‘Kaale Varke‘ (Black Pages) written by Jarnail Singh, an eminent Toronto based Canadian Punjabi writer, is a collection of short stories. The author is known for writing short stories comparatively longer in length; five such stories are included in this collection. These stories mainly relate to the lived experience and existential reality of immigrant Punjabis settled in North America and their interaction with diverse communities in their local neighborhoods.
The narratives depict fresh insights into the complex human relationships in the wider perspective of contemporary reality. For the first time in Punjabi fiction, the title story of the book, ‘Kaale Varke’, tries to powerfully capture the tragic socio-cultural situation and historic oppression of the indigenous inhabitants of this region.
In other stories both local and global issues and problems related to capitalism, materialism, consumerism, individualism, the impropriety of Afghanistan and Iraq wars, raunchiness of the fashion industry, and the eagerness of Punjabis to come to foreign countries by using every fair and unfair means possible are creatively handled. The thematic organization and esthetic treatment of the fictional narrative presented in these stories is quite immersive and commendable.
