In calling out patriarchy and questioning traditions prevalent amongst predominantly traditional households, Mushtaq emerges as a tireless champion of women’s rights. For its style which is intensely observant and colloquially reflective, ‘after laying the egg of light at dawn, the black hen of ignorance exited, rushing into the darkness to peck at grain’, the collection of stories is sure to sustain readers’ interest.

Each of the 12 stories does bring the incessant human pain and misery to the surface. However, the final story, Be a Woman Once, Oh Lord! is one that serves to linger. It is not an apt closing to the collection but a touchy beginning, an open letter that dares God to be a woman once to address their plight. Written like a letter addressed to Allah, it seeks respite from male domination: ‘if you were to build the world again, do not be like an inexperienced potter. Come to earth as a woman instead!’ Either it is too naïve to understand what women endure or too cruel to acknowledge their plight.

Deepa Bhasthi’s translation has introduced Mushtaq’s progressive stories far and wide. Bhasthi has done her best in retaining the linguistic sense wherever possible. Translation of a text, according to the translator, is more than merely an act of replacing words in one language with equivalent words in another.

Heart Lamp is linguistically rich, giving the reader a different feeling. The long list of individuals has stretched support in making this book achieve the distinction that it deserves.

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