Ranjit Powar

Dusk over the Mustard Fields Ranjit Powar

Set in colonial Punjab, Dusk over the Mustard Fields is a poignant and compelling human story, inspired by true events, steered by political and social upheavals of the Partition. Married at sixteen, Nimmo's destiny hangs in the balance as she fails to meet the expectations of her debonair husband, Lt. Hukum Singh. Rejected in favour of a second wife, the beautiful and educated Hansa, she is consigned to the village home and falls prey to sexual assaults by Bachana, her brother-in-law. Propelled by her fight for survival in an unforgiving social milieu, Nimmo resorts to using the only tools at her disposal-feminine wiles and black magic. Inextricable from the tragic sweep of human exodus and violence of partition, Nimmo's destiny throws her onto a roller coaster of unimaginable twists and turns. This nostalgic journey into undivided Punjab gives us intimate and vivid insights into the now-lost rural Punjabi culture and a disquieting peep into the lived identities and angst of women in a deeply patriarchal society. Conjuring up the era of the British Indian army, winding through cantonments, Malls and brass bands, it is a tale of love, loss and hope.