A Complex Problem

English Translation of Munshi Premchand's Hindi Story  (Visham Samasya)

There were four peons in my office, and one of them was named Gharib. He was really simple, very obedient, deft in his job, silent even when rebuked. True to his name[1], he was a poor, humble fellow. It had been about a year since I came to this office, and I had never seen him miss a day at work. I was so used to seeing him sitting on his torn down mat every morning at nine, that it seemed he was a part of the building. He was so nice that he did not refuse anyone anything. Another peon was a Muslim. The whole office was afraid of him; I am not sure why. In my opinion, the only reason for this was his boastfulness. He claimed his cousin was a Qazi[2] in the state of Rampur, and his uncle was a police chief in the state of Tonk. He had unanimously been given the title of 'Qazi Sahib' . The other two gentlemen were Brahmins by caste. Just their blessings were a lot more valuable than their work. All three were shirkers, arrogant, and lazy. Ask them to do a small chore and they would not do it without making a fuss. They wouldn’t think anything at all of the clerks. They were a little afraid of the office manager, though they would sometimes disrespect even him. Even after so many bad qualities, no one in the office had such a bad standing as poor Gharib did. When it was appraisal time, the other three would get the high grades, and nobody would even care about Gharib. While everyone else was paid ten rupees each, Gharib was stuck at seven. He would not rest for even a minute from morning till evening. Even the three peons would order him around, and the poor man would have no share in their tips and bribes. On top of that everyone from the employees to the manager were miffed with him. He had been complained against so many times, fined a number of times, and getting rebuked and reprimanded was a daily occurrence with him. I just didn’t understand the secret of all this. I pitied him and I wanted to show with my treatment of him that in my eyes he had no less respect than the other three peons. I had even argued with other employees for him so many times.
2
One day, the manager asked Gharib to clean his table, which he started to do right away. Coincidentally, the duster hit the inkpot, which fell down; and the ink spilled onto the table. The manager saw this and got infuriated. He caught him by his ears and twisted them and started swearing at him with choicest profanities from all of India’s known languages. Poor Gharib kept listening with tears in his eyes and standing like a statue, as if he had committed a murder. I felt so bad about the manager’s pugnacious attitude over such a trivial matter. If another peon had committed even a bigger crime, he would not have been struck with such a fierce reprimand. I said to him in English, “Sir, you are being unjust. He did not spill the ink on purpose. Punishing him so severely is the height of impropriety.”
The manager said humbly, “You don’t know him. He is a scoundrel.”
“I don’t see any evil in him.”
“You haven’t known him yet. He is a rogue. His household farms with two bullocks. His dealings are in thousands of rupees, and he owns a number of buffalos. These are the things that he is arrogant about.”
“If he were so well off, why would he work as a peon in your office?”
“Trust me, he is really hard-shelled, and extremely stingy on top of that.”
“Well, even if he is, I don’t think it is a crime.”
“Mister, you don’t understand these things. Spend some more time here and you will figure out what kind of a rascal he is.”
Another gentleman spoke up, “Sir, his household produces maunds of milk and curds, maunds of peas, millet and gram, but he never even thinks of giving something to people at the office. We always yearn for such stuff here. So, why wouldn’t we be angry? He has got all this after he got employment here. He didn’t own a grain before that.”
The manager seemed embarrassed. He said, “That is not an issue. He owns all this, so it doesn’t matter if he shares it or not. But even otherwise, he is an animal.”
I started to get a gist of the matter. I said, “If he is such a mean hearted person, then he is really an animal. I didn’t know all this.”
Now the manager also opened up. He said, “Not that such gifts make anyone rich; it just goes to show the magnanimity of the giver. Moreover, you come to have expectations from those who are worthy. If someone is incapable, nobody expects anything from him. Who would take from an unclothed person?”
The secret was out. The manager had explained the whole situation in simple words. Everyone is an enemy of others’ prosperity; not just the little man, even a rich person is. If our relatives are poor, we don’t expect anything from them. More likely, we just forget about them. But if they are well-healed and don’t care about us, or don’t send us gifts on festivals, we become green with envy. If we visit an impoverished friend, we are happy getting served with just a mouthful of paan[3], but which person wouldn’t curse and forever hate a well-to-do friend after returning unfed from the friend's house. If Sudama[4] had returned dissatisfied from Krishna’s home, he would perhaps have become his worst enemy – worse than Shishupal and Jarasandh were. This is human nature.
3
A few days later I asked Gharib, “Why dear, do you have any farming business at home?”
Gharib said in a humble tone, “Yes, master, I do. We have a couple of servants. They are the ones who do the work.”
