Book Review: Masooma by Ismat Chughtai (translated from Urdu by Tahira Naqvi)

Masooma by Ismat Chughtai
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Masoomiyat of Masooma becomes lofargiri of Nilofar..the transition compels you think as to whether the high living was so necessary as to force this change.. or could her mother lived a frugal life, did odd jobs like washing/ cooking/ cleaning and sustained their family..once in the trade, Nilofar keeps on stumbling from one Seth to other Raja to other Colonel, people who are masters of money..her own identity is lost..wish i would have known to read Urdu and read the book in the original text rather than this translated version from Tahira Naqvi..the force of Urdu words were missing from the translation..story not a shocker for me since bits and pieces of it is captured in many bollywood movies..


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Book review: Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

The carefree and adventurous nature of Tom and Huck take you many years yonder to the childhood. Pirate today, Robinhood tomorrow, and hero of town (by clever exchange of things) the next day. 

Getting the job done through sheer cleverness by creating a heightened status of same (whitewashing the wall) to wooing the heart of the new girl in the town with the tomfoolery; the boy know it all. 

Daring to go to places without fear, speaking up the truth and standing up for your friend, the story weaves adventure and morality at places which is only realized as we think of Tom's myriad hues. Huck towards the end clearly shows as to what it is to change a lifestyle suddenly but is drawn in the grand persuasive scheme of Tom.