पचपन खम्भे लाल दीवारें

by Usha Priyamvada, Usha Priyamvada

उषा प्रियंवदा की गणना हिन्दी के उन कथाकारों में होती है जिन्होंने आधुनिक जीवन की ऊब, छटपटाहट, संत्रास और अकेलेपन की स्थिति को अनुभूति के स्तर पर पहचाना और व्यक्त किया है। यही कारण है कि उनकी रचनाओं में एक ओर आधुनिकता का प्रबल स्वर मिलता है तो दूसरी ओर उसमें विचित्र प्रसंगों तथा संवेदनाओं के साथ हर वर्ग का पाठक तादात्म्य का अनुभव करता है; यहाँ तक कि पुराने संस्कारवाले पाठकों को भी किसी तरह के अटपटेपन का एहसास नहीं होता।

पचपन खंभे लाल दीवारें ऊषा प्रियंवदा का पहला उपन्यास है, जिसमें एक भारतीय नारी की सामाजिक-आर्थिक विवशताओं से जन्मी मानसिक यंत्रणा का बड़ा ही मार्मिक चित्रण हुआ है। छात्रावास के पचपन खंभे और लाल दीवारें उन परिस्थितियों के प्रतीक हैं जिनमें रहकर सुषमा को ऊब तथा घुटन का तीखा एहसास होता है, लेकिन फिर भी वह उससे मुक्त नहीं हो पाती, शायद होना नहीं चाहती, उन परिस्थितियों के बीच जीना ही उसकी नियति है। आधुनिक जीवन की यह एक बड़ी विडंबना है कि जो हम नहीं चाहते वही करने को विवश हैं। लेखिका ने इस स्थिति को बड़े ही कलात्मक ढंग से प्रस्तुत उपन्यास में चित्रित किया है।

Genres: Fiction, Womens, India, Gender

155 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Usha Priyamvada (Hindi: उषा प्रियंवदा) is the nom-de-plume of Usha Nilsson (née Usha Saksena; 1930, Kanpur – ), an Indian-born American emerita professor of South Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a novelist and short-story writer in Hindi and a translator from Hindi to English. She was a winner of the Premchand Prize in 1976, and the Padmabhushan Moturi Satyanarayan Puraskar in 2009.

Reviews

[Vandana Sinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

If ever there is dignity personified as a woman in Indian stories, it is here in Sushma. The story of a accomplished working woman, economically free but still chained to her family by the responsibilities she chose to accept tugs at the heart. It is a story where selfish parents and a hypocritical society lay down the norms of behaviour for Sushma. She is not allowed to love or live on her own terms and her struggle to accept her position is the most touching dignified description of grace under fire that I have come across.
Her character was brought alive by Mita Vashishth in the eponymous TV serial na both the character and it's portrayal is something I have never forgotten.
A 4.5 star recommendation

[Chitra Ahanthem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1961 as Pachpan Khambe, Laal Deewaarein in Hindi, Usha Priyamvada’s debut novel Fifty Five Pillars, Red Walls translated by Daisy Rockwell is a moving narrative that examines the agency and actual independence of the new educated Indian woman. The narrative is set on a mostly women protagonist cast and through their world views and situations gives a commentary on just where educated young women find themselves in society and within their own families.

The main protagonist Sushma, is a lecturer, a warden and a woman who has a keen mind, a liberal outlook but saddled with the emotional and financial burdens placed by her family and hence, not expected to marry. At the all women college and hostel that she teaches and looks after as a warden, she is in charge and in a place of authority but scratch the surface and the cracks emerge: Sushma cannot stop how other women around her perpetuate an air of prejudice and judgmental attitudes placed on the actions of women.

That Sushma’s maid remains a staunch ally when others around her try to pull her down delicately places that empathy and understanding for what a woman goes through do not come from one’s social position and education solely but from a person’s innate nature. This nuanced conflict of the new and the old, of traditions and how women also play a part in perpetuating social traditions vis a vis a supposed liberal and progressive sphere brought about by education and jobs form the core of the book.

It is a book that looks at the agency of women who are made to bear the weight of society and family. Sushma's dilemmas, her little joys and sense of aesthetics will touch you in many ways while the vice-like clamps placed on her will frustrate you to no end. And then, you will find that not much has changed for most women in all the years. The writing is evocative yet restrained, mirroring the emotional turmoil of Sushma but never bogged down by drama. The impassioned foreword by Daisy Rockwell is a testament to the beauty and depth of this book.

