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The Dust Beneath Her Feet The Purana Qila Stories Book 1 edition by Shaheen AshrafAhmed Literature Fiction eBooks

Download As PDF : The Dust Beneath Her Feet The Purana Qila Stories Book 1 edition by Shaheen AshrafAhmed Literature Fiction eBooks

The Dust Beneath Her Feet The Purana Qila Stories Book 1 edition by Shaheen AshrafAhmed Literature Fiction eBooks

The Purana Qila Stories

The Dust Beneath Her Feet

A Change in the Weather

by Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed

Some stories rest in the margins.

Some are always just past the rim of our glasses, and we turn pages, squinting, trying to improve our view.

The Purana Qila Stories: The Dust Beneath Her Feet and A Change in the Weather, by Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed are pearl-like, almost glowing from their own light, suggesting, but not telling all they've seen.

Purana Qila is the oldest known structure in Delhi, and it was also the locus of Muslim refugees trying to leave India and move into the newly formed state of Pakistan during the Partition. The stories themselves are refugees. In some instances, the fleeing is physical and divisive; in others, the flight is ideological or emotional. Ashraf-Ahmed asks us not only from what do we run, but towards what, and with whom?

Each story laps the ankles of one man and the people associated with him. They are fluid in time and geography and point of view, moving shamelessly like memory. Ashraf-Ahmed pushes at the notions of honor and loyalty, shifting points of view and time. Roti-like, they wrap around the binding decisions of common men, containing bites of lives. The dish, however, remains largely outside of one's hands.

`If the eggs spoil in their shells, it is because of something we did.' Safiyah tells her daughters, as she tries to navigate the whims of her husband, his employer, and the increasing danger of being an unprotected individual in 1947. The Dust Beneath Her Feet is an observation of those who may only react to the decisions of others. The action, the movement, in the story is all committed by second-tier characters. Thus, the novella itself describes the margins of activity, the consequences of being in someone else's shade.

The prose is tight and delicate, each phrase carefully tuned. It is musical in tempo and cadence. It is powerful in its restraint and discretion.

A Change in the Weather brings our hero into closer view. Only a point of reference in The Dust Beneath Her Feet, in A Change in the Weather, Imran is presented to us for evaluation, after he has out lived his potential. The narrative presents us with his choices during the decades since The Dust Beneath Her Feet , and we are left to determine if he chose properly or poorly.

Both stories are available through amazon. They are extraordinary, and worthwhile. Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed's blog is [...]
This review first appeared on irevuo.com, Friday Reads.


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The Dust Beneath Her Feet The Purana Qila Stories Book 1 edition by Shaheen AshrafAhmed Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews

A short story about the children Laila and Henna who live in poverty with their parents. When their father leaves them things only get worse. I wouldn't want to give too much away as this is a novella and I read it in one sitting. It is well written and I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed this short story, but did not like the abrupt ending, which left me wanting to know what happened next. I cared about what happened to the characters and there were a lot of unanswered questions. I suppose it is similar to the serial novels that Dickens published you'll need to read the next in the series! I received this book as an Early Reviewer, which did not impact my review.
I really enjoyed this story and would to read more by this author. I know so little of the time in which this story takes place and would love to know more. I may have to go and read up on it more somewhere. This story sparked a real interest in me for the era and people involved. The only thing I wish is that it had been longer and more detailed about what the era was like for everyone. I have seen many movies that are about this timeframe but none made me want to know more like this one short story did. Bravo to the author.
At the time when history's defining events are taking place they aren't always recognised as such. It takes hindsight to realise how significant they are. The Dust Beneath Her Feet is a short story set at a significant time but not directly about that time. The book is set in northern India when India was preparing for Independence. Independence and the Partition are essential elements of the story and create the context in which the book evolves but these two events are not the focus - merely the setting.

