Mridula Garg at Sahitya AajTak 2022: Literature is not a mirror of the society

Eminent authors Mridula Garg and Maitreyi Pushpa spoke about the importance of literature in society at Sahitya AajTak 2022 on November 18. In a session titled, Sahitya Aur Samaj, she spoke about how she gets the inspiration for writing her books and she also pointed out that literature is not the exact representation of society. 
 

Mridula Garg, while talking about the portrayal of urban women in her works, pointed out that she never concentrated on uplifting the condition of women only. “I spoke about freedom of both men and women. Whatever you wish to attain in life, you have to do it yourself and it doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman. I am proud to include the stories of some remarkable men in my works as well. 

Garg was joined by renowned author Maitreyi Pushpa in the session as well. When asked about the definition of ideal women in an ideal society, she explained how the women in her works are majorly from rural backgrounds. 

“I don’t come from an urban society; the women in my work are from rural areas. Maybe some of them break the barriers and come into urban society, but that is not considered fit for that rural backdrop. Those women are considered masculine. Villages have not yet experienced this wave of modernity and that’s why the situation is still in a developing phase.” 

While talking about her book Chittcobra and the controversies surrounding the work, she said, “The book was written in 26 days and it is about different forms of love. It is my bad luck that some people found the book objectionable. The whole incident was extremely unimportant for me. It was an amusing ruckus only. Actually, hatred is being spread intentionally. If society has people who go to bed hungry, then how can a woman be strong amid all this? Sahitya samajh ka darpan nahi hota hai (Literature is not the mirror of society). Because the mirror doesn’t show the image correctly. 

When a writer pens their thoughts, they portray their pain for society in their work. It is just not their time but their knowledge after observing society. 

Mridula Garg is a celebrated author who has published over 30 books in Hindi – novels, short story collections, plays and collections of essays. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award. She published her debut novel, Uske Hisse Ki Dhoop, in 1975 and even got into controversy for her 1979 novel Chittacobra. Garg was a research associate at the Center for South Asian Studies at the University of California-Berkeley, USA in April 1990. 

Maitreyi Pushpa is an eminent Hindi fiction writer and won the SAARC Literary Award in 2001. She has authored seven collections of short stories and ten novels besides writing a regular column in the weekly Rashtriya Sahara.