“Nimmo would tell women today to speak up, whatever the cost”

Sixteen year old Nimmo lives in a world that is intimate and familiar. There are mustard fields stretching across Sahnewal, the steady rhythms of village life and the everyday laughter and gossip that animate rural Punjab. Yet beneath this gentle surface lie forces beyond her control: the weight of patriarchy inside the home and a country inching towards the trauma of Partition.

This fragile and turbulent world forms the heart of Raen Bhaee Chahu Des, the Punjabi translation of Ranjit Powar’s acclaimed novel Dust Over Mustard Fields. The Punjabi edition was recently launched at the Chandigarh Press Club, marking what the author describes as the story’s return to its rightful language.

Powar was candid about her regret at not writing the novel in Punjabi in the first place. “I actually