The Servant's Shirt

Naukar Ki Kameez or The Servant's Shirt tells an extraordinary tale about a very ordinary couple, Santu Babu, a junior clerk in excise department, and his wife, trying hard to maintain their identities as individual and social beings in the midst of economic hardships. The symbol of the shirt of a servant of their landlord that looms large is a poetic symbol, no doubt, but it is also a cultural and political symbol, meant to express the dilemmas and fears of the protagonists. Written mainly in the first person narrative, the local flavour and wit and the intensely imaginative language make it a modern classic in Hindi literature.

The distinguished Hindi poet and novelist Vinod Kumar Shukla, born 1937 at Bhilai, holds a post-graduate degree in agriculture, a subject he taught till 1997. He has written five collections of poetry, three novels and one collection of short stories. He is one of those rare literary artists who has scaled equal trend-setting creative heights both in poetry and fiction. He is the recipient of several honours including Shikhar Samman (1995), Muktibodh Fellowship, Raza Puraskar, Raghuvir Sahay Smriti Puraskar and the Sahitya Akademi Award (1999). His novel Naukar Ki Kameez has been made into the eponymous film by the famous director Mani Kaul to great critical acclaim.

**Contents and Sample Pages**