The Void

Abstract

Translation of a story by novelist, playwright and short story writer, Ali Mohammad Lone, born in 1927 in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. He worked as Assistant Producer in Radio Kashmir, and as Deputy Secretary of Cultural Academy of Jammu and Kashmir. He began his literary career by writing in Urdu but soon turned to his mother tongue Kashmiri. Lone has authored many novels, plays and short stories. Asi Ti Chi Insaan (We Too Are Humans) is his famous novel in Kashmiri. His play Suyya, which has been translated in a number of Indian languages, bagged the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1972. Lone has also translated Maxim Gorky’s famous novel Mother into Kashmiri. He has been honoured with Soviet Land Nehru Award. Though influenced by left-oriented Progressive Writers’ Movement in India, Lone skilfully uses modernist elements in his work. He died in an accident on 22 December 1987 while returning home in Indira Nagar, Srinagar.