Books by Partap Sharma
Novels | Children's Books | PlaysDays of the Turban (novel)
Sharma's first novel Days of the Turban presents a picture of Indian Society from the inside. It shows a country in transition, where old values are under attack from new ideas but where, in the end, the traditions and ways of life still have their place.It tells the story of Balbir, the youngest member of a wealthy Punjabi family, the descendant of a great Brahmin warrior dynasty. In the Punjab the family counts for everything. Over-educated and bored with life in a Punjabi village, Balbir only wants to escape and get away from the demands of his ever-present family. Most of all he would like to follow his glamorous, elder brother Raskaan, who has escaped to Europe and become a rich, businessman in Berlin.
Searching for adventure and trying to raise the money to finance his escape, Balbir becomes entangled with local gunrunners. Venturing into the Golden Temple at Amritsar with a message for the Sikh extremists who have fortified it, he is held hostage to ensure that his cousin Satyavan will provide the arms the movement needs.
The book provides an insight into the mind of extremists. It shows how extremism builds on fear and then has to reach further into terrorism, not necessarily to further its aim, but for its leadership to keep ahead of its supporters and rivals. The descent from revolutionary to terrorist can be jagged and rapid.
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Reviews:
"A substantial work of fiction...with vividness and vivacity."- British Book News
"Unusual... Dramatic... Horrific."
- The Observer, London
"As authentic as daylight. The language, in keeping with the ethos of Punjab, is full-blooded, earthy...Days of the Turban presents a picture of Punjab's rural society that leaves one numb with terror... Here in this book we come to grips with basic emotions. The drama builds up...it holds the attention of the reader by the margin of his mind. It is Hitchcock at his best... Days of the Turban may well go down in Indian literary history as the most definitive work of fiction on Punjab... It is this 'deep backgrounding' that is most impressive about this novel, so contemporary, so evocative that it gives one the goose pimples. It is packed with TNT and it explodes on every page."
- The Times of India
"A good novel. It tells a tale, does not shy away from the ambiguities of a contemporary situation."
- Deccan Herald
"...written with élan and an eye to detail and offers an insight into the goings-on in the Punjab from a human point of view."
- Hindustan Times
"Partap Sharma is a fine raconteur. He is at his best on home ground picturising rural Punjab."
- The Week
The Surangini Tales (children)
The Surangini Tales is a children's book of stories. Surangini, daughter of the village zamindar (a rich landowner), is the most beautiful maiden anyone has ever seen. Kalu, the poor weaver, loves her but only the wealthiest of eligible young men can ask for her hand in marriage. That is unless Kalu, with his deft hands, quick wit and unselfish love, can produce an unexpected and amazing miracle on the day she is to choose her bridegroom!The Surangini Tales is an enchanting book about what we all value and seek in life - love, trust, friendship and peace.
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Dog Detective Ranjha (children)
Dog Detective Ranjha is a sweet, refreshing story about Sharma's Alsatian dog, Ranjha. Sharma dedicates the book to animal lovers the world over, and particularly in India where some of the world's earliest animal stories were written. Even today the streets in India are open not only to traffic and human beings but also the friendly cows and bulls who wander freely as they please, sometimes absentmindedly standing in a bus queue or staring with curiosity from the doorstep of a shop.There are even festivals for the less loved creatures, like snakes. Birds, of course, are often fed little morsels even by those who can hardly afford a daily meal for themselves. In the great epic, Mahabharata, it is said that when the legendary hero, Yuddhister went to heaven he insisted that his dog should be allowed to accompany him.
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Reviews:
'Dog Detective Ranjha is glowing, refreshing, real. An outstanding book...Fulfills a deep strong need in children's literature... The publication of Dog Detective Ranjha is an exciting event.'- Pervin Mahoney, Debonair, India
'Sharma has written a good, old-fashioned adventure story book, its rather solid virtues enlivened by the amusing device of having events narrated by the dog.'
- Rosemary Stones, Children's Book Bulletin (UK)
Top Dog (children)
Top Dog has more stories about Ranjha, the dog detective.They live in Mumbai and Ranjha has been so skilfully trained in the art of tracking that he has become famous for the crimes he has solved. All the stories in this book are based on real cases and Ranjha tells us, in his own words, about some of the most puzzling he has helped to solve. He tracked down a local thief, he got involved in a particularly unpleasant case of what seemed to be ritual murder, he got to the bottom of a series of thefts from a warehouse that had reduced the owner of the goods to despair. He helped to find and return to her family a little girl, who had been kidnapped.
