Banu Mushtaq
Banu Mushtaq (April 3, 1948) is an Indian writer, activist and lawyer. Her short story collection Heart Lamp, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, won the International Booker Prize in 2025. Her story 'Karinaagaragalu' (titled 'Black Cobras' in English) was adapted into the award-winning film Hasina.
Quotes
[edit]- In a world that often tries to divide us, literature remains one of the last sacred spaces where we can live inside each other's minds, if only for a few pages.
- International Booker Prize acceptance speech, May 2025.
- Women are often harder on women than men are. They step into the shoes of men and adopt their own strategies to oppress women… like how senior convicts become supervisors of other convicts.
- Interview with Vogue India, May 2025.
- I have also been writing about how the media often misrepresents Muslims. I once saw a misleading photo of an elderly man garlanded by a young girl, implying child marriage. But in reality, it was a photo of a Quran teacher and his student after she completed her Quranic studies―a tradition where the teacher is honoured with garlands and gifts. Misrepresentation like this damages perceptions deeply.
- Interview with The Week, May 2025.
- Our culture teaches us, whether it be Hindu or Muslim or Christian or whether it may be Kannadiga or Tamil or Malayali, the culture of human beings, the culture of neighbourhood. So we are Muslims, and if there was a feast the female elders of the family would bring a plate of sweets, coconut, prawn, flowers, everything to share with our neighbours, who were vegetarian [...] And they would invite us for their feasts. And this culture of coexistence is there even today. The fabric seems to be tarnished, but it remains there. So, there is no question of othering. There is a question of only inclusiveness.
- Interview with The Times of India, May 2025.
- My stories are about women – how religion, society, and politics demand unquestioning obedience from them, and in doing so, inflict inhumane cruelty upon them, turning them into mere subordinates.
Heart Lamp (2025)
[edit]- Isn’t he a man? Whether he is there, not there, whether he carries responsibilities, whether he neglects them, who's going to ask? Who does he have to answer to? He is langoti yaar, after all, a man, everybody's best friend. His past does not rise up to dance in public. The present doesn't touch him. The future doesn't move him, nor is it a mystery. He does not have to remain shyly in the shadows. He does not have to say who he belongs to. He does not need to seek forgiveness, not ever at all, because nothing he does is a mistake.
- 'Black Cobras'
- Material things had become priceless, and human beings worthless. Behind those material possessions, people's feelings were on sale. Things decided the relationships between small people with big shadows. A fridge had the capacity to change the life of a young bride. The different colours it came in could play Holi on her young dreams. Such possessions held a prominent spot not only in the house, but also in making life decisions. People were running, having tossed their worthiness and their relationships into the air.
- 'High-Heeled Shoe'
- If you were to build the world again, to create males and females again, do not be like an inexperienced potter. Come to earth as a woman, Prabhu!
Be a woman once, oh Lord!- 'Be a Woman Once, Oh Lord!'