“Do you own cows and buffalos too?”
“Yes, sir, there are two buffalos. It’s just that the cows are not pregnant yet. Sir, it is people’s benevolence that helps us make our ends meet.”
“Do you ever give treats to the clerks at the office too?”
Gharib said with utmost modesty, “Sir, how can I give treats to the masters? What else do I get in my farming besides barley, gram, maize or millet? You people are like kings; how dare I present these crude things to you? My heart fears at the prospect of getting censured, for how did a man worth a penny dare such. This is why sir, I don’t dare. Otherwise, what would some milk and curd have been worth? A present should be worthy of the receiver.”
“I say why don’t you try and give them something someday, and see what they say. In the city, people don’t get such things. These people sometimes get tempted by small things.”
“And master, what if someone says something? What if someone complains to the office manager and I won’t be worth anything.”
“I take responsibility for that; nobody will say anything. If anyone does, I will explain it to them.”
“Right, sir. These days peas are being harvested. Grams are getting green, and even the sugarcane squeezer is up and ready. There is nothing else besides this.”
“So, just get them these things.”
“Yes sir, as I said, I will see what I can do.”
Next day when Gharib came, there were three well-built youths with him. On the heads of two of them were baskets, which were full of pea pods. On the head of the third was a pitcher full of sugarcane juice. All three had sugarcane bundles under their arms. Gharib came and quietly stood under a tree in front of the verandah. He wasn’t able to summon the courage to come into the office, as if he was a criminal. Just then, the peons and other employees of the office surrounded him. One started munching on a sugarcane stick, while others jumped upon the baskets. It was a free for all. In the meantime, the office manager reached the office. He saw the spectacle and said in a loud voice, “What is this crowding about? Go and do your work, each of you.”
I went and whispered into his ear, “Gharib has brought gifts from his home. Take some for yourself, and distribute some among these people.”
The office head feigned anger, “Gharib, why did you bring these things here? Take these things back, or I will report this to the higher ups. Do you think we are fools?”
All color left Gharib’s face. He started trembling. He was left speechless. He started looking at me with a guilty look in his eyes.
I pleaded on his behalf. After a lot of discussion, the manager was convinced. He sent half of everything to his own home. The other half was distributed among others. That was the end of this drama.
4
Now, Gharib started getting popular in the office. Now he wouldn't get yelled at constantly, wouldn’t have to run around all day. He wouldn't have to hear the sarcasm of the staffers and the ridicule of his colleagues. The peons would do his work for him. Even his name underwent a little change. From Gharib, he became Gharibdas. His character went through a transformation too. In place of modesty, cockiness took root. Diligence was replaced by lethargy. Now he would sometimes come late to office, and at other times pretend sickness and stay home. Now all his transgressions were pardonable. He had found the key to his respectability. Every week or two, he would get milk and curds and present it to the office head. He had learnt to gratify the gods. In place of humility, he had now gained wickedness.
One day, the office manager sent him to the station to claim a parcel of government forms. There were a number of large bundles of paper, and were transported on a cart. Gharib negotiated 12 annas[5] as labor with the cart driver. When the papers reached the office, he obtained 12 annas from the office head for the cart driver. But when he came out of the office, he changed his mind. He asked for his cut. The cart driver did not agree. Gharib got angry and kept all money in his pocket and threatened the cart drivers, “Now you are not getting a penny. Go and complain where you want to. Let me see what you can do to me.”
When the cart driver saw that he was going to lose the whole money if he didn’t give a commission, he was agreed to pay 4 annas to Gharib. Gharib gave him 8 annas, had him put his thumb impression on a receipt for 12 annas and submitted the receipt to the office. When I saw this, I was flabbergasted. This is the same Gharib who, a few months back, was an epitome of simplicity and humbleness – one who didn’t dare ask the peons for his own share of the money, who didn't know how to bribe others, not to say of taking a bribe. When I saw this transformation, I was extremely saddened. Who was responsible for this? Obviously, it was I who taught him the first lesson of arrogance and wickedness. A question arose in my mind -- wasn’t the timidity that let him tolerate injustice from others better than the arrogance with which he tramples upon others. The moment in which I showed him the path to respectability was a bad omen, because what I actually showed him was a dangerous path to his downfall. I sacrificed his self-esteem for his external esteem.
Meanings of some Hindustani words and terms in context:
1. Gharib = Poor
2. Qazi = An Islamic Judge
3. Paan = Chewing betel leaf
4. Sudama = Krishna's poor friend in the Mahabharata
5. Anna = 1/16th of a Rupee in India's old currency system