Full review here: https://bookandconversations.wordpres...

[Vishy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered 'Fifty-five Pillars, Red Walls' by Usha Priyamvada through a friend's recommendation. I got it recently and read most of it in one breath today.

Sushma works in a college in Delhi. She is also the warden of the hostel and so she lives inside the campus. She is 33-years old and she is single. It is the 1950s (I think). In those days, most marriages in India were arranged marriages. It was easy to get a son married and it was hard to get a daughter married. Most families did everything they could to get their daughter married because if there is a single daughter at home, relatives and neighbours and everyone around will gossip.

So if there is a single daughter in the family who is in her thirties, it can only mean one of these things.

Either she couldn't get married because of health issues or horoscope issues (if the girl had a particular star or she had some dark stuff in her horoscope, no one will want to get married to her. This is the kind of stuff Indians believed then.)

The second reason was because she was too dark skinned. Most Indians are racist – or as scholars say more politely these days, they practised colourism – and even the ugliest man wants a wife who is pretty and fair skinned. For some reason, Indians think that if someone has fair skin, they are pretty. I don't know whether this is the kind of racism that was injected by the British when they were ruling India, or whether it has been there since time immemorial. I feel that it has been there since the dawn of time.

The third was that she was employed and making money and the family needed her money. In this case, the family did everything to ensure that she didn't get married, so that they can enjoy the fruits of her work. In the case of our heroine Sushma, the reality is this third one.

So Sushma is single and has a good solid career, and she takes care of her parents and siblings and they are living off her. In this situation a young man enters Sushma's life and her heart beats faster and they both fall in love with each other. What happens after this, is Sushma able to throw off her current yoke and get together with her beloved and live happily ever after, or do her family and the people around her bring her crashing to the ground – this is told in the rest of the story.

I want to say that I loved the book, but I'd be lying if I said that. It was hard for me to read – not because it was not good, because it was very good, it was excellent – but because I've met a few women who were like Sushma, and some of them were my friends, and so it was very triggering for me. The way families hang on to their employed daughters like leeches, refusing to let them go – I've seen it in real life and it has given me a lot of pain, and so reading this book brought back some of those memories. The famous Indian film director, K.Balachander made a movie called 'Aval Oru Thodarkadhai' ('She is a never-ending story') which has a similar theme. I don't know whether Balachander was inspired by Usha Priyamvada's story.

Things are changing now, and hopefully they are different. But I wouldn't be surprised if in some corners of India, there are still some Sushmas there.

This is the third Daisy Rockwell translation I've read and I enjoyed reading all of them. I have a few more, including her most famous one, 'Tomb of Sand'. Hoping to read them soon.

Have you read 'Fifty-five Pillars, Red Walls'? What do you think about it?

[Areeb Ahmad (Bankrupt_Bookworm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Sushma's imagination reeled. She felt she stood before the almirah for an age. The pages of numerous books she'd read fluttered before her, speaking volumes. But this shimmering moment existed in real life; it was a bridge between past and future. Her body suddenly felt as light as a feather and she was filled with a sweet languor, but she also felt a new sensation—that of fear mingled with desire."

Finely translated by Daisy Rockwell as Fifty-five Pillars, Red Walls, it is a "seminal feminist work that explores the complex inter-relationship of desire, financial freedom, financial obligation." Rockwell deems it "a window into a particular moment in women's history when women with apparent freedom and advanced education struggled for independence and autonomy." It might be six decades old but remains relevant in its exploration of the limits of educational emancipation for women in the absence of supportive family structures and social circles.

It is a compulsive, really readable novel about a woman who must decide between the wants of her family and her own desires while living in a world where a woman is constantly judged for her actions, particularly by other women from the same class and background, showing the disconnect between literary and liberation. A strain of melancholy always lingers in the text, even during fleeting moments of euphoric love that make space for a (leaky) bubble. For the modern reader, it is interesting to consider how things have or have not changed since then.

