Village On Sale , livre ebook

Diamond Books - M.M. Chandra

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111 pages

English

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A thinker and social activist, M.M. Chandra took to fiction writing a few years ago, with the first novel coming out in 2016. This was followed by two novels in quick succession in 2018 and early 2019. He has plans to continue what he calls a series of fiction that grows and develops as he proceeds with the creative project. The promise M.M. Chandra has shown is sure to crystallize in a meaningful manner in the days to come.Anand Prakash taught English literature in Delhi University till retirement in 2007. He has written books on literary theory and cultural as well as philosophical trends. His book on poet Muktibodh (written jointly with Richa Bajaj) titled Muktibodh in our time was published in 2012.

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Publié par	Diamond Books
Date de parution	19 juin 2020
Nombre de lectures	1
EAN13	9789389807516
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0118€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Village On Sale

eISBN: 978-93-8980-751-6
© Publisher
Publisher: Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd.
X-30, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II New Delhi-110020
Phone: 011-40712200
E-mail: ebooks@dpb.in
Website: www.diamondbook.in
Edition: 2020
Village On Sale
By - M.M. Chandra
Dedicated to the memories and dreams of Devbrat Sen, under whose leadership I delivered my first speech at village chaupal.
Acknowledgement
This novel would not have been completed if my wife and friends Rajesh, Pankaj, Rajkumar and would not have read its first draft in a 24 hour marathon sitting.
Special thanks to Shri Mukesh Dubey ji who became my first reader and pointed out the good features and lacunae in it.
My gratitude to Nirmal and Anita who prepared the book in the shortest possible time.
Gratitude to Shri Narender Kumar Verma ji, Chairman Diamond Books, who showed his special interest in publishing this novel.
And finally, forgiveness from my little daughter who was deprived of her father’s love during the period of writing of this novel.
Foreword
M.M. Chandra’s novel ‘Village On Sale’ is an example of significant writing and totally centered on India’s modern village where new equations are being generated amidst social powers. It is evident that the society’s truth changes continuously, its direction may be the development under the guidance of those having a strong hold on the economic system or it might be the multilevel benefit of the common people. That is to say that change is evitable and if the community to use this change for its welfare, is that of society’s hard working class then this fact can become the reason for intense motivation.
Since the early phase of freedom struggle to the forties, Indian peasant community appeared like an important part of this change. Probably this was the reason behind that activeness leading towards the real progress, whose picture emerged during the anti-Imperialism struggle and whose clear dimensions were seen together in both politics and culture.
Since ‘Village On Sale’ deals with the peasant community, hence the complex atmosphere of the village portrayed in the novel poses problems for the novelist. The prosperous hindi story saga which continued till independence used to revolve around the villages. Among them were the great storytellers like Munshi Premchand who kept a sharp eye on the village institutions. There the British rule and association of small princely states and zamindars had a strong control on the body and mind of the farmers. However in independent India gradually conditions changed and now scenario of giving emphasis to education came up. This fact that though the vision that emerged post independence was not greatly favorable for the farmers, but it always did leave scope for comfort and facilities, was always there in the thoughts of novelist M.M. Chandra. It is possible that its restrained reason is that land development that took place in some parts of the country under the guidance of Communist parties. Today’s Indian village which is the centre of this novel, is a gift of the said liberalization and privatization that has taken our peasant community in its clutches since the past twenty-twenty five years. In the context in which liberalization and privatization have influenced the priority of policies and generated distortions in them, the same have been targeted by M.M. Chandra in his novel.
The strength and source of appeal of this novel is the youth of the village society. This is a new trend in Hindi writing and it leaves a great impact on the novel’s sentiments. It may be believed that the task of increasing the energy and life of any society is done by its youth, their planned efforts only channelize life in the direction of progress. In addition, the ordinary members of society can see that one can find ample possibilities of prudence in youth but sadly the discretion to discipline their imagination and put brakes on their flights of fantasy, is often not found. M.M. Chandra is not only aware of this fact but also frames his story taking this as a base. The characters of ‘Village On Sale’ face this problem at every step in their life and according to the author, they even change their paths because of this. This happens so that they do not leave their touch with reality.
