
Pigeons of the Domes Stories on Communism (B.P) By: Rakhshanda Jalil
Pigeons of the dome: Stories on Communalismis a collection of short stories depicting the various hues and shades of the demon of communalism that lurks within Indian society. A word that crops up repeatedly in the stories included here is fasaad in Urdu and danga in Hindi; translated as ‘riot’ in English, it has an entirely and peculiarly Indian connotation. When used in India, a riot is more often than not a clash between two communities and is a word loaded with communal intent unlike the original English usage whereby the word, free of any sociological baggage, merely refers to unruly or disorderly conduct by a group of people.