Podcast Summary
Podcast: New Books Network
Episode: Hari Krishna Kaul, "For Now, It Is Night: Stories" (NYRB, 2024)
Date: October 18, 2025
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Kalpana Raina
Episode Overview
This episode explores the recently translated collection of short stories, For Now, It Is Night, by renowned Kashmiri author Hari Krishna Kaul. Dr. Miranda Melcher interviews Kalpana Raina, the project's leader, about the intricate process of translating these stories into English and their historical, literary, and personal significance. The discussion covers literary heritage, the challenges of language and exile, the collaborative translation process, and the preservation of Kashmiri culture.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
Kalpana Raina's Motivation and Personal Connection
- Kalpana Raina introduces herself as a Kashmiri who left the region early in life but retained strong ties through annual visits and family. Her mother’s dementia reignited her interest in Kashmiri heritage as she realized how much had been lost through political upheavals and migration.
- Quote: “During the course of those 10 years…I had many conversations with her that kind of reignited my interest in Kashmir and made me realize how much of it I had lost touch with.” (03:35)
- Raina's father read Kaul’s stories to her, as she could speak but not read the script. Hearing the stories prompted her to seek a way to make them accessible to a wider audience via translation (05:16).
About the Author: Hari Krishna Kaul
- A celebrated writer and Raina’s uncle, Kaul was born in 1934 in Kashmir and became well-known through both his short stories and radio/TV plays.
- Kaul's fame began with his first Kashmiri story, “Sunshine.” His method of sharing stories was direct and communal—reading them aloud in tea houses and college staff rooms for feedback (07:20).
- He was a modernist influenced by writers like Chekhov, Kafka, and Beckett, blending realism with global literary currents (08:22).
Selection and Representation of Stories
- The collection is chronological, selecting from four total volumes (about 42 stories), with a focus on the two earliest, most iconic collections. Kaul sometimes repeated stories in later collections to reemphasize critical favorites (10:22).
- Quote: “He had a very funny quirk about repeating some stories from one volume to the other…because he didn’t think those stories got the critical appreciation that they deserved.” (10:35)
- The editorial process aimed to give fresh translations and capture the vibrancy and body language of the original—elements earlier English versions had “glossed over.” (11:53)
Kaul’s Literary Evolution: Before and After Exile
- Early stories are rooted in Old Srinagar, portraying Kashmiri Hindu life in close detail, with politics simmering beneath daily encounters.
- Quote: “For me, he mapped Srinagar…reminded me so much about Orhan Pamuk mapping Istanbul.” (16:27)
- Post-1989 exile, after fleeing violence and leaving his home with only what he could carry, Kaul’s tone shifts. The later stories grapple with memory vs. survival, become more ambiguous, and draw on allegory and symbolism.
- Quote: “It’s almost as if he finds that ordinary language…cannot begin to describe this huge transition.” (22:01)
Reception of Kaul’s Stories
- Initially, the stories were eagerly anticipated in Kashmir, often self-published or distributed in journals.
- Winning the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2000 widened Kaul’s readership via mandated translations into other Indian languages (23:48).
- The English collection’s launch in Srinagar after 40 years was especially resonant; it was warmly received locally and internationally—reviewed in major outlets including The New York Times (24:09).
A Standout Story: “To Rage or To Endure”
- Raina’s favorite, the title story, encapsulates the agony of exile. It is notable for its abrupt narrative shifts blending nostalgia and trauma, wandering plot, and symbolic figures (26:46).
- Notable Moment: The mother, carried by her son as they flee, tries to imprint memories of their home—a “sheer agony and torture that this narrator puts himself through.” (29:44)
- The story’s title is untranslatable, expressing “habituation” at the intersection of acceptance and resignation (31:52).
- Quote: “The Kashmiri title is just a single word…at the intersection of acceptance and resignation and habituating oneself.” (31:39)
Translation Process: Challenges and Insights
- The translation project included multiple translators of varying fluency, working from both written texts and oral recordings.
- The project’s timing with COVID-19 compelled much collaboration over Zoom, reinforcing the team’s cohesion during global and political turmoil (33:23, 36:46).
- Co-translators—usually younger Muslims without direct experience of pre-1990 Hindu communities—found the translation process revelatory and collaborative.
- The stories resonated across generational and religious lines, merging different voices into seamless narratives without individual credit (44:30).
- Quote: “No one owns these stories. We own each one of them.” (48:23)
Reflections on Kashmir: Then and Now
- The stories act as a bridge to an “old Kashmir” now nearly vanished. Raina found the present-day valley “starkly monochromatic,” with the Hindu minority almost completely erased from public life (39:55).
- Quote: “I was struck by how much, how little they understood of these two communities living side by side…Kashmir was…starkly monochromatic, if that term makes sense. It was lacking something that these stories brought back to me.” (42:38)
Behind the Scenes & Project Legacy
- The project endured powerful obstacles—including tech shutdowns in Kashmir and the COVID-19 pandemic—but thrived on the translators’ shared hunger for connection and cultural preservation.
- The translators’ refusal to claim individual credits speaks to the collective ownership and reconciliation the stories fostered (48:23).
- Raina hopes for more Kashmiri literature to be translated, noting that the Archipelago edition is the first US publication by a modern Kashmiri writer (50:05).
- “There is now an interest in translation…And that’s very heartening to see.” (50:46)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
On the necessity of translation:
- “No one else would be able to read them…It all came together in a way that propelled me to think about getting these stories translated.” — Kalpana Raina (05:16)
On the loss experienced by Kaul:
- “He’s lost his homeland, he’s lost his muse…his language is now twice a minority language. And above all, he’s lost his audience.” — Kalpana Raina (19:06)
On the project’s collaborative success:
- “We came together in a way that kind of, for at least that brief period of time, transcended all the problems in the world and in Kashmir.” — Kalpana Raina (48:41)
Timestamps of Important Segments
- 02:42 — Kalpana Raina’s personal history and motivation
- 07:02 — Introduction to Hari Krishna Kaul’s life and writing
- 10:22 — On selection and arrangement of stories
- 15:59 — Literary evolution before and after exile
- 23:22 — Reception of stories in Kashmir and internationally
- 26:46 — Favorite story: “To Rage or To Endure,” narrative walkthrough
- 33:23 — Translation challenges, collaborative process, generational insights
- 39:55 — Changing face of Kashmir and reflections on lost pluralism
- 43:50 — Project’s behind the scenes: process, politics, and pandemic
- 50:05 — Future prospects for Kashmiri translation and literary revival
Summary Conclusion
This conversation uncovers the literary and historical riches of Hari Krishna Kaul’s For Now, It Is Night, while highlighting the painstaking, collaborative effort behind bringing Kashmiri voices to new audiences. It is a testament to memory, loss, resilience, and the enduring power of stories to bridge generational, linguistic, and cultural divides. For listeners interested in literature, translation, diaspora, or the history of Kashmir, this episode is both a moving narrative and an instructive case study in the sustenance of endangered cultural traditions.