another category. They represent the enlightened women working with men folk and conscious of their role in the society. They are not merely domestic women confined to the chores of daily life but are equal participants in the socio-economic and political activities going on around them in the society. They represent the women rising and freeing themselves from the traditional bounds of slavery and subjugation. Mehmooda of the novel The World Is My Village and Ajitha of The Naxalites can also be included in this category. There is yet another category of women in the stories of Abbas. This includes worldly wise women like Radha in the story ‘Cold Wave’ published in the collection Thirteenth Victim and Other Stories (1986).The hero of the story Nirmal is a younggraduate who falls in love with this girl Radha who is a prostitute. She also expresses her ardent love for him. Nirmal’s father doesn’t permit his son to marry Radha and threatens to disown him. When Radha comes to know that Nirmal will be disinherited of all the wealth of his parents, she rejects his love and addresses him in a very cold way as if he was a complete stranger. In a story titled ‘Ajanta’ published in the collection The Gun and Other Stories Abbas describes some women, both Hindu and Muslim, who rejoice in the cold blooded murder of victims of communal violence.

Abbas was conscious of the struggles of people across the world. He had travelled round the world and had met world leaders like Khrushchev,