concern over vernacular, classical literature at Jaipur fest

A growing concern to preserve vernacular and classical literature and to popularise it through translations is gradually occupying centre-stage at the sixth DSC Jaipur Literature Festival underway here.

'The new generation has limited access to classical and vernacular literature because most of us speak English. Ask me to name one writer in Tamil, Punjabi or Hindi, I won't be able to. I would struggle to name one even in Hindi,' Manhad Narula, director of the festival, told IANS.

According to him, the only way to take classical and vernacular literature to young readers is by encouraging serious translations.

The DSC Group managed by the Narulas is the chief sponsor of the Jaipur literature festival.

He said one of the objectives of the DSC South Asian Prize for Literature instituted by the group is to promote quality translations of vernacular literature.

'The role of the translator is very important. A good translation is almost as authentic as the original. If a translation of a vernacular South Asian work makes it to the top slot, then we will divide the prize money equally between the translator and the writer - $25,000 each (out of the total prize purse of $50,000),' Narula said.

President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations Karan Singh commended the diversity in vernacular creative writing in India.

'India has a very rich vernacular literary heritage with creative writing in 25 languages. This diversity and glory should be showcased in literature festivals,' Singh said.

He also highlighted the importance of translations to spread awareness about vernacular literature.

'The country should encourage more translations in vernacular language to English and Hindi and there should be more incentives and awards for translators,' Singh said.

The five-day DSC Jaipur festival, which opened Jan 21, is representing regional and classical literature in 12 Indian languages and literature from 23 countries.

Sheldon Pollock, a Sanskrit scholar at the Columbia University in the US, said: 'India has a very rich history of literature festivals. One of the erstwhile rulers of Jaipur, Sawai Jai Singh hosted 'gosthi (gathering) of poets and litterateurs in his court,' he recalled.

'India is going through cataclysmic changes and writers are concerned about the fragility of the future. Poets often wonder who will read their work. I doubt if in two generations there will be anyone to read and understand literature produced before 1800 AD. Scholars and intellectuals are completely ignoring the fact that nobody reads classical language,' he said.

Pollock cited an initiative, the Murthy Classical Library of India, a brain child of Rohan Murthy, son of Infosys mentor (and founder) V. Narayana Murthy, that was trying to translate and popularise vernacular Indian classics for posterity.

The dual language series, led by Pollock, will publish at least three Indian classics every year. Work on the translations has begun.

Novelist Orhan Pamuk, most of whose books have been translated, echoed the need for translations and preservation of traditional classical literature.

The writer said he 'investigated the continuities in classical Ottoman, Mughal and Turkish culture' to reinvent them in his books.

Gulzar creates a stampede at Jaipur Literature festival

Eminent song-writer Gulzar, who was scheduled to speak on lyrics in cinema at the ongoing literature festival here, almost could not make it to the venue thanks to the crowd, which also included former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

The organisers first tried to reschedule the venue but had to pacify the public by apologising and promising another session with the song-writer.

Raje and Chopra sneaked in laterinto the crowd, which completely ignored them, but they managed to get a stool to sit on thanks to their status but many were not so lucky. One cot could not bear the burden of listeners and broke. Many people opted to stand or sit on the ground even as an equally large crowd waited to get accommodated.

Convener Sanjoy finally decided to close the entry but cautioned the minder not to deny entry to the other two speakers - Javed Akhtar and Prasoon Joshi, who could manage to reach the venue only after a delay of 20 minutes. Gulzar, however, seemed a bit reluctant to do another session but finally conceded.

Gulzar has been a regular at the literature festival and it is not surprising that he manages to pull the maximum crowd. His first session had clashed with that of Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk but the lyricist's session was packed.

The Oscar-winning lyricist amused the audiences with little anecdotes on the birth of songs in Hindi cinema before Akhtar could join him and later apologised to his contemporary by saying," 'Maaf Kijiyega, main inhe behla raha tha (forgive me, I was just managing them).

It was not easy for the audience to ask him questions as he would reply with a question of his own but that did not discourage people from sharing their opinions with the poetic trio.

One school girl braved the crowd to ask, "There was a simplicity in our old songs. The vocabulary was simple and it touched our hearts. Why can't we have a similar vocabulary?"

Gulzar shot back, "You have used 'vocabulary' twice in your question. Can you tell me what it is called in Hindi?" She was clueless

All about Poetress Mahadevi Verma

She is a well known Hindi poet of the Chhayavaad generation, the times when every poet used to incorporate romanticism in their poetry. She is more often called the modern Meera. Well, we are talking about the famous Mahadevi Varma, who achieved the Jnanpith award in the year 1982. In this article, we will present you with the biography of Mahadevi Varma, so read on.

Life History

Mahadevi was born in the family of lawyers in 1907 in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh. She completed her education in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. At a young age of nine in the year 1914, she was married to Dr Swarup Narain Varma. She lived with her parents till the time her husband completed his studies in Lucknow. It is during this period that, Mahadevi pursued further education at the Allahabad University. She did her masters in Sanskrit from there.

She met her husband for sometime in the princely state of Tamkoi somewhere around 1920. Thereafter, she moved to Allahabad to further her interest in poetry. Unfortunately, she and her husband mostly lived separately and were busy pursuing their individual interests. They used to meet occasionally. Her husband died in the year 1966. Then, she decided to permanently shift to Allahabad.

She was highly influenced by the values preached by the Buddhist culture. She was so much inclined towards Buddhism that, she even attempted to become a Buddhist bhikshuni. With the establishment of Allahabad (Prayag) Mahila Vidyapeeth, which was primarily set up to impart cultural values to girls, she became the first headmistress of the institute. This famous personality died in 1987.

