The Gurkha's Daughter by Prajul Parajuly

   

The Gurkha's Daughter is a collection of eight short stories by Prajwal Parajuly. The stories include: ‘The Cleft’, ‘Let Sleeping Dogs Lie’, ‘A Father’s Journey’, ‘Missed Blessing’, ‘No Land Is Her Land’, ‘The Gurkha’s Daughter’, ‘Passing Fancy’, and ‘The Immigrants’.

Written in a simple and lucid style, the collection is accessible to readers with a decent grasp of English. The stories are primarily set in the regions of Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Nepal, and many revolve around child protagonists. One of the most striking aspects of Parajuly’s writing is his ability to weave multiple voices into a single narrative. A notable example of this polyphonic technique is in “The Gurkha’s Daughter”, where the voices of children Mittini and Gita intersect with the broader narrative of familial tensions and hardships.

“The Cleft” tells the moving story of Kaali, a girl born with a cleft lip who works for a widow named Parvati. Although Parvati repeatedly promises to fund Kaali's surgery, her assurances prove hollow. Kaali dreams of reaching India with her savings of ₹400, but when she entrusts the money to Parvati, her hopes begin to unravel.

“Let Sleeping Dogs Lie” explores themes of class divide, migration, and gender dynamics. It follows a complex interplay between kleptomania, women’s empowerment, and social exploitation. By the end, Munnu, a shopkeeper, manipulates a situation where his wife Humera becomes a victim in their shop, preventing the kleptomaniac Shradhanjali from continuing her thefts.

“A Father’s Journey” delves into the emotional terrain of a father-daughter relationship. A father aspires to give his daughter a liberal education, but the story concludes with irony as she ends up marrying an alcoholic Brahmin man, seeking social acceptance over personal agency.

“Missed Blessing” focuses on Rajiv, a poor man struggling to host relatives during a festival. Despite his efforts to accommodate them in his small one-room home, the guests are dissatisfied and eventually choose to stay in a guesthouse, highlighting the emotional and physical strain of hospitality under poverty.

“No Land Is Her Land” tells the story of Anamika, a refugee preparing to migrate to the U.S. after an interview with the International Organization for Migration. Her story reflects the anxiety and dislocation of cross-border movement.

“The Gurkha’s daughter” subtly foregrounds the anxieties and the trouble of the Gurkhas who are employed by the British. Through the voice of the children, the story navigates the ups and downs of two families. 

“Passing Fancy” centers on a retired woman navigating the challenges and freedoms of her new phase in life, offering a subtle portrayal of aging, solitude, and self-reinvention.

The final story, “The Immigrants”, follows Sabitri, an immigrant woman trying to build a life in America. It sheds light on the struggles of H1-B visa holders as well as undocumented migrants, capturing the complexities of identity and belonging in a foreign land.

Each story in the collection is accompanied by a map highlighting Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Bangladesh, and India. These maps subtly underscore the porous and often contested nature of borders in South Asia—both geographical and emotional.