Raag Darbari - Softcover

Shukla, Shrilal

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Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143431323 ISBN 13: 9780143431329

Publisher: PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE INDIA PVT.LTD., 2012

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Raag Darbari s plot is set in Shivpalganj, which is a small village located in Uttar Pradesh. This village appears to be no different from other villages that span the country. The narrator of this novel is Ranganath, who is a research student of History. He comes to visit his uncle. His uncle serves as the head of the village and his supporters are placed at key locations in the village. Vaidyaji, Ranganath's uncle, is a highly corrupt ruler who has defeated every individual who tried to stand against him. Vaidyaji dominates the intermediate college, the village council, the grain cooperative, and other village institutions. The readers are also introduced to Langad, who desires to carry out dealings in an honest manner. He represents the common man and has to bow down to the corrupt village government for getting the smallest of jobs done. Things take a turn for Vaidyaji when some people try to bring him down from his influential position. This leads to a series of events that will keep the readers glued to the very end. After seeing these events taking place before his eyes, Ranganath's opinion of the village changes completely. The book unearths the difficulties faced by the common man in the society at the hands of corrupt leaders. This book was greatly appreciated by its readers and it has also fetched Sukla the Sahitya Akademi Award, which is the highest literary award in India.

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About the Author:

Shrilal Shukla was born in 1925 in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous and politically important state, and brought up in the village of Atruali, a few miles from Lucknow. He graduated from Allahabad University and joined the state's administrative service and later became a member of the Indian Administrative Service. His first novel, The sun of the Deserted Valley, was published in 1957, followed by a collection of satirical short stories and essays in 1958. His major work, Raag Darbari, was published in 1968, and has received the highly prized Sahitya Akademi Award in 1970. Since the Shukla has written a number of novels, such as The Broken Frontiers, The House and The Early Encounter, a biography of the author Bhagawati Charan Varma, and several collections of short storeis, satirical sketches and essays.

Shrilal Shukla is now retired and still lives in Lucknow, not far from the place where he was born. Gillian Wright was born in 1957 in Hertfordshire, Britain, and studied at the School of Oriental Studies of London University from which she graduated with a first class honours degree in Urdu, Hindi , history and politics and won the Rhuvon Guest Prize for Islamic Studies. In 1975, she joined the BBC External Services in London. She came to India for the first time in 1977. At present she lives in New Delhi where she writes about wildlife, culture and travel, and contributes th the BBC World Service. She has worked with the BBC's Mark Tully on his three books, Amritsar: Mrs Gandhi's Last Battle, Raj to Rajiv and No full Stops in India.

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