Writings

Mahadevi Varma is one amongst the other major poets of the Chhayavaadi school of the Hindi literature. She is the epitome of child prodigy. Not only she wrote fabulous poetry, but also made sketches for her poetic works such as Deepshikha and Yatra. Deepshikha is one of the best works of Mahadevi Varma. She is also famous for her book of memoirs.

Notable Works of Mahadevi Varma

Prose

1. Ateet Ke chalchitra
2. Kshanda'
3. Mera Parivaar
4. Path ke Saathi
5. Sahityakaar ki Asatha
6. Sambhashan
7. Sankalpita
8. Shrinkhla ki kadiya
9. Smriti Ki Rekhayen

Poetry

1. Deepshikha
2. Himalaya
3. Neerja
4. Nihar
5. Rashmi
6. Saandhya geet
7. Saptaparna

Collection

1. Geetparva
2. Mahadevi sahitya
3. Parikrama
4. Sandhini
5. Smarika
6. Smritichitra Yama

Honors

Her writings were well acclaimed and earned her an important position in the world of Hindi literature. She is believed to be one of the supporting pillars of the Chaayavad movement. Her amazing poetry collection Yama brought her the Gyanpeeth award (1940), the highest Indian literary award. In the year 1956, the Government of India honored her by conferring the title of Padma Bhushan upon her. She was the first Indian woman to become a Fellow of the Sahitya Akademi in the year 1979.

India on Verge of Cultural Ecocide

It would be hard to accuse India of being a country that doesn't care about its past, when in everyday conversation—and even judicial cases —people here reference Hindu epics, Urdu poets and events from across millennia of history.

But Sheldon Pollock, the renowned scholar of Sanskrit and Indian literary history, warned that in literary terms, India is on the verge of becoming a country as brand-new as America. He gave the keynote speech opening the Jaipur Literature Festival Friday morning.

"It is now entirely legitimate to ask, if dismaying and disturbing, if within two generations there will be anyone in India who will have the capacity of reading Indian literature produced before 1800," he said. "I have a feeling that that number is slowly approaching a statistical zero."

There is a lot of anxiety around writing in India's languages other than English and whether authors in those languages are getting their due.

Mr. Pollock's concern is over the loss of the treasury of literature that already exists and has been preserved over thousands of years, in part, he said, through literary festivals like Jaipur that took place several hundred years ago.

The scholar, who teaches at Columbia University, says he has become gravely concerned over 40 years of coming and going from India and learning its classical languages, including Hale Kannada, or ancient Kannada, in Mysore and Bangalore.

The scholar said he wondered at the disarray of the classical institutes he studied in and at the lack of fellow students. Then he realized that there were no other students and "that my teacher had no successor."

"Over the 35 or 40 years coming to India…it's been the same in classical Assamese, it's the same in Bangla, it's the same in Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya and all the way down the long list," he said. "India is on the verge of a potentially cataclysmic cultural ecocide."

That seems like a hard thing to make people care about in a young country that's thinking very hard about its future and about economic growth–both of which seem inextricably tied to English. Although technology has helped a surge of journalism and writing in some Indian languages, English is still the language that most young people are desperate to acquire. But Mr. Pollock makes his argument anyway.

"I don't think I need to make the case in an audience like this that it's probably not a good idea to let the past just pass away," he said. "Within 3,000 years of human consciousness are sedimented not just possible tools for living but possible different ways of being a human being. This is what we're on the brink of losing if we lose our capacity to access the classical past."

As general editor of Harvard's Murty Classical Library, he's trying to do his bit. The $5.2 million initiative aims to translate a variety of works from a slew of Indian languages, including the first English translation of the Akbarnama, or Story of Akbar, one of the emperors of the Mughal dynasty that ruled India.

But he said a lot more needs to be done.

He described efforts by some states to get "classical language status" from the government for their languages as "moving around the deck chairs on the Titanic," suggesting more practical steps are needed.

"In Delhi today there is no one teaching classical Hindi literature at either of the two great universities," he said. "This would be like going to a university in Paris–this is an exact parallel–and finding no one was reading Corneille, Racine or Molière."

Government urges CSMU to focus on quality of research work

The 25th convocation ceremony of Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj University was held on Friday. Governor and chancellor of state universities BL Joshi said: "I hope the university is conscious that it does not become a mere degree awarding authority and focus on the quality of research work."

Addressing the 25th convocation of CSM University, Joshi congratulated the graduating students. After the oath ceremony by the vice-chancellor as many as 261 PhD degrees were awarded. The highest were in arts (154), followed by science (45), education training (21), commerce (15), agriculture (8), life sciences (12), medical science (3) and engineering (3). The university also awarded D.Lit to Om Prakash Singh (Hindi literature), Sheel Nigam (Sanskrit) and V Balu (commerce).

