‘Tassi Dharti’ (Thirsty Land) is a novel penned by Zahid Hassan, a prolific writer based in Lahore, Pakistan. Published in Shahmukhi script, the story deals with the land and people of the geographical region of the undivided Punjab, known as Bar. It tries to recapture the changing historical and socio-cultural reality of this region over the last two hundred years.
Tassi Dharti is a gripping representation of existential concerns of the valiant people of this region and their hardy struggles in the context of evolving social and political environment during the colonial period and beyond. As a regional novel, it employs the language and idiom of the regional dialect and focuses on the folk tradition and cultural practices of the people. Throughout the narrative the secular fabric of pre-partition Punjab emerges wonderfully.
On the whole it is a valuable literary work relating to a rather under-represented cultural region of Punjab.
