Transparent Worldview

Bhagawandass Morwal has carved a niche for himself in the domain of contemporary Hindi literature. His memoir is a captivating creation because of its novelty of theme, deft narrative stroke, element of storytelling, a transparent world-view, elegant point of view, a tendency to give importance to ‘mirror-narratives’ in opposition to ‘grand narrative’, a unique blending of different perspectives of a life lived. With the onslaught of postmodernism in literature there came to the forefront a tendency to distrust ‘meta-narratives’—what Lyotard calls ‘incredulity towards meta-narratives’. Morwal has no misgivings about his strength as a writer and his memoir bears a mark of his honesty and candid attitude. He does not merely bring to life the people and places of particular timeframe, but also immortalizes his native village Nagina, and by extension the lives of the people there. In  autobiographies we often find a tendency of the writer to hide his ‘self’, but Morwal is forthright and frank.

Paki Jeth Ka Gulmohar is as interesting as Khushwant Singh’s Truth, Love And A Little Malice. Morwal is able to arrest the attention of the readers from the beginning.

Morwal weaves a magical tapestry of meanings with collages created out of different hues and shades of memory. While candidly asserting his uneasy relationship with his father, he also recounts many deeds done in order to gratify his personal whims even if it meant putting his inmost self on trial.