Mohammed Khalid (BSc agriculture) from Etawah got the Chancellor's gold medal for being the best student of the university. He was also awarded chancellor's bronze medal and vice-chancellor's gold medal in agriculture. Poonam Verma won the Chancellor's silver medal for the best student of all faculties in post-graduate classes. The silver medal for the best girl student was given to Supriya Kesarwani, a management student.

VL Chopra, ex-member, Planning Commission was the chief guest. "In India, about 79 per cent of around 350 million labour force is non-permanent. This reflects lack of choice and skills, a situation which needs to be remedied. It raises a question as to what should our education system do to meet the situation," he said. Chopra laid stress on developing leadership qualities. "In order to bring reforms in higher education, new institution should be opened in rural areas for the benefit of rural population. A link must be established between course and placement market along with the updates in teaching, research, administration, management, planning and monitoring," said Chopra.

Vice-chancellor HK Sehgal highlighted the activities and achievements of the university. He said that the university has provided protected web page to each student which contains biometric and academic information. BSc in hospitality and hotel administration, diploma in food beverages services and BSc in medical microbiology have been introduced.

Racism row over India's biggest literary festival

India's biggest book festival kicks off Friday clouded by accusations of racism and an ugly public spat over the apparent obsession with former colonial power Britain in literary circles.

The Jaipur Literary Festival in the western desert state of Rajasthan is one of Asia's biggest book events, drawing many renowned international and South Asian writers and crowds of up to 30,000.

This year features Nobel winners Orhan Pamuk and J.M. Coetzee on a long list of luminaries who are set to appear in conversation in Diggi Palace, the converted 19th century mansion that hosts the event.

The atmosphere is informal and the debates are conducted in a polite and generally consensual manner, often featuring the father of the festival -- the British historian and expert on India, William Dalrymple.

But Dalrymple, a ubiquitous presence on the Indian literary scene who co-founded the modern Jaipur event in 2006, has been sucked into a damaging row after coming under attack in the Indian news magazine Open.

In an excoriating piece published on January 1, political editor Hartosh Singh Bal questioned why a white middle-aged Scottish man had established himself as a "pompous arbiter of literary merit in India."

The festival, he argued, "works not because it is a literary enterprise, but because it ties us to the British literary establishment."

After dismissing British foreign correspondents who write books about his country, Bal then suggested that Indian authors were mere sideshows in Jaipur next to the main attractions, such as hit British writer Ian McEwan.

Hurt by the attack and an unflattering portrait of him in colonial-era regalia, Dalrymple took the decision to respond to the provocation, pointing out that two thirds of invitees to Jaipur were Indian.

British writers "brown, black and white" make up "a minority within the minority" of foreigners, he wrote back, pointing out that he has written five books on his adopted country where he has lived on and off for 25 years.

The article "felt little more than the literary equivalent of pouring shit through an immigrant?s letterbox," Dalrymple said, adding that Bal's arguments "reeked of double standards and reverse racism."

"Just reverse the proposition for a moment. If anyone was to suggest that Vikram Seth had no right or qualification to write a novel about England like 'An Equal Music' ... it would be regarded as blatantly racist," he said.

In further twist, Indian author Pramod Kumar then declared that he and others had directed and conceived the first Jaipur festival. Dalrymple was guilty of "post colonial whitewashing" by declaring himself as the founder.

The row continues to rumble on on Open's website and is likely to feature prominently in the conversations of Delhi's chattering classes who make an annual pilgrimage to Jaipur.

South African-born Coetzee, author of the Booker winner "Disgrace," is scheduled to lead a panel discussion on the legacy of Imperial English.

Whether Indian writers are indeed the sideshow will be seen when national heavyweights Vikram Seth and Booker prize winner Kiran Desai take to the stage, or others speak on emerging low-caste literature and Hindi blogging.

Fans will vote with their feet.

famous short story ‘Kafan’ and many stories by Munshi Prem Chand

Saadat Hasan Manto, whose fifty-sixth death anniversary was observed on January 18, was a writer who not only enriched Urdu literature to a great extent, but influenced writers to look into the psyche of mankind. Most of the critics believe that the basis of modern short story in Urdu can be seen in Manto's works. No doubt, a famous short story 'Kafan' and many stories by Munshi Prem Chand and a collection of Urdu short stories titled 'Angaare' by a group of writers had earlier produced a powerful impact and serious writers had to review their viewpoints towards the traditional style of writing and thinking towards production of fiction and short stories.

The western literature and literary view of Russian literature (under the influence of communist and leftist parties) had also caused great influence on literary trends all over the world. However, in Urdu literature, the stories written by Manto had quite a different impression. In a way Manto had given up all hang-ups to write about society and its characters. He had to face trials for the allegations of 'obscenity' in characterization of his stories.