[Shikha Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

शीर्षक- पचपन खम्भे लाल दीवारें
लेखिका- उषा प्रियंवदा
उषा प्रियंवदा की गणना हिन्दी के उन कथाकारों में होती है जिन्होंने आधुनिक जीवन की ऊब, छटपटाहट और अकेलेपन की स्थिति को व्यक्त किया है, यही कारण है कि उनकी रचनाओं में एक ओर प्रबल स्वर मिलता है तो दूसरी ओर उसमें विचित्र प्रसंगों तथा संवेदनाओं को हर वर्ग का पाठक अनुभव करता है.
प्रकाशन वर्ष- 1961

"हर एक का जीवन एक ऐसा अनुलंघनीय दुर्ग है जिसका
अतिक्रमण किसी का अधिकार नहीं है"

पुरानी हिंदी की किताब पढ़ना मेरे लिए सुकून जैसा है.यह किताब बहुत खूबसूरत है जिसकी समीक्षा लिखना मेरे लिए कठिन है. बस दिल से कुछ लिखना चाहती थी इस किताब के बारे में इसलिए लिख दिया. कुछ कहानियाँ हमेशा के लिए दिल में बस जाती हैं सुषमा और नील की कहानी भी वैसी ही है मेरे लिए.
काफी समय हो गया किताब को पढ़े हुए पर
अभी भी मन अटका हुआ है सुषमा और नील के पास.
कैसा होता अगर सुषमा और नील हमेशा के लिए साथ हो जाते. पर ऐसा कम ही होता है जो हम सोचे या चाहें वो सच में हो जाए. आधुनिक जीवन की यही एक विडम्बना है कि जो हम नहीं चाहते हैं वही करने के लिए विवश हैं. लेखिका ने इस स्थिति को बहुत ही कलात्मक ढंग से प्रस्तुत किया है.

यह कहानी हर उस अविवाहित स्त्री की है जो विवाह तो करना चाहती हैं पर उनका विवाह नहीं हो सका.
भारतीय समाज में विवाह को एक बहुत ऊँचा दर्जा दिया गया है. आज भी अविवाहित स्त्री को देख कर यही प्रश्न किया जाता है तुमने शादी क्यों नहीं की? प्रश्न पूछने वाला कभी भी उस स्त्री के मनोभावों को नहीं समझ पाता है.

यह किताब उषा प्रियंवदा जी की एक बेहतरीन रचना है जिसमें उन्होंने एक अविवाहित स्त्री सुषमा के मनोभावों को बहुत खूबसूरती से प्रस्तुत किया है. सुषमा दिल्ली के एक कालेज में इतिहास की प्रोफेसर और हास्टल की वार्डन है. उसके पूरे परिवार की जिम्मेदारी उस पर ही है.
उसने अपनी खुशियों को त्याग कर परिवार को संभालने की जिम्मेदारी को अपना मान लिया है. तभी उसकी दोस्ती नील से होती है जो उससे उम्र में छोटा है और धीरे धीरे ये दोस्ती प्यार में बदल जाती है तब उसे यह एहसास होता है कि उसकी खुशी किस में है. यह जानते हुए की उसकी खुशी नील के साथ है फिर भी वह अपने परिवार की खुशी के लिए नील से दूर होने का कठिन फैसला लेती है.
समाज, एक उच्च पद पर कार्यरत महिला का अपने मित्र के साथ घूमना फिरना, पद की गरिमा को ठेस पहुँचाना मानता है. अपने साथ काम करने वालों के तानों से परेशान हो कर ��ुषमा नील से मिलना बंद कर देती है. पर कहते हैं न सच्चा प्यार दूर रहकर भी कम नहीं होता है. सुषमा की माँ का उसकी छोटी बहन की शादी के लिए परेशान होना सुषमा को बहुत विचलित कर देता है.
उसके मन में नील के लिए प्यार के साथ एक आशंका भी है कि शादी के बाद भी क्या वो अपने परिवार की जिम्मेदारी को ऐसे ही निभा पायेगी भी या नहीं.अपने परिवार की जिम्मेदारी उठाने के लिए वह नील के शादी के प्रस्ताव को मना कर देती है. इस किताब को पढ़ते हुए आप सुषमा और नील से जुड़ा हुआ महसूस करेंगे. सुषमा के मनोभावों को उषा जी ने शब्दों में बहुत खूबसूरती से दर्शाया है.
उषा जी ने नील और सुषमा के पवित्र प्रेम को बहुत सुन्दर तरीके से प्रदर्शित किया है.

[Karn Kher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A single women supporting her family by working in DU as hostel warden/teacher and her tryst with love. A slim, well paced book with emotions always ready to pour over but restrained by its writing.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This is a tricky one. There is a romance in this book and I don’t do well with romantic writing and the writing style itself doesn’t always succeed for me. If this was a book written in the last twenty years or so I’d possibly give it a lower rating but it was first published in 1961 at a time when the freedoms and responsibilities of an Indian women were changing. Sushma is an educated woman with a responsible position, she has a house that comes with that job and the respect of her friends and colleagues. However, she is also almost entirely responsible for the financial well-being of her whole family and marriage therefore it is not something she, or they, can contemplate. She seems more or less content with her lot until she meets Neel and things go from there.

