by RAZA NAEEM
Author Krishan Chander PHOTO/Wikipedia
Among them is also Krishan Chander (1914-1977), one of the great pillars of the Progressive Writers’ Association (PWA) and one of the leading short story writers of the Indian subcontinent in the second half of the 20th century, along with his comrades Rajendra Singh Bedi, Ismat Chughtai, Saadat Hasan Manto, and Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi.
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Krishan Chander not only produced an astonishing oeuvre of about 30 collections of short stories and 20 novels, but was also a brilliant essayist and involved in the film industry. Moreover, unlike many of his fellow comrades, he was actively involved in practical socialist politics, like his presidency of the ‘bhangis’ union and his membership of the Socialist Party.
Chander was also the closest among all the PWA stalwarts to realising the progressive ideals in literature. He believed in the ascendancy of a socialist society and throughout his life dedi-cated his efforts to helping the marginalised, the peasants and the workers, as well as writers and artists; in fact, his house often served as a home to the latter.
Most of the heroes and heroines of Chander’s stories are from the oppressed sections of society. He also comes out forcefully against communalism of every variety, and not only as it was reflected in the rioting and communal carnage following Partition. Two of his best-known stories ‘Kachra Baba’ (Old Man Rubbish) and ‘Kalu Bhangi’ (Kalu the Addict) starkly bring out, in an unsentimental and unvarnished way, the humanity and the pathos of the lives of rubbish collectors, and the scorn they face.
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