The opponents used to claim that such writings could promote perversion in society. He had written stories like 'Thanda Gosht' (cold meat), 'Khol Do' (open it up), 'Hatak' (insult) and others that exposed the negative face of society, but he was tried in his time not only by the courts, but also by so-called leaders of society. However, the time has proved that Manto was a genuine writer who had nothing to do with 'perversion and nudity', but he to expose evil designs and highlight pious characters of this society. For instance, his stories like 'Basit', 'Mummy', 'Doda Pehlawan', and 'Shera' dig out the good and bad characters and it is very clear that instead of concealing badness, it is far better to expose the same, so a wise way could be discovered where people could live in peace and harmony. It was Manto's works that showed that exploitation of mankind under any pretext has no justification.

Manto was also a film and radio scriptwriter, and journalist. In his short life (he died at the age of 42), he had published twenty-two collections of short stories, one novel, five collections of radio plays, three collections of essays, two collections of personal sketches, titled 'Ganje Farishte' and he was the first writer who painted real characters in his sketches while highlighting their qualities and demerits.

He was a true and courageous writer who did not compromise on his principles under any circumstances.

Relevency of Munshi Premchand in Recent Time

Here below is a write-up on Prem Chand which  I wrote for a magazine in 1980 on the Birth Centenary of Prem Chand, the Hindi  novelist, short story writer, and much more.

I am posting it on my blog to see how  far my write-up hasdated, but, more than that, to find from viewers how far they think Prem Chand is still relevant and how since his times the issues that he took up in his writings have been transformed, over-ridden or become more or less relvant in Indian literature. In 1980, when I wrote the article, I was  firmly of the view that Prem Chand was forcefully relevant . Since 1980  the political and socio-economic environment in the countrty has undergone a sea change as a result liberalisation and globalization and the emrgence of  new political forces and gradual empowerment of many communties of whose spokesperson Prem Chand was. To a certain extent these communities have become their own spokespersons. Have the new voices drowned or added greater intensity to the issues raised in Prem Chand's writings Has Prem Chand become dated or do his writings still move and entertain us, and trouble our conscience?

Here is the write-up.

PREM CHAND'S RELEVANCE TODAY

Writing on the birth or death anniversary of a writer one can easily slip into sentimentality or a meaningless verbal eulogy. Fortunately, in Prem Chand's case this danger can be easily avoided, there being so much that is still forcefully meaningful in all that he did and wrote.

As a man he was one of the most remarkable Indians of his time. All those who knew him talk of his simple, self-effacing, cheerful, unassuming nature, of his uncompromising honesty, freedom from malice, his sense of humour, his open ringing laughter. Shunning publicity he is a man who easily merges into the crowd – both as a man and a writer he remained a man of the people, identifying himself completely with the unfulfilled aspirations of the Indian masses. He was not one of the greatest Indians, yet he was one of the so many loveable, humane yet rebellious ones – a non-believing saint, as Jainendra has affectionately called him. It is not surprising that Dr Ram Vilas Sharma should have likened him to Kabir.

As a writer, his contribution to Hindi literature is so substantial that it is impossible to imagine Hindi prose fiction of the first forty years of the 20th century without Prem Chand. By switching over from Urdu to Hindi he hastened the process of modernization of Hindi literature, inducting into it the realism and social concern of his teacher, Sarshar. He weaned away the Hindi reading public from the crude sensationalism and infantile escapism of Chandrakanta and Bhootnath and brought it face to face the contemporary social reality. Through a dozen or so novels and a few hundred short stories and scores of essays spread over two decades he made Hindi literature a faithful mirror of the renascent consciousness and the awakened aspirations of the Indian people. And he was the first writer to have brought to the centre of Hindi literature the lowliest Indian and to have passionately pleaded that his life was as important as anyone else's, and that the central issue before the Indian civilization was to rescue him from the abyss of poverty and inhuman degradation, not out of mercy, not out of pity, but because social justice demanded it.

All this is enough to make Prem Chand an immortal figure in Indian literature. But there is a tendency to underplay this achievement and to dismiss Prem Chand as a second rate writer, a propagandist and a social reformer whose work has dated and become stale. That he was a propagandist and a social reformer, that he thought literature as utilitarian and wanted to use it as an instrument of social change and education Prem Chand openly proclaimed. In his writings he made it repeatedly clear that for him the attainment of political independence, to raise his voice against social injustice, to champion the cause of the poor and the repressed, the liberation of Hindi literature from eroticism and the mood and tone of abject devotion and self-surrender, to give an altogether new content and to enlarge the concept of the beautiful in literature were the most important aims.

Whether or not we approve, we must remember that Prem Chand regarded literature not as a profession but a selfless devotion, and the writer as a man who owed his responsibility to the society; and for him the greatness of a literature lay in the greatness of its message, and he had no regard for pure aestheticism. This view of literature was particularly relevant to the times in which he lived. In a letter to one Mr. Sabharwal in Japan he wrote:
     
 You may not have liked the didactic element in my (those) stories; but so long India is under the foreign rule she cannot touch the peaks of great art. It is here that the difference between the literature of a free and a subject country lies: social and political realities force us to be didactic…

The statement unambiguously reveals where Prem Chand's mind and heart lay. He believed that a sensitive writer, in the revolutionary phase such as India was passing through then, became of necessity, a handmaid of the revolutionary urge. As such the serenity and calm detachment that is the gift of stable periods of history and give rise to the greatest works of art is denied to the writer.

