New Interpretation of Surendra Prakash's Short Stories

Abstract

Surendar Prakash is one of the seminal names in modern Indian fiction, though his contribution to growth and depth of Indian fiction has largely remained unacknowledged. Prakash, a product of 1960s, along with Intezar Hussain, Balraj Manra and Enwar Sajjad, has given glow and grace to Indian fiction. His biggest contribution is that he has opted to use ancient Indian mythology and history as the vehicle of his distinct expression, without letting them be pedantic or stale. He has used them to telling effect in description of his own times and foretelling the future; future about which he was often perturbed and rather fearful. In his writings, we find a great blending of consummate craft and deep consciousness. He had in-depth understanding of forces at work in contemporary Indian society and had well figured the way these forces will construct or deconstruct the milieu of essential Indian synthesis. Today we find his fears have, unfortunately, been realized. Prakash is a great storyteller. He crafts his stories in such a way that they hit home to the reader with effortless ease, without compromising the precision of his message. He has issues with both Brahmaniac and western imperialism. In his stories he has pointed out their fangs and has warned his readers how, when and why they continue to get bitten by these poisonousness fangs __ bigotry, corruption, political and social control and alienation that any sincere and sensitive individual would feel in such situations. One brilliant trait of Prakash is that though he, at times does write on issues that have earlier been discussed before, Bedi and his stories being ready reference, but takes them to a new level of maturity and understanding. His treatment of the subjects is his own and so is the sensibility that he brings in the wake of his stories. There is no doubt that he has a very deep understanding of issues and has a remedy in mind for addressing the same. What makes him unique and a more profound writer that he never lets his emotions take control of his work. There is always a restraining streak in his work which makes him head and shoulders above those who write with a certain ' ism' in mind. In the present article, a review of some of his great stories has been taken to understand how he crafts his stories and why does he craft them in the first place. Surendar Prakash deserves to be read, or rather, we should enrich and enlighten ourselves with a reading of this great artist, wedded to the ideology of humanism and who passionately believed in common humanity. This message of his is sorely needed in these troubled and opaque times.