This novel from Hind Yugm is a Hindi medium (हिन्दी माध्यम) book written by Vinod Kumar Shukla, meant for readers of contemporary Hindi literature, students of Hindi sahitya and anyone who values quiet, imaginative fiction. Winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award for 1999, it tells the story of Raghuvar Prasad, a mathematics teacher in a small town, and his wife Sonsi, whose life is unlike anyone else's — an elephant comes each day to fetch Raghuvar Prasad, and in their one-room house there is a window that opens onto an altogether different world. The book carries no great event, no vast struggle, no message or moral, because the life it holds — the life this country calls lower middle-class for want of a better word — is present in so pure a form that it needs no embellishment; there are no villains here, only the simplicity and helplessness of the main characters' existence, and the rare details of how they live, come and go and get by, from which the reader senses on their own the harsh counter-world that makes the lives of most people in this country what they are. Shukla enters this life very deeply, into marriage, family, neighbourhood, the workplace and affectionate non-relationships. His other novels include Naukar Ki Kameez (1979), Khilega To Dekhenge, Hari Ghas Ki Chhappar Wali Jhopdi Aur Bauna Pahad. He was honoured with the prestigious PEN/Nabokov Award for 2023 for achievement in international literature. The whole book is written in Hindi in the Devanagari script (देवनागरी लिपि).
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Key Features:
Hindi medium book — complete content written in Hindi (Devanagari script)
Written by Vinod Kumar Shukla, published by Hind Yugm
Winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award, 1999
Author honoured with the PEN/Nabokov Award for 2023
A modern classic of Hindi fiction
Story of Raghuvar Prasad, a small-town mathematics teacher, and his wife Sonsi
The window in the wall that opens onto another world
The elephant that comes each day for Raghuvar Prasad
Life of the lower middle class portrayed without embellishment or moralising
No villains, no grand events — the extraordinary found inside ordinary life
Marriage, family, neighbourhood and the workplace observed in rare detail
Imagination and reality held together in the author's characteristic style
Simple language carrying deep feeling and thought
By the author of Naukar Ki Kameez, Khilega To Dekhenge and Hari Ghas Ki Chhappar Wali Jhopdi Aur Bauna Pahad
Suitable for readers of contemporary Hindi literature and general readers
Also useful for students of Hindi literature and competitive examinations with a Hindi sahitya paper
Makes a fine gift for a reader of serious fiction
हिन्द युग्म द्वारा प्रकाशित यह उपन्यास "दीवार में एक खिड़की रहती थी" विनोद कुमार शुक्ल द्वारा लिखा गया है और वर्ष 1999 के साहित्य अकादमी पुरस्कार से सम्मानित है। यह एक छोटे कस्बे के गणित अध्यापक रघुवर प्रसाद और उनकी पत्नी सोनसी की कहानी है, जिनके एक कमरे के घर की खिड़की के पार एक बिलकुल अलग दुनिया बसती है। इस उपन्यास में कोई विराट घटना, संघर्ष या संदेश नहीं है — यहाँ निम्न-मध्यवर्गीय जीवन अपने खालिस रूप में मौजूद है, जिसमें दाम्पत्य, परिवार, आस-पड़ोस, काम की जगह और स्नेहिल ग़ैर-संबंधों के विरल ब्यौरे हैं। लेखक 'नौकर की कमीज़', 'खिलेगा तो देखेंगे' तथा 'हरी घास की छप्पर वाली झोपड़ी और बौना पहाड़' जैसे उपन्यासों के लिए भी जाने जाते हैं और उन्हें 2023 का PEN/Nabokov पुरस्कार प्राप्त हुआ है। सम्पूर्ण पुस्तक हिन्दी भाषा एवं देवनागरी लिपि में है।
