Krishan Chander@Mehfil – Follow Up Story

Tags

followup story, Gadhe Ki Sarguzasht, Kaalu Bhangi, Krishan Chnader, Mehfil, Mia Beevi, Naseeruddin Shah, Salma Siddiqui, Zia Mohyeddin

We decided to discuss the prolific work of writer Krishan Chander on the 12^th of May 2015 at our Mehfil in Prithvi.

It was a hot summer day like the usual mid May in Mumbai. The relentless rays of the sun scotched the earth but as the evening progressed, the skies gave way to a slight over cast and glimmer of breeze set the expectation for new beginnings in the form of Krishan Chander’s stories.

We had with us a panel, which included Javed Siddiqui Saab, Suhal Warsi, Sadiya Siddiqui and Salim Arif. The evening commenced with a brief introduction of Krishan Chander, which was done by Javed Siddiqui Saab. He spoke in depth about krishan Chander’s style of writing. He mentioned that the satire in krishan Chander’s work was commendable and that he wrote with such effortless simplicity that his work remains evergreen even today.

We followed this introduction with an audio clip of one of Krishan Chander’s story recited by Actor Zia Mohyeddin. This is a humorous story titled “ Mia Beevi” which is about a couple who don’t have children and how they are compelled to have kids only to avenge the other couples.

Suhail Warsi’s read another short story called “ Kaalu Bhangi”. This brought out a different facet of Krishan Chander’s work. Following that, the audience was presented a small video clip in which Salma Siddiqui ( Krishan Chander’s Wife) narrates how she first met Krishan Chander.

Sadiya Siddiqui went on to read excerpts from Krishan Chander’s most famous work “ Gadhe ki Sarguzasht”. We concluded the evening with Salim Arif reading an interesting piece on the unity of Hindus and Muslims. He also mentioned that Naseeruddin Shah has transformed some of Chander’s stories into plays and will be performed by his team shortly.

The evening ended with a sense of discovery of the works of one of India’s finest short story writers.