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Renowned historian Sudhir Chandra launched 'Thigaliyaan'

Discover the essence of Nirmal Verma's 'Thigaliyaan' with insights from Sudhir Chandra and Gagan Gill. Explore uncollected stories and literary discussions.
on Apr 10, 2024

'Thigaliyaan' was launched by renowned historian Sudhir Chandra. On this occasion, he said that it is a great pleasure for me that I am getting the opportunity to launch Nirmal Verma's new story-collection. I was friends with Nirmal despite the age difference. He was among those people who doesn't mind whether you are eleven years younger or older. I have read a lot of work by Nirmal Verma. There are very few Indian writers whom I have read as much as Nirmal. I am a great admirer and devotee of his fiction. Though I often used to object to Nirmal in his essays. He further added that it was a different era, he was a different person. Despite a strong disagreement we never saw any conflict between us. There was every possibility that you could praise and criticize freely. It is unfortunate that now people like Nirmal are becoming very rare.

Recalling his friendship with Nirmal Verma, Sudhir Chandra said, Nirmal and I stayed together for about one and a half years in Shimla at Indian Institute of Advanced Study. There, pamphlets were read almost daily and there were heated discussions on them, debates went on till late night, we used to meet regularly. He said, Geetanjali Shree and I used to live on the floor above the apartment where Nirmal Verma and Gagan Gill lived in Patparganj. At that time, there was hardly an evening when the four of us would not sit together.

Nirmal never wrote a lie nor ever lived a lie

After the launch, editor of ‘Alochana’ magazine Sanjeev Kumar and Vandana Raag read out some excerpts from 'Thigaliyaan' and discussed about Nirmal Verma and his work with Gagan Gill.

Recalling the early days of his association with Nirmal Verma, Gagan Gill said, “what children do in Nirmal's stories, how children see the world of adults, this thing used to bother as well as attract me a lot. During our friendship, he used to give me full opportunity to be intelligent. This continued even after marriage."

On a question from Sanjeev Kumar about the impact of Nirmal Verma's writings and thoughts on readers, Gagan Gill said that no literature ever makes you intolerant. She said, "Literature changes us, makes us sensitive, this is half truth. When we read a book, we feel changed inside for some time under its influence, but we change really only when we question ourselves in front of our mirror." Who changes after reading a book? There is a little illusion at that time, when we read Sharatchandra, we feel that we have changed a little, we have changed with Tagore, we have changed with Tolstoy, but we do not change like this. Man's change and transformation into a better form is his own effort, we cannot simplify it. Gagan Gill said that literature can inspire you for that. The person who reads Nirmal will either be open-minded or will become so while reading him.

Sanjeev Kumar had actually said that he feels that a person who reads Nirmal Verma cannot be intolerant. On this, Gagan Gill said, I neither consider myself Nirmal's representative nor an apologist. I am just a wife. And as a wife, I can say that my problem is different from ordinary readers, in the sense that you like to get influenced by Nirmal and I have the challenge of coming out of Nirmal's influence. He is such a powerful writer that if I do not come out of his influence, I cannot write my thing in my own way.

Gagan Gill, while mentioning Nirmal's writerly personality, said that he had the habit of hearing himself being rejected, but he never tolerated lies. When I used to criticize him, he used to listen to me very carefully. I have never seen such a sincere man. He never wrote a lie nor ever lived a lie.

She said, many times people label Nirmal as belonging to one faction on the basis of one of his statements. But the reality is that his relationship with any political power was never smooth. There were many Nirmals inside Nirmal. We can see his complexity only by placing him in his time. The layers of a good writer are revealed many years after him. The correct understanding and evaluation of a serious writer requires time.

During the conversation, Vandana Rag described Nirmal Verma as a writer with very soft feelings. Vandana Rag said, it is obvious that whoever reads Nirmal will develop similar feelings within him. In the long run, the impact of literature on us reduces when we get involved in other things, but in the short term, whoever reads Nirmal will take him to the same beautiful world where there is the sublime feeling of love. Nirmal describes it in various ways.

Re-publication of Nirmal literature by Rajkamal Prakashan is a matter of happiness

Earlier, in his welcome note to the people present at 'Kriti Nirmal', Managing Director of Rajkamal Prakashan Ashok Maheshwari said, this is a very happy time for us. We are publishing all the books of Nirmal Verma and Gagan Gill. The literary world of Hindi never accepted the separation of Nirmalji and Rajkamal. Everyone has welcomed this re-union wholeheartedly. Everyone has also appreciated the Presentation and production of the books.

Referring to 'Thigaliyaan', Ashok Maheshwari said that the introduction of the book by Gagan Gill and her comments on the stories published with stroies in the book have put a background of the works of this collection in front of the readers. Such a soulful contemplation about any author and his works can only be done by the one who has lived them himself. I hope that the Nirmal-lover community of Hindi will welcome this book wholeheartedly.

It is worth noting that in 'Thigaliyaan' some uncollected and unpublished stories of Nirmal Verma have been published in book form for the first time. These include his stories 'Rishte' and 'Bagatelle' published in 1954 and his last story 'Ab Kuch Nahin' published in 2005. Here you will find his first and last writing together.