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Perek, a collection of short stories

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P erek , a nail that pricks. Minhazuddin feels the prick after coming across a one -legged person while his car waits at the signal. His younger brother Zahirul was one-legged. He died during the war of independence. His mother could never forget the fact that one of her sons was dead. She waited for him for as long as she lived. This is the title story of the book Perek, a collection of short stories. Jharna Rahman a contemporary female writer has earned her name in short stories. Most of her stories revolve around trivial everyday events, which are turned into powerful stories by Jharna's relentless playing with words. She defamiliarises the very intimate and insignificant events that take place in our lives. Perek is one of her most recent books. The writer has a very natural flow in her story telling which makes her narrative reader friendly. The visual effect of the writing is very strong. So strong that when we read the story Perek we can almost see the nail in Mi
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‘Silent Noise’: Celebrating everydayness Zarin Rafiuddin Published at 08:13 PM April 16, 2018   A book review The stories in Jackie Kabir’s Silent Noise have an element of everydayness to them. Their titles wrap around this. From “Mundane Monday” to “The Visit” and “Arshi,” the stories are about ordinary people and ordinary lives. Yet, Kabir shows, the ordinary and everydayness is not as simplistic and uncomplicated as people think it is. Her stories begin with a certain sense of anxiousness or relaxation that seems to be what anyone living in a city or quiet town can relate to, only to transform in a few sentences the ending into something unexpected, even puzzling or sad sometimes. This is the impression that one is left with, upon reading this anthology. The feelings and themes are known to most readers as they strike down to the heart of the matter. And, from experience, we know that the heart of the matter can be convoluted or even emotionally fru
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Unending love of a bygone era:Jackie Kabir is delighted after a reread of Nohonnote, a classic of Bengali literature by author Maitreyi Devi

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I read the book Nohonnote as a young girl and was pleased with myself as I had read one of the most well regarded books of any time. But little did I know that I would appreciate it much more when I read it as an adult. The book is about a forgotten love that shook the whole world of Amrita, a 16 year old girl. One has to metaphorically devour every page as you go through the book. The literary quality of the language is brilliant. The emotions come out alive as the writer describes the past that was, until then, suppressed inside her. It is also a document of a time when Bengali girls got little or no exposure. Yet Amrita managed to steal the heart of a young foreigner who later became a famous writer in his own country. The word Nohonnote is a Sanskrit word meaning - not of body; but of soul, of spirit. The novel is written by Maitreyi Devi, a disciple of Rabindranath Tagore. She was a famous writer in her own right. The story is set in 1972. It is Amrita’s birthday. She is an elder
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