The book shows how Sushma is conflicted between her own desires and those of her family, how she is judged for her behavior by those around her and how marriage was the culmination of ambition for so many Indian women and their families. Daisy Rockwell’s introduction really adds to an understanding of the novel and the time in which it was written, she talks, for example, about the amount of time and text that is taken up with clothes and physical appearance which critics may say can make the novel seem dated but which act to reveal the emotions of Sushma. The novel is almost relentlessly melancholic but a moving contemporary portrait of what it meant to be a woman at this time in this place.

[Tarang Sinha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book was kind of nostalgic, as it constantly reminded me of an old doordarshan serial 'Pachpan Khambhe Laal Deewarein', which I watched when I was in school, and I absolutely loved it. As I read the book, I realized that the serial followed the novel very closely.

To be honest, I didn't know it was based on a book. I haven't read the original book but thanks to Kitaab that I got to read the translated version.

The translation is good. Sometimes, I could sense the effort, especially in the dialogues. But otherwise, the writing creates beautiful imagery.

It was an engaging, thought provoking and poignant read. Full review soon.

[Archita · Rating 4 out of 5]

आधुनिक जीवन की यह एक बड़ी विडम्बना है कि जो हम नहीं चाहते, वही करने को विवश है। बेहद करीने से उषा जी ने हर भाव को चित्रित किया है। कैसे एक लड़की अपने हॉस्टल के पचपन खम्भों की तरह स्थिर और अचल हो जाती है जीवन में।

[Preeti Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel and the story it revolves around is ahead of its times and hints of changing times for women and yet how the old world held her back. She is ready to handle home, family and a lover but is she allowed all?

Had it been written in current times, I pretty much believe the protagonist wouldn’t be facing the dilemma at all. A woman, even if she takes responsibility of handling finances of her family, must and would be allowed freedom to love and live a life of her own.

The central character reminds me of strong women who would swallow hard pills for the sake of keeping it all together. And it is inspiring no doubt. But at the cost of what? Her own happiness? Her own life? Not anymore.

[Rohit Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time and again, I pick chaste Hindi classics to keep up with my father’s and mother tongue, but more often than not, they break my heart with the outcome. This one too was in the same league, but what a brilliant story, amazing writing and such beautiful prose that it would be an exaggeration to claim I haven’t read something like this in the past. On that note, I need to pick up a few more from Madam Usha and that too like NOW. It is indeed a straightforward story of Sushma, the eldest daughter of a middle-class family, who gets promoted as a Girl’s Hostel warden in a college in Delhi after serving for about a decade in the same facility. Unfortunately, she becomes the sole breadwinner of the family as her father goes bedridden, with two younger sisters and two brothers and an over-the-top emotional (call it cranky) mother, she has no respite. On top of that, she is in her mid-30s, which from the 70’s standpoint was quite a late age to get married. Neel comes into Sushma’s life as a breath of fresh air, but the tragedy is that he is five years younger than her. The rest you can imagine what all they both go through and how their life takes so many twists and turns. I kept rooting for Sushma to fight with society and do what she wanted to do, and kept hoping that the tides would turn in her favour. Heart-breaking was the way her family behaved with her, but what made me happy was that it didn’t exactly go the way I expected it and left me with some hope in the end. It reminded me so much of real-life-based Premchand stories from the time. But one must read the little gem of a book to go through the nuances of that era and read about the challenges, not much has changed even in today’s time, too, as we still have so many Sushmas around us even in 21st-century India. I must say the relevance of the title is something the reader is left with much after the book has ended.

Have you read Pachpan Khambe Lal Deewarein? Do let me know how you liked it, and I am big time looking forward to the TV series based on the same, with wishes for so much more to read from Usha Priyamvada in the very near future.

[pratyusha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Daisy Rockwell's impassioned introduction (mis)led me to believe this book might be an underrated classic that hasn't gotten its due because of male-centric literary criticism and consequent trivialisation of feminine literary devices.But no, it's mediocre rubbish. It went something like this.

Author: Sushma LOVES Neel. But she can't have him

Me: Okay, and?