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The Little Master of the Elephant (children)
The Little Master of the Elephant tells the story of a parched land, where people are dying or leaving. Chintu and his elephant Vivek go in search of water to save a dying uncle. They come back with a retinue of people and animals and a river of water... This is just the beginning of their adventures together, as they search for the meaning of life.Also translated into Hindi and French.
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A Touch of Brightness (play)
This play centres around Rukimini, a girl sold to a brothel in Mumbai and her relationship with Pidku, a street urchin, who tries desperately to rescue her from her life as a prostitute. Rukimini mesmerises Pidku with her visionary stories of the gods and her dreams of a married life. Even in a brothel, her extravagant optimism never ceases but only deepens.Partap Sharma wrote this play at the age of 24, which was selected for performance at the first Commonwealth Arts Festival. Later the play was banned in Mumbai (Bombay) because it dealt with the City's infamous redlight district and 'with subjects which should not be depicted on stage'. To prevent the Indian National Theatre's acting troupe from performing it abroad, fifteen passports were seized. In 1972, the High Court decreed that the censoring authority had 'exceeded its jurisdiction' and the ban was lifted. Forty years on it was selected by Sahitya Akademi (India's National Academy of Letters) to launch a series of contemporary plays by Indian writers in English.
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Like many truly creative people, Sharma has never been overly protective of his work, believing that creative work must enlarge awareness. In the playwright's note (2006 edition), he relates an incident that took place in 1999, in New York, when the play had its third U.S production. Invited to say a few words to the audience, Sharma found himself saying,
"For years, because of the troubles surrounding it, this play has become something of a cross that I carried. Tonight my cross has sprouted wings in a resurrection of the spirit. Thank you."
It was then a member of the audience suddenly called out,
"I have a question for the playwright. How come your play has the same story as the film Salaam Bombay?"
"Ah," replied Sharma, "Isn't that interesting? Perhaps you can answer that yourself. Here are the mathematics of the matter. I wrote the play in 1964, it was first produced in 1965 and published by Grove Press, New York, in 1968. The film was made in or around 1988, nearly a quarter century after the play was written. You work that out and tell me who might have influenced whom."
Zen Katha (play)
Revered in China, Okinawa and Japan, the Indian monk Bodhidharma was, till the writing, performance and publication of this play, almost forgotten in his homeland India. Zen Katha tells the story of how Bodhidharma, born a prince in South India in the fifth century, had to discover ways to excel at unarmed combat because the royal Pallavas prided themselves on their wrestling skills. The prince became a monk and travelled to China. There, his strange behaviour let to various piquant situations. He became not only the Founding Patriarch of Zen but also the first peaceful fighting monk. As Chief Abbot of the Monastery of Shaolin, he initiated the tradition that now makes it unique.
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Reviews:
"...brilliant playwright Partap Sharma. A prominent fan of his work was the prize-winning African writer, Wole Soyinka!"- Saeed Jaffrey, in An Actor's Journey.
"...a very considerable writer".
- Walter Allen in The Listener.
...discovered his own voice. It is not the voice of Arthur Miller or John Osborne. It is Partap Sharma."
- Alyque Padamsee in A Double Life.
SAMMY! (play)
A play in two acts is about the word that began the break-up of the British Empire and the irrepressible 'Mahatma' in Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Through a witty, lively debate between two actors, Sammy, traces the development of the 'Father of the Nation' from a young, naive man to the enlightened, shrewd person that he later becomes.The title is explained early on in the drama; the word Sammy (sami), along with Coolie, was used by white proponents of apartheid in South Africa to insult Indians. It stems from the word Swami, which means master or guru.
In Gandhi's own life he was said to have been plagued by his 'inner voice' which is given tangible form in the play where the realist, Mohan, and the idealist, Mahatma, are dramatised visually through two actors debating about him and their portrayal of him. The two voices never quite agree with each other and thus the action is driven on. This device enables us to understand the decisions that Gandhi took in life after battling them out in his mind, the arena of right and wrong.
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Reviews
"Playwright Partap Sharma's painstaking crafted SAMMY! ... Delves into the irrepressible mischievousness of the Mahatma in Mohandas...takes a look at lesser known incidents of Gandhi's life. The script is a veritable guide which will make people learn - and unlearn - various aspects of Indian history and yet entertain. Before you wonder whatever is this Sammy - Sammy is the word that broke an empire."- Shaheen Parkar in Mid Day, Mumbai
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