This, of course, cannot justify Prem Chand's recourse to idealistic solutions to the problems he raised in his novels, and one must confess that Prem Chand, Dickens like, could not completely shed his mechanical approach to plot and character. It is perhaps only in Godan that Hori's tale moves to its inexorable end through its inner dialectic. Prem Chand's idealism generally leaves us cold, but when that idealism survives in the doomed world of Hori's, it cannot be lightly dismissed. That Prem Chand should have clung to his idealism even where he found it tottering and even when he had become completely disillusioned with 'this Mahajani Sabhyata', is not a sign of weakness, but of strength and vitality drawn from the same sources as Gandhi drew from.

 What then is Prem Chand's relevance today? We do not know what will happen in the 21st century, but the issues that he raised in Indian life and literature remain alive today, in fact have become more urgent, and are likely to remain urgent at least till the end of the century. National freedom was won a long time ago, but the common man with whom Prem Chand had identified himself and made the focus of his writings still remains on the fringe of our social, political and literary concerns. Hindi literature under the impact of the West as well through its own experience has become technically more accomplished, more sophisticated, its language more precise and less verbose and its mode more introvert and introspective. But along with this superior technique it has also borrowed Western man's despair --- the kind of despair quite unknown to the vast majority of Indians. As contrasted to this Prem Chand had known the characteristically Indian despair, born not out of the consequences of an unbridled pursuit of power but of the crushing burden of the tyranny of the powerful, not out of a surfeit of material goods but out of an unfulfilment of even the minimum human needs; and he gave expression to it in his writings without succumbing to the negativism of the West. This is his greatest strength.

Prem Chand's idealism often distorts reality and makes his plots and characters mechanical, but he never pretended to be a thoroughgoing realist. For him the function of literature was both to reveal life and to 'make men better' and the Indian models before him were the authors of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. He was quite aware that both the great Indian epics had not only entertained millions of Indians for centuries but had also molded the lives and thoughts of so many men and women; and he continued to create characters who were truthful, courageous, dedicated to a life of selfless service in the image of our own ideal heroes whom many Indians, big and small, have for ages tried to emulate in real life.

Although he adapted the idealist-moralist function of the Indian epics, he, inspired by the West and the Russian Revolution, rejected  the prevalent fossilized , decadent, unjust and repressive social system and wanted it to be supplanted  by one that was just, humane and egalitarian. As a craftsman Prem Chand remained quite traditional, and may not mean much to us; as a thinker he was not original, but, I doubt, if since Prem Chand any Hindi novelist has displayed his passionate concern so comprehensive in its sympathies, and his ruthless rejection of all that was anti-man in the Indian civilization without alienating himself from the hard core of distinctively Indian humanism.

Motaram Ka Satyagrah

Based on a novel of Munshi Premchand, the play was performed by local artistes. ADM city Shailendra Singh was the chief guest for the evening and was seen discussing the play with Suresh Srivastava, the assistant director of the play. The comedy had the audience rivetted to their seats once the play began.
And The Story goes: The play, written by famous theatre personality Habib Tanveer, is a satire on the bureaucracy, the system that existed during the British rule and the problems that still plagues our administration. Rashmi a theatre enthusiast, and watched the play without uttering a word during the whole performance.

Politics, A Hot
Topic: After watching the play, everybody was seen discussing politics and its effects. A few like Rohini, Madhu and Rashmi were seen appreciating the actors' performances. Nagendra and Trilochan Nigam also discussed the play among themselves. Mukesh Sharma and Sanjay Dixit presented the mementoes to the artist at the end of play. It seemed as if Kalpana had walked in for the play right after a shopping spree as she carried a huge bag with her, while Rohini carried a huge bouquet with her.

Is it possible that a book can save your life ?

If you don't believe then then read this-------------------------

"This book has really saved my life," Paul Gascoigne once said of his
autobiography, Gazza: My Story. The great midfielder was speaking
metaphorically of course – but his assertion begged another urgent
question: could a book save one's life in literal terms, too?
Specifically, could it stop a bullet?

It's exactly this question that American short-story collective
Electric Literature set about answering last week. In a video posted
on YouTube, Electric asked, via its spokesman, comedian Tom Shillue:
"Of all the big books that came out in 2010, which would be the most
likely to protect you in the event of a shooting?"

Up before the firing squad were David Mitchell's The Thousand Autumns
of Jacob de Zoet (480 pages); Jonathan Franzen's Freedom (562); Rick
Moody's The Four Fingers of Death (736); Adam Levin's The Instructions
(1,030); Joshua Cohen's Witz (800); and a Kindle (several thousand
kilobytes).

With more than 1,000 pages, and a solid hardback cover, you might
think The Instructions would be the most reliable
book-cum-body-armour. You'd be wrong. The bullet blows a hole so big
Shillue can shove his finger through it – and he's appalled.

