Sahitya Akademi award-winning author Alka Saraogi’s new novel ‘Kulbhushan ka naam darj kijiye’ from Vani Prakashan Group announced
New Delhi: The national award winning publishing group in the global publishing of Hindi Literature, Vani Prakashan Group announces its newest acquisition of renowned author Alka Saraogi’s latest novel ‘Kulbhushan ka naam darj kijiye’.
Vani Prakashan Group has been publishing the best of Indian literature in various genres for 57 years. The publishing house has been the natural home for the finest writings in post independence era, of modern and contemporary Hindi stalwart writers like Nirmal Verma, Uday Prakash, Ushakiran Khan, Arun Kamal, Yatindra Mishra, Anamika, Prabha Khaitan, Manohar Shyam Joshi, Kedarnath Singh etc. and those translated from over 22 national and international languages directly like Taslima Nasreen, Mahasweta Devi, Vijay Tendulkar, Manto, Simat Chugtai, Herta Mueller, Czesław Miłosz, Wislawa Szymborska, Tomas Transtromer etc.
– works of whom have given new dimensions to Hindi writing. The group has also received Distinguished Publisher Award by the Federation of Indian Publishers and Business Excellence Award at the Oxford Business College, Oxford, United Kingdom.
The recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award for her debut novel Kalikatha, Via Bypass, Alka Saraogi is a powerful storyteller and a distinguished novelist. Kulbhushan ka naam darj kijiye, her latest novel is the story of Kulbhushan Jain, a man from a migrant family who came to India overnight from Bangladesh before independence. The story spans about four decades, covers three linguistic public cultures, two countries and one line of control that is the metaphor of the chasm between countries, hearts and relationships. A love affair culminating into marriage, extramarital relationships, family drama, myths and discrimination- this book will be an interesting read. It is a simple story of an ordinary character that shows how temporal forces mould him during his movement from Bangladesh to Kolkata, from Marwari into a Bengali environment.
The book is a heady mix of history, geography, literature, psychology, culture, love, malice, communalism, family and society- all tools coming together to convey the pathos and empathy intrinsic in changing societies. The world Saraogi creates is populated with characters that hold up a mirror to us. We meet the liar, deceptive lover, cringer, day dreamer in so many credible shades that it is impossible to not trap in their narratives! That’s the twist, through. If you don’t believe them, one may never understand the feisty and grey world of Kulbhushan.
Writer Alka Saraogi, while giving her thoughts on her novel, said, “We might all ask- who is this black lean man walking around wearing one and a half slippers? How does he look so happy for everything? Once we probe into the character of the protagonist Kulbhushan, the history explodes and the strings of story-fiction-narrative-person
Arun Maheshwari, Chairman and Managing Director of Vani Prakashan Group said, “With the attainment of independence, the independent consciousness of writers with which the idea of modern India laid foundation for our future found itself comfortable at the house of Vani. We have been not only a witness but a custodian to their creative journey since decades. With the freedom to breathe openly, the innovation in writing seeded in the autonomy that defied colonization and put decolonization in motion at several levels and gave us many self-respecting creators. Vani Prakashan Group is fortunate to be a part of this golden journey with meaningful torch of words. We are proud to partner with an important writer of this era, Alka Saraogi. It will be a privilege to publish her.”