most of her life in Hassan, Karnataka.

- Chintan Girish Modi

The opening story, Stone Slabs for Shaista Mahal, leaves no doubt as to why Mushtaq's fiction has annoyed some within her community, particularly clerics. As a self-identified feminist, she speaks loudly and clearly against patriarchy.

Her narrator, Zeenat, says, “...for us Muslims, it is said that, other than Allah above, our pati is our God on earth.” Zeenat baulks at the idea. She is not keen to give her husband, Mujahid, “such elevated status”.

The theme of women’s labour is explored in Red Lungi, which looks at “the woes mothers face come summer vacation”. Razia is tired of the ruckus created by the 18 children in her house. Six of these are hers; the others are sons and daughters of her visiting brothers-in-law and younger sister. The noise of their complaining, screaming and crying gives Razia a constant headache.

The author explores how suppressed rage can turn into violence. Razia not only hits the children but comes up with an unusual plan to deal with this summer of pain: “...in the end, she decided that she’d have to engineer bed rest for some of them somehow. Circumcisions, she decided. She would get khatna done.” Of the 18 children, 10 are boys. Six of these are eligible for circumcision; the other four are too young. Several metres of red cloth are bought, to make lungis for the boys.