Hats and Doctors

Hats and Doctors offers English readers the opportunity to savour for the first time the work of Upendranath Ashk one of Hindi literatures bestknown and most controversial authors. The stories in this collection often display a wry sense of humour such as The Dal Eaters in which a family of cheapskates journeys to Kashmir. While Ashks satirical eye is employed to great effect in The Cartoon Hero where a hapless traveller encounters a petty politician on a train his talent for capturing human frailties is amply evident in Furlough and In the Insane Asylumtwo thought-provoking stories that later became part of his novel Girti Divarein. And finally stories such as Mr Ghatpande and Hats and Doctors give the reader a glimpse of some of Ashks primary personal preoccupations: his health and his hats. Exhibiting a lightness of touch and a deep engagement with the human condition these stories come alive in Daisy Rockwells delightful translation.