Premchand is still relevant
Premchand is still a popular writer in Urdu and Hindi, this years is 125th birth anniversary.
On Premchand’s 125th birth centenary, his grandson Alok Rai argues for reinventing the master’s classics
Moonis Ijlal
New Delhi, September 3: Alok Rai teaches Shakespeare in Delhi University. He’s in white linen trousers. He plonks on the Lodhi lawns. Reclines on the grass as one would on some regal diwan. Then he bounces back and sits. Folds right leg above his left knee. Sits like a yogi. The grandson of Premchand looks comfortable.
‘‘This is what I inherited from my roots,’’ says the Professor. Rai has translated Premchand’s Nirmala into English. This year it’s the 125 birth anniversary of the writer.
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‘‘To understand the tamasha around Premchand on his birth anniversary it is important to understand his function. In north India, there aren’t many secular symbols of the ganga-jamni tehzeeb. He is a very obvious symbol and can be mobilised to play the role in our cultural politics.’’
The government had taken Rai to Lamhi —the village where Premchand was born on July 31, 1880. They had gone there with big names and a bigger promise — to make a memorial to a secular symbol. ‘‘It was pointless and unearned. I have as much claim to him as you do. I noticed the villagers, who Premchand felt closest to, were sidelined among the big people.’’
They ended up promising a personal memorial. ‘‘It was stupid. Premchand’s not Gandhi that you make a museum out of personal memorabilia — his chappals, his glasses. He is an ordinary man. He needs a museum of ordinary life. Can they make that for him?’’ asks Rai
This question can be asked at several levels, says the writer. One on Premchand as a symbol for cultural politics. The other as a literary figure. ‘‘As far as I am concerned, the challenge to us was that as a literary figure, he has become stale — a part of the standard syllabi, a classroom author.’’
For today’s generation he’s a slightly boring writer who writes idealistic stories, says Rai. ‘‘I would not be surprised if people of your age would be disgusted saying he doesn't speak to us. He’s writing Gandhian stories about change of heart and all. But if he was really like that, he would not have attracted attention. He was a classic, a fresh voice with andaaz-e-bayaan. He began saying things which nobody else saw.’’
‘‘Hindustan ki ghurbat (poverty in India)’’ says Rai was not invented by Premchand. He saw it when others were writing idealistic, sentimental stuff. Why did he shift to Hindi? Rai says that Urdu had an established tradition. It was difficult to smuggle new content, new realities which Premchand was talking about — his world of ordinary people. But he didn’t give up writing in Urdu.
‘‘Anything which becomes a part of compulsory classroom text becomes stale. We need more exposure to his work. More readings of his stories. ‘‘Shakespeare didn’t write because he knew there would be an exam conducted on his works. He was melodramatic, writing about blood and gore for ordinary penny-throwing people. And all that has been so restricted to a textbook reading. That’s a kind of a pedagogic challenge which Premchand too faces. The challenge to recognise the freshness of a classic.’’
In Nirmala, he talks about female desire, the way it functions within constraints of marriage. ‘‘Nirmala, a young girl married to an old man. There is a terrific sexual tension between her and her step sons, which is not read. Nirmala has been interpreted as a polemic against dowry, mis-matched marriages,’’ says the animated professor.
‘‘Classics need to be revisited, every generation re-invents classics. We owe that to Premchand, not hagiography. That I am his grandson has nothing to do with it.’’
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=146899
More about Premchand :
http://www.urdustan.com/adeeb/nasr/premchand.htm
On Premchand’s 125th birth centenary, his grandson Alok Rai argues for reinventing the master’s classics
Moonis Ijlal
New Delhi, September 3: Alok Rai teaches Shakespeare in Delhi University. He’s in white linen trousers. He plonks on the Lodhi lawns. Reclines on the grass as one would on some regal diwan. Then he bounces back and sits. Folds right leg above his left knee. Sits like a yogi. The grandson of Premchand looks comfortable.
‘‘This is what I inherited from my roots,’’ says the Professor. Rai has translated Premchand’s Nirmala into English. This year it’s the 125 birth anniversary of the writer.
Advertisement
‘‘To understand the tamasha around Premchand on his birth anniversary it is important to understand his function. In north India, there aren’t many secular symbols of the ganga-jamni tehzeeb. He is a very obvious symbol and can be mobilised to play the role in our cultural politics.’’
The government had taken Rai to Lamhi —the village where Premchand was born on July 31, 1880. They had gone there with big names and a bigger promise — to make a memorial to a secular symbol. ‘‘It was pointless and unearned. I have as much claim to him as you do. I noticed the villagers, who Premchand felt closest to, were sidelined among the big people.’’
They ended up promising a personal memorial. ‘‘It was stupid. Premchand’s not Gandhi that you make a museum out of personal memorabilia — his chappals, his glasses. He is an ordinary man. He needs a museum of ordinary life. Can they make that for him?’’ asks Rai
This question can be asked at several levels, says the writer. One on Premchand as a symbol for cultural politics. The other as a literary figure. ‘‘As far as I am concerned, the challenge to us was that as a literary figure, he has become stale — a part of the standard syllabi, a classroom author.’’
For today’s generation he’s a slightly boring writer who writes idealistic stories, says Rai. ‘‘I would not be surprised if people of your age would be disgusted saying he doesn't speak to us. He’s writing Gandhian stories about change of heart and all. But if he was really like that, he would not have attracted attention. He was a classic, a fresh voice with andaaz-e-bayaan. He began saying things which nobody else saw.’’
‘‘Hindustan ki ghurbat (poverty in India)’’ says Rai was not invented by Premchand. He saw it when others were writing idealistic, sentimental stuff. Why did he shift to Hindi? Rai says that Urdu had an established tradition. It was difficult to smuggle new content, new realities which Premchand was talking about — his world of ordinary people. But he didn’t give up writing in Urdu.
‘‘Anything which becomes a part of compulsory classroom text becomes stale. We need more exposure to his work. More readings of his stories. ‘‘Shakespeare didn’t write because he knew there would be an exam conducted on his works. He was melodramatic, writing about blood and gore for ordinary penny-throwing people. And all that has been so restricted to a textbook reading. That’s a kind of a pedagogic challenge which Premchand too faces. The challenge to recognise the freshness of a classic.’’
In Nirmala, he talks about female desire, the way it functions within constraints of marriage. ‘‘Nirmala, a young girl married to an old man. There is a terrific sexual tension between her and her step sons, which is not read. Nirmala has been interpreted as a polemic against dowry, mis-matched marriages,’’ says the animated professor.
‘‘Classics need to be revisited, every generation re-invents classics. We owe that to Premchand, not hagiography. That I am his grandson has nothing to do with it.’’
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=146899
More about Premchand :
http://www.urdustan.com/adeeb/nasr/premchand.htm
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