Khali Khoohan Di Katha (novel)

Khali Khoohaan di Katha (The Story of Empty Wells) is his sixth novel. In this work, Billing takes the reader into his confidence and unravels the skein of his tale effortlessly. The drama unfolds in a rural setting, within the ongoing familial interaction of two brothers married to two sisters. Pashi, the grandson of the elder brother Charan Singh, spends his summer vacation happily in the remote village of his maternal grandparents. He is a keen observer of the way of life, and dispassionately narrates the ups and downs of four generations in the extended families of Charan Singh and Bishan Singh. He never forgets the dictum of his maternal grandfather, that the wells of money are emptied if there is no steady flow of income in the family. It is no surprise, then, that he finds, towards the end of the novel, that ‘Happiness is an occasional episode in the general drama of pain.’ Through its powerful narrative and careful description, this novel brings into focus the social, economic and cultural changes witnessed in rural Punjab during the last eight decades. The story of four generations woven into the novel is unique in its fictional presentation, and yet remains true to the lived experience of a joint peasant family. The novel is simply superb in its realistic development of characters and artistic use of language. The local regional culture of the Dhaha area in Punjab comes alive in all its manifestations.