Book review: The Song of Distant Bulbuls by Simrita Dhir

Abstract

An Ode to Waiting

Simrita Dhir’s novel, The Song of Distant Bulbuls, is an ode to waiting. What would it be like for a young bride in her parents’ home, waiting for her husband to return from war, especially if the waiting spans seven interminable seeming years?  The novel opens, significantly, in the winter of 1946—four months afte­r the end of World War II—in a small farming village in southern Panjab. The narrative progresses through the seasons towards the eventful August of 1947, while flashbacks explore the experiences of the preceding seven years of waiting for Sammi and her family members.