The characters in this novel remind the readers that nothing helps more than one’s own or others’ experiences in leading a positive life. In the novel, Aghogh, Rajesh, Salim and all other youths choose incidents themselves but do not accept the consequences of those incidents and also do not control them. Despite the fact that while choosing the incidents, they go for an estimation of the conditions and prevalent situations, they take part in its analysis with great severity and proceed ahead only after reaching a consensus on the questions raised in the minds. It is also interesting to note that usually they don’t all come to a common agreement and then go for the majority votes. This ideological method decides their next course of action and with its help they tread ahead cautiously on the political and cultural paths.
What is the reason behind giving importance to this method, what is there in this course that one should talk in detail over it and then get actively involved in one’s life after taking directions from this decision? This question is important and comes handy in affirming political activeness with practicality. In this approach it is also believed that at every step in life, failures are more common than successes. We should always remember our failures because they only de-motivate us and make us a victim of the said constraints. If the powerful forces play a major role in making social disparities permanent, then it is the main maneuver of these forces to make the struggle against failure prominent and tough. The entire storyline of ‘Village On Sale’ constantly struggles with the reasoning behind failure and the novel also ends on this note that the real fight has not even begun. In the novel only the outline of actual politics has been presented whose image is ideological and imaginary, it is not that of real politics.
With a practical viewpoint, this novel can be said to be an example of successful writing, its nature is purely intellectual. It is a different kind of allegory. We will not be wrong if we say that the description here is very vivid and interesting and even important topics such as political and social change have been dealt with in a simple and unbiased manner. This game revolves around the activities of the young characters which have been entrusted with the task of reforming society. They have to arrange for their meals and also remove those hurdles from the path which are making living not only difficult but impossible. According to the novelist these problems are related to the emergent economic planning and scenario of the 90’s. The common man is unable to understand the complexity of the situation since the thought process of the citizens has been repressed in the latter part of the century due to ignorance, illiteracy and undeveloped mentality. The young characters of the novel sometimes plan to open a library, at times they feel the need for a farmers’ union and on other occasions they think of participating in the political activities. Also they have to deal with the elderly people in their families. They come face to face with the violent truth of society where the farmers have begun to commit suicides, the reason being that in this time period their land has started becoming more barren as compared to previous times. For example, the farmers don’t know what to do or what is the main root of their problems. On the other hand it is mentioned in the novel that the interest of market and international financial institutions is increasing in the policies initiated by our government. This novel which is totally rural based, also stresses on the experimentations done by the youth. Such methods have been mentioned here which do not qualify as serious politics in the minds of the common man, nevertheless indications towards it are surely found. If the basic needs of farmers are not met by farming, then this situation can force them to sell their kidneys. On linking with this scenario, the idea of selling a full village comes within the radius of practicality.
Along with this Parliamentarian democracy, Panchayat, Farmers’ unions and open debates too become relevant. Publicity, disagreement and collectivity are a part of this process only. These subjects have been so presented as if they could have brought a revolution in the political scenario. However when the youth union is found disoriented at the end, then we come to know that this novel had been written to express the agenda of change as per a well planned scheme, in such a manner so that a blueprint of political process could be provided to the readers for conceptual help.
Despite being ideological ‘Village On Sale’ sets new standards for reading where use of numerous idioms and creative portrayal of incidents make reading interesting.
Anand Prakash Senior Literator and Critic
Introduction
M.M. Chandra is a good novelist along with being a famous satirist. Before this novel ‘Village On Sale’, his ‘Prostor’(Hindi) had caught the attention of readers and critics in the literary world.
Whereas “Prostor’(Hindi) was the story of the establishment and then destruction of a laborer colony near an industrial unit, their sorrow of having to be separated from their friends and then re-establishing themselves somewhere else. In this story, the author’s cause of concern had been the city’s laborers community. On the other hand, in the novel ‘Village On Sale’, the author’s target is the landless farmer who at one time used to slog in the fields, but then came to the city on the calling of the industrial revolution, became a laborer but then again he had to return to the vi