Jabalpur (MP), Aug 21 (PTI) Taking on corrupt bureaucrats and politicians, communalism and communism, and power of every hue, master satirist Harishankar Parsai, the Hindi litterateur whose pen spared nothing and no one, would have turned 100 on Thursday.
Born in Jamani village near Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh, Parsai died in Jabalpur, the city he lived and worked in his entire life, on August 10, 1995. Three decades on, there remains little in the name of one of the greatest satirists in the Indian literary landscape except for his poetry and prose.
His writings are replete with wit, sarcasm and a sharp critique of politics, religious fanaticism, corruption and other moral maladies that ail the human race, especially Indians, say his admirers. And though the literary community celebrates Parsai’s legacy, the apathy of governments and institutions to pay a fitting tribute to the Hindi giant in the form of a memorial, a museum, or a library continues to pain readers and writers.
“Parsai is somebody who wrote, ‘lekhak ko adarniya hone se bachna chahiye, adarniya hua ki wo gaya’ (a writer should avoid being venerable. He is done once he becomes venerable). But should there be a place to honour his legacy? Definitely. It should have happened a long time ago,” Suraj Dixit, IT professional and voracious Parsai reader, told PTI.
With an MA in Hindi from Nagpur University and a diploma in teaching, Parsai hardly had a stable job till he began a full-time career in writing when he starting a magazine titled Vasudha. The short-lived magazine was closed after two years due to shortage of funding.
Parsai was known for revolutionising satire in Hindi by writing in simple yet biting language and adding nuance to his works from his understanding of issues of global urgency, including racism, consumerism, war and pervasive corruption.
If in “Bholaram ka Jeev” he makes a pointed attack on a corrupt bureaucracy, red tape and state machinery at large, he does not waste words in “Inspector Matadeen Chand Par” about an Indian police officer of questionable work ethics who goes to the moon to improve police efficiency by introducing corruption in the system.
Backed by a vast body of work, Parsai received the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award in 1982 for his satire “Viklang Shraddha Ka Daur”. The book is remarkable in its narrative spontaneity and relevance to both the ordinary and extraordinary incidents of the common populace.
“He was not only a satirist but a litterateur. He wrote stories and was interested in poetry as well. He had a great understanding of sociology and politics. He was a man solely dependent on his writing. The scope of his study was extremely vast,” writer Vishnu Nagar said.
Nagar has published a compilation of 17 interviews given by Parsai to his contemporaries and journalists in “Parsai Ka Man”.
A sharp critic of those in power, Parsai was a left-leaning writer but would not spare the politics of the left.
According to Hindi writer Prem Janmejay, Parsai wrote “against everything that was incongruous as per his ideology, but with a creative approach”.
“Parsai’s line of thought was clear about who he was and what he wanted. He wrote against the power but he was not one-sided. He also wrote against communists at one point and during the emergency he wrote about it too. Marxists were not spared either,” Janmejay told PTI.
Religious fanaticism and communism was a social evil that Parsai targeted constantly through his writing.
He once wrote: “Samasyao ko is desh me jhaad-phoonk, tona-totka se hal kiya jata hai. Sampradayikta ki samasya ko is naare se hal kar liya gaya – Hindu-Muslim, bhai-bhai! (All problems in this country are sorted with black magic and exorcism. The problem of communalism has been solved with this one slogan – Hindu-Muslim are brothers).” Calling Parsai a “stringent critic of communal forces”, Hindi poet Ashok Vajpeyi said that it is unfortunate that even 30 years after his demise there is no comparable satirist in the country.
“I would still say that partly satire has moved on to other areas finding politics somewhat difficult and dangerous. So there has perhaps been a shift. I’d say without a doubt that 30 years after Parsai’s demise there is no comparable satirist, there is no comparable spread of satire against power that he had practised and attained,” Vajpeyi told PTI.
Some of Parsai’s most noted works include “Nithalle ki Diary”, “Awara Bheed ke Khatre”, “Thithurta Hua Gantantra” and “Premchand ke Phatey Jute”. He also wrote a column in a Hindi newspaper, “Poochiye Parsai Se” (Ask Parsai), in which readers would send questions to Parsai and he would respond in his inimitable style.
Barely a kilometre from his rented house in Napier Town lies Harishankar Parsai Bhavan in Wright Town, perhaps the only tangible marker of the great satirist’s presence in the city where he wrote some of the sharpest critique known to Indian literature in any language.
Playwright Ashish Pathak of Samagam Rangmandal, a city-based theatre group, works with local actors at Harishankar Parsai Bhavan, a humble building that houses an office of a trade union, a library and one hall for the theatre group.
“This is the only structure in his name and this too was built with public contribution,” Pathak told PTI.
The building was built by famous Hindi litterateur Ramdarash Mishra and Gyan Ranjan in 2007 with the help of donations from the public. It was inaugurated in April 2007 by literary critic Namvar Singh, 12 years after his death.
“It is not the job of a writer. A writer is not important in his own time. It is a job for his readers, his followers. Look how they have built a town dedicated to Shakespeare, we don’t give such respect even to Kalidas, let alone Parsai. So it is definitely not Parsai’s job but of those who came after,” Janmejay said.
He suggested that the Progressive Writers’ Association should take the responsibility of building a memorial of sorts in Parsai’s name with public contribution.
“There should be a place with Parsai’s books, a pilgrimage of sorts that those who want to study Parsai can visit. Put his manuscripts there. People can go and experience Parsai.
“But I believe why should we look at the government, the writers’ association has always been behind Parsai. If they raise this topic people will be ready to even donate land. It is not impossible,” Janmejay said.
A hundred years since his birth, Parsai remains unrivalled despite having strong contemporaries in Sharad Joshi, Ravindranath Tyagi and Shrilal Shukla.
“Just like there can’t be another Premchand, there can’t be another Parsai. Whether a writer or a poet, each and every Hindi litterateur has read and taken inspiration from Parsai, even if they write satire or not,” Nagar noted.
There is only one pinnacle man in each field. There could be only one Chekhov in Russia. There can only be one Parsai in India,” he added. PTI MAH MIN MIN
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