Franzen's Freedom doesn't fare any better. Meticulously proof-read it
may have been – Franzen had the first editions recalled because of a
minor error – but it's certainly not bullet-proof. Indeed,
post-shooting, the book looks like those withdrawn first editions:
pretty pulped.

The Kindle, The Thousand Autumns, and Moody's The Four Fingers of
Death – "aptly named", Shillue points out – are similarly
unprotective. Thank heavens, then, for Joshua Cohen's Witz. "It's
almost intact!" notes Shillue, picking pieces of bullet out of the
back pages.

Of course, if you really wanted some surefire literary armour, you'd
be best off putting a Bible in your breast pocket. In 2007, a US
soldier serving in Iraq claimed he was saved from a sniper bullet by
none other than the Good Book.

"KUSUM" was a Beautiful Short Story by Munshi Premchand

Munshi Premchand (Urdu: منشی پریم چند), (Born on July 31, 1880– Death
on October 8, 1936) was a famous writer of modern Hindi-Urdu
literature. He is generally recognized in India as the foremost
Hindi-Urdu writer of the early 20th century.

The main characteristic of Premchand's writings is his interesting
story-telling and use of simple language. His novels describe the
problems of the rural peasant classes. He avoided the use of highly
Sanskritized Hindi (as was the common practice among Hindi writers),
but rather he used the dialect of the common people.

Munshi Premchand’ Story SADGATI turns 30 Years

SATYAJIT RAY's adaptation of Premchand's critically acclaimed short
story 'Sadgati' is completing 30 years in 2011. Satyajit Ray is
credited with taking Indian cinema to the global sphere where he could
ignite sensibilities. His contributions as a poet apart from being an
ace filmmaker gave cinema new dimensions. His strength of deep vision,
lively presentation and research of historical facts are even today
emulated by several filmmakers across the globe.

Satyajit Ray's Filmography :

Pather Panchali (1955) – Produced by government of West Bengal.
Aprajito (1956) -Produced by Epic Films

Paras Patthar (1958) The Philosopher's Stone or the Paras Pathar was
produced by Pramod Lahiri. The film was inspired from Parsuram's short
story with same name.

Jal Saghar (The music room) (1958)- Ray himself produced the film.
Apur Sansar (The world of Appu) (1959)-Satyajit Ray was himself as producer.

Devi (The Goddess) – Ray himself produced the film. Inspired from
Prabhat Kumar's short story with same name (1960)

Teen Kanya (Three daughters) (1961)-Based on Tagore's three short
stories, Postmaster, Monihara and Sampati.

Rabindra Nath Tagore (1961)-Produced by Films division. Government of India.

Kanchenjunga (1962)-Produced by NCA Productions.

Abhijan (The Expedition) (1962)Produced by Abhijiatrik. The film is
based on Tarashankar Banerjee's novel with similar name.

Mahanagar (The Big city) – Produced by R.D. Bansal and Co (1963).The
film is based on Narendra Nath Mitra's short story Abataranika.

Charulata (1964) – Based on Rabindra Nath Tagore's novel Nasjanirh

Two(1964) – Based on Satyajit Ray's own original screenplay; the film
was produced by Eso World

Nayak (The Hero) (1966) – Produced by R.D. Bansal and Co.

Chiria Khana (Zoo) – Produced by Star productions (1967). It was
inspired from Sarannindu's Novel with same name.

Gopie Gyne Bagha Byne (The Adventures og Gopie & Bagha)(1968) – It was
produced by Poornima Pictures, the film was inspired from Upendra
Kishore's story with similar Name.

The Inner Eye (1972) – Produced by Government of India's Films division.

Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress) (1974) – Produced by Government of
West Bengal. Ray made the film on a book by himself with similar name.

Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1980) – Produced by Devki Chitra's Productions;
film was based on Premchand's Short story with similar title.

Sadgati (1981) – Produced by Doordarshan , Sadgati was based on
Premchand's short story with similar title.

Hirak Rajar Deshe (The Kingdom of Diamonds) (1980) – Produced by
Government of West Bengal.

Ghare Baire(1984) (The Home and the World) – NFDC,Government of India.

Sukumar Ray (1989) – Produced by Government of West Bengal. Attributed
to Ray's multi-faceted father.

Ganashatru (1989) (An Enemy of People)- Produced by NFDC,Government of India.

Agantuk (1991) (Stranger) – Produced by NFDC, Government of India.

Who is the sucessor of Munshi Premchand

Munshi Premchand was greatest writer of the 20th centuary and nobody can realt compare himself with him. Nonetheless we are here to say who could be the closest of all available authors. Then the name comes of Mr Shivmurti of Lucknow. He has written many short stories and novel who are found to be very very close to the Munshi Premchand Time. Tirshul is the one the best Novel I have read.

 

So let us clap on and expect that Mr shivmurti will doing all of his best what he can do for betterment of society as it was done by Munshiji at his time.