Geetanjali Shree

In northern India, an eighty-year-old woman slips into a deep depression at the death of her husband, then resurfaces to gain a new lease on life. Her determination to fly in the face of convention – including striking up a friendship with a hijra person – confuses her bohemian daughter, who is used to thinking of herself as the more 'modern' of the two.

To her family’s consternation, Ma insists on travelling to Pakistan, simultaneously confronting the unresolved trauma of her teenage experiences of Partition, and re-evaluating what it means to be a mother, a daughter, a woman, a feminist.

Rather than respond to tragedy with seriousness, Geetanjali Shree's playful tone and exuberant wordplay results in a book that is engaging, funny, and utterly original, at the same time as being an urgent and timely protest against the destructive impact of borders and boundaries, whether between religions, countries, or genders.

Translated by Daisy Rockwell

Tomb of Sand

रेत समाधि

Jiji

Ek muddat se teri yaad bhi aayi na hamen, aur ham bhul gae hon tujhe aisa bhi nahin

I have not thought of you for ages, but it's not as though I've forgotten you either.

Being sick of one's self is worse than being sick of anything else. The absolute worst. Others are at least other. You can get away from them, for good or for a couple of hours.

Tomb of Sand quotes

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