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Munshi Premchand's Gaban A Timeless Classic (2011)

by Munshi Premchand(Favorite Author)

4.13 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0012997889 (ISBN13: 2940012997883)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Apps Publisher

review 1: Another masterpiece by Premchand. Greatest thing about his stories is the simplicity and close to reality feeling. You feel as if things are happening all around you. Characters have flaws like we all have. This story starts with mention of necklace and obsession of women with gold and necklace. Rama lead character is married to Jalpa. Jalpa a typical lady forces Rama to buy gifts for her. Rama who is just new into the job tries to tamper with the accounts and money. Jalpa in turn has made a friend Ratan, who is married to rich advocate. During the course of events Rama tampers with the accounts and with nothing in his hands, he flees from the place to calcutta. On the way to calcutta he finds another friend, who is fatherly figure to him. He takes care of him in calcutta ... moreand helps him in establishing himself. Well Jalpa tries to search for her husband but he is not to be found. Her heart undergoes a change and she pledges that she would never run after materials of enjoyment. Finally Rama is spotted in calcutta but Rama is under another trap now. He is all set to become witness for 11 innocent people in some robbery case. Jalpa enters calcutta just in right time to save Rama from committing such a crime. With lot of efforts Rama is saved and is freed from all the crimes starting from account tampering. Towards end of story everyone starts living together. Story doesn't have a happy ending like our lives. Not necessarily all lives have happy ending. It is great book to read.
review 2: 'Gaban' (embezzlement) was my second book by Premchand, it was perhaps, my second Hindi novel.This may come as a surprise to my Western peers but such is the sorry state of affairs of Hindi literature in the most predominantly Hindi speaking region of the world. Even here, you would do well just knowing the names of Hindi works. Even though this is not supposed to be a write up on the state of my mother tongue in my motherland, I do consider it as my duty, as a student of literature, to bring forth the precious gems the masters from my motherland have bestowed upon us. Gaban is right up there with the best. Broadly speaking, it is a story about a man who, blinded in his love for his wife, tries to leave no stone unturned to satisfy her lust for jewels. Even he knowns that he does not have the means to do so but in order to hide his incapacity in front of his wife he gets muddled up in debt and finally an unwanted misappropriation of Government funds. Doing so, he loses all hope in his ability to recover and runs without asking his family(wife) for help. Premchand weaves a heart rendering and extremely interesting concoction between his wife, desperate to find her husband and he, desperate to get out of this cycle of guilt.A woman's love for jewels is the single most recurring theme throughout the plot. Besides, Premchand has expounded on the socio economic problems and a man's psychology in dealing with the same. He also brings to limelight the issues of corruption, plight of women and poor in the society. Premchand's writings help us to understand the structure of our country especially of its rural hinterland and most of the issues discussed are almost as valid today as they were in pre independence era.For all my friends worried about being able to read and comprehend the complex Hindi, let me reassure you the language used is quite understandable though you may find your mother's inputs valuable.The thing I liked about this novel when compared to Nirmala, is that unlike Nirmala its not an all gloom and doom story. And you won't fail to notice that Premchand does make his women quite central and powerful, perhaps he always believed in the importance of their role in society. less

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