The Dust Beneath Her Feet is the story of a poor Muslim family whose lives are lived in a rather small way. They have little in material ways but they have each other. The two daughters Laila and Henna live with their mother Safiyah and their father Aarif and their lives are those of poor servants. Aarif finds himself homeless when his British employers head home to England but finds a job with a wealthy Muslim family. Aarif is impatient, he does something that it's hard to believe his employers can forgive and runs away to the Punjab to get a new job, to make his fortune and to change his destiny once again.

I'm not sure whose feet the dust is beneath in this book since interestingly the three female characters are quite balanced in their page time. Is our heroine young Laila, viewing events through the eyes of a small child, or is it Safiyah, striving to survive and protect her daughters with her husband far away? It's not clear and it doesn't matter. There are some horrible people in this book - there's an evil landlord, there are spiteful children in the playground and Aarif himself is hard to like. In the background hundreds of thousands of people are killing or being killed but it's the small cruelties that impact directly on the lives of the family. More importantly there are acts of great kindness, some of them quite unexpected.

If you like a story where everything knits together neatly at the end, then you may not appreciate this one. I like the ending because of its ambiguity, not in spite of it. Nothing is completed and the reader is left with many unanswered questions. When the line is drawn across the map will Aarif find himself in Pakistan instead of India? Will Safiyah be safe to go off and search for her husband at such a dangerous time? Are the rumours her children have heard about his new life true? And should she take her children with her or leave them with her friends or her patron? It's the kindness of others towards a young woman who has no husband or local family to protect her that gives this book a glow of reassurance. History shows that many good people did not close their doors or turn a blind eye to the troubles of others caught up in Partition and this presents that alternative reality in a small way.

A more powerful story might have come if the author had laid on the tragedy and violence with a heavier hand but I'm glad that she didn't. It's the lightness of touch combined with the beautiful prose that makes this short book one whose story stays with the reader for a lot longer than it takes to read.
The Purana Qila Stories

The Dust Beneath Her Feet

A Change in the Weather

by Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed

Some stories rest in the margins.

Some are always just past the rim of our glasses, and we turn pages, squinting, trying to improve our view.

The Purana Qila Stories The Dust Beneath Her Feet and A Change in the Weather, by Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed are pearl-like, almost glowing from their own light, suggesting, but not telling all they've seen.

Purana Qila is the oldest known structure in Delhi, and it was also the locus of Muslim refugees trying to leave India and move into the newly formed state of Pakistan during the Partition. The stories themselves are refugees. In some instances, the fleeing is physical and divisive; in others, the flight is ideological or emotional. Ashraf-Ahmed asks us not only from what do we run, but towards what, and with whom?

Each story laps the ankles of one man and the people associated with him. They are fluid in time and geography and point of view, moving shamelessly like memory. Ashraf-Ahmed pushes at the notions of honor and loyalty, shifting points of view and time. Roti-like, they wrap around the binding decisions of common men, containing bites of lives. The dish, however, remains largely outside of one's hands.

`If the eggs spoil in their shells, it is because of something we did.' Safiyah tells her daughters, as she tries to navigate the whims of her husband, his employer, and the increasing danger of being an unprotected individual in 1947. The Dust Beneath Her Feet is an observation of those who may only react to the decisions of others. The action, the movement, in the story is all committed by second-tier characters. Thus, the novella itself describes the margins of activity, the consequences of being in someone else's shade.

The prose is tight and delicate, each phrase carefully tuned. It is musical in tempo and cadence. It is powerful in its restraint and discretion.

A Change in the Weather brings our hero into closer view. Only a point of reference in The Dust Beneath Her Feet, in A Change in the Weather, Imran is presented to us for evaluation, after he has out lived his potential. The narrative presents us with his choices during the decades since The Dust Beneath Her Feet , and we are left to determine if he chose properly or poorly.

Both stories are available through . They are extraordinary, and worthwhile. Shaheen Ashraf-Ahmed's blog is [...]
This review first appeared on irevuo.com, Friday Reads.