Rag Darbari

One of the very first books i read...
to be precise in class 11th

Rag Darbari by Srilal Shukla is am ust read for people interested in Hindi but who are always put off by memories of Premchand read during school days.
Well all of you would agree that no matter how much we read Vikram seth , AMitava Ghosh or Chetan Bahgat real India specially Hindi hertland can be explored & felt only through Hindi literature.
But out english medium education & cliched movies form Bollywood & Ekta Kapur serials make us heaveily biased agianst Hindi Literature.

Rag Darabri has a background of village politics but in a humourous way .We can call it Black comedy. It breaks the romantic notion of Indian village propounded by Gandhi & nurtured by bollywood movies.
It does not show some Naxal infested & Zamindar oppressed village as one would imagine in communist literature.
Rather it shows how a typical (90%) Indian vilalges are.
obviously it was written in 70s so we can't see vilalge life after liberalization but in addition to that it is nor bulky , thmese are simple but with good insight & it does not preach anytihng. Characters are gray not pure black & white which is rare in Hindi literature.
So if someone wants a real taste of Rural India Raag Darbari is highly recommended.