Nirmal Verma bemoans decline in Hindi reading

CHANDIGARH, Feb 24: Dubbed the best living Hindi novelist-short story writer, the fulcrum of the Nai Kahani new story movement of the 1...

CHANDIGARH, Feb 24: Dubbed the best living Hindi novelist-short story writer, the fulcrum of the Nai Kahani new story movement of the 19508217;s that captured the angst of the growing urban middle class, Nirmal Verma, now 70, was in the city today, as a part of an writer-reader interaction organised as a part of the Chandigarh Book Fair, here, this evening.

Known for his powerful language, Verma, when questioned about the origin of his particular style of writing, remarked: quot;I never thought of my style consciously. When a river flows it finds its own course. When we begin writing there is a hazy picture in mind. When we disentangle that using words we forget that we are creating a style.quot;

quot;We write again and again because we are not able to create exactly the picture that is there in the mind. If a writer can create the picture, clear the haze, he will not write again,quot; he added. Style, he said, is born when the writer grapples for a spontaneity in which content and form become inseparable.

quot;With University standards falling and Hindi reading declining, writer-reader interfaces are important. Chandigarh was an added attraction, I8217;ve always loved this city. For artists of the performing or visual arts, there is a direct dialogue, a feedback from the patrons, but it is not so with the writers. On such occasions, we come out of our loneliness and establish a relation with the reader,quot; Verma said. quot;Though sometimes it is good if you don8217;t meet the reader. But there are exceptions, in India, not all writers get the chance to reach people through their books,quot; he remarked. Verma has written four novels, eight short story collections, two collections of essays, a couple of travelogues and translated a few books.

On Tuesday, a Punjabi Kahani Durbar, was also organised at the book fair by the Haryana Panjabi Sahitya Akademi, Panchkula, and the National Book Trust of India.

Writers Ram Sarup Ankhi, Devinder Mohan Singh, Chandan Negi, Asha Kundan and Jasbir Bhullar participated in the session, a release said.