Heart Lamp: Stories Too Familiar, Yet Still Unheard

My latest read (a bit delayed, but never mind), winner of the 2025 Booker Prize, Heart Lamp is a collection of selected stories by Banu Mustaq, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, originally written in Kannada between 1990 and 2023.

As promised, it shines a light on the everyday struggles of Muslim women, focusing on gender inequality, patriarchy, oppression, domestic violence, and more.

Now, is it worth a Booker Prize? Honestly, I’m not the best person to comment on that. But here’s what I felt—many of these stories felt familiar, maybe even too familiar, if you’ve grown up in India.

Tales of patriarchy, domestic abuse, women belittling women… we have all seen or heard these around us.

So, what makes Heart Lamp special?

Perhaps the fact that in 2025, we are still reading and writing about these miseries. It’s disheartening to realize how much hasn’t changed, how women’s pain continues to be normalized, ignored, or silenced.

This book makes you pause and reflect: how far have we really come as humans? Clearly, there’s still a long way to go in learning empathy and respecting every life.

Will we get there someday? Let’s hope so. ✨
Meanwhile, do pick up Heart Lamp (not to “enjoy”), to understand more deeply the simple lives of women around us.

Comments

Draupadi - Action Prevails Emotions

The woman of Kaliyuga…. before the Kaliyuga descended One of the few very clear memories I still have of my childhood is when my mother was feeding me lunch and we were happily chatting about Mahabharata. While talking, I said ‘when I grow up, I want to become Draupadi’. She yelled at me ‘ pagal ho gayi ho kya?, kuch bhi bak bak karti ho. Khana khao chup chap ’. I was taken aback by her sudden anger. Barely 7-8 years of age, I didn’t quite understand the reason for her annoyance, then. Today, after decades I certainly do. Indeed, I do understand, why a mother wouldn’t want her daughter to become Draupadi or even get closer to what she suffered. All said and done, she was the heroine of the one of the only two greatest epics of the country’s history – Mahabharata.

From ‘ASL Pls’ To Emoji’s

I don’t get tired; no really, I do not get tired or bored at all narrating our story to anyone. Infact every new person I meet, I try to grab this opportunity to talk about us – You and I! And I surprise myself when I realise that I still remember it all so well. Every single detail of 4 years of friendship, 4 years of long-distance relationship, and 7 years of being married. Well, can’t really say that about the last 7 years :P, but the first 8 years are like embedded in my DNA. Pic clicked by Sudipto Roy I think our story is unique. It’s beautiful. Just 15 years old but so much has changed in this one and half-decade. Or not much?

A Soul Stirring Journey! (Book Review)

Image Source Book: The Seeker Author: Karan Bajaj The climax of the book is just unexpected. Well that's not how you would expect me to begin a review, but it's simply not what I had anticipated. In fact with the twists and turns I actually had no idea how the book will end. Had completely given up all my presumptions. I'll be honest, first few pages were a little boring for me. Perhaps, because the beginning is slow or maybe because I thought this packing your stuff and going away is a 'very guy' thing. Alright, the fact is I was jealous of Max, that he could just walk away from his corporate life towards a different life...... However, I continued to read; I was curious to know how far does Max go in order to reach that state where he feels detached from the world yet one with every tiny bit of the universe. And boy what a journey that was! I enjoyed it :)

A(NU) Thought

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