The birth of God by RS Nain
Unistar. Pages: 168. Price: Rs. 295/-
The birth of God is a collection of sixteen stories. The very first one – of the same name – is actually not structured as a typical short story. It is more a story-cum-essay – an interesting innovation – in which the author has tried to convey how the need for a divine being must have arisen at the beginning of human civilization. With so many unexplained natural phenomena, and reasons behind even mundane events not understood, there was a felt need for a supernatural power that could be held responsible for such happenings. Moreover, since agriculture was not known then and food had to be either hunted or gathered from the forest – a daunting task – there were turf battles among various tribes for the same. Inter-tribal warfare for food and women was common. To ensure victory divine intervention was essential, hence the invention of local deity. Finally, the need for morality arose when struggles for women’s favours turned really nasty. Hence a moral code, wrapped in piety, became essential. The silver threads portrays a child’s bewilderment over human perfidy in matters of love. He is unable to come to terms with the manner in which Saabi changes her loyalty from her dead fiancé Sultana to his brother Ramzana. The wailing stream is a love story with paranormal touch, whereas The faith is more a satire on superstition with star-crossed conjugal love as its background. Other stories too attempt to explore and explain human nature in variegated circumstances.
The Tribune
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