Author: Her lips QUIVER. Her shadow TREMBLES. Her long eyelashes SHIVER.

Me: Then?

Author: She covers her cold hands in a shawl. Her sari is pink. Her eyelids feel heavy.

Me: And?

The end

[Megh. Megh. · Rating 5 out of 5]

55 खंबे, लाल दीवारें

काफी दिनों से यह किताब मेरे अमेज़न की विशलिस्ट में थी। कुछ दिन पहले मन किया कि कुछ हिंदी में पढ़ा जाए और यह किताब छोटी सी भी थी, तो सोचा इसे ऑर्डर कर लूं।

कुछ कहानियाँ पढ़कर आपको लगता है कि यह कहानी तो न जाने कितनी बार हो चुकी है, लेकिन हर लेखक का लिखने का तरीका अलग होता है। सुषमा मेरी उम्र की एक लड़की है, जो एक बेहतरीन पद पर है, अपना घर खुद संभालती है, सारे खर्चे खुद उठाती है और अपने से छोटे लड़के को दिल दे बैठती है।

यहाँ से स्कूल और आस-पड़ोस के लोगों की चर्चाएँ शुरू हो जाती हैं। कोई उसे कुछ कहता है तो कोई कुछ और। यह कोई नई कहानी नहीं है, यह कहानी आज भी है, कल भी थी और शायद आगे भी रहेगी। शादी न करने के लिए जो सुनना पड़ता है, वह सब कुछ आज भी हमारे समाज में वही है।

उषा जी ने जो आईना दिखाया है, वह बहुत ही रिलेटेबल महसूस होता है। एक छोटी सी कहानी में इतना सब कुछ कह जाना एक कला है। अगर समय मिले तो पढ़िए, छोटी सी ही किताब है। इसे मिस मत कीजिए!

Happy Reading!

[Tushar Pai · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book first published in 1961 by Usha Priyamvada, this Hindi novella is a glimpse into the progressive thoughts of an author showcased through the protagonist, Sushma.

A college lecturer and a hostel warden, 33 year old Sushma is an independent intellectual, who is shackled by her family’s expectations and societal norms. As the sole earning member of her family, she is way past marriageable age thanks to selfish motives of her parents who are afraid of losing her income, on which they rely on to get her younger brothers educated and younger sisters married. Sushma is aware of this but also quietly empathises with her stroke-ridden father and her well-meaning mother.

When Neel, who is five years younger to her, comes into her life, it sets into motion events that are fuelled by Sushma’s feelings and desires. But under the critical eye of her colleagues, Sushma realises that freedom is just a myth.

I have to admire Daisy Rockwell’s ability to translate this novel and capture the finer nuances that the author had intended for the reader to experience.

In 1993, Doordarshan (National TV in India) had a series by the same name: Pachpan Khambe Lal Deewarein. The character of Sushma was brought to life by the very talented Mita Vashisht. For a 15 year old me, the series seemed to artsy types and probably slow-paced and boring. But reading this novel today, I could appreciate the bold subject handled by Usha Priyamvada in what is now a classic, in my opinion.

[Vishali Bhardwaj]

✨ Here's the quick REVIEW!

It's a story of 33 year old Sushma. She had to sacrifice her own happiness for the sake of the future of her siblings. She's unmarried and sometimes feels disappointed because no one really cared about her happiness.

The whole situation is unfair for her!

Her life takes a beautiful turn when a guy named Neel enters her life. After a long time she feels alive.

And when she finally starts feeling happy because of Neel, people (even her own mother and friends) keep reminding her about her responsibilities and her age. And the whole situation becomes even more difficult for her.

✨ My thoughts -

I loved the simplicity of this book. I think this story beautifully portrays how difficult this world is for women like Sushma. How this society is so unfair to some women. And how quickly people make judgements and create trouble into others lives. Felt really bad for Sushma and Neel 💔

This book was published in 1962 but the issues it shows are still present in our society!

[Raji · Rating 3 out of 5]

Translator Daisy Rockwell makes an impassioned plea for the relevance of Fifty Five Pillars, Red Walls in the twenty-first century. And Usha Priyamvada's sparse but eloquent style shines through in what I think is a diligent translation. However, (at the risk of giving away my age), I grew up on popular Malayalam cinema, which at one point revisited the theme of the educated single woman whose desires and lives were sacrificed on the altar of an impoverished family's obligations. So, the plot, Sushama herself, and the end of this book did not grip me as they might some others. However, I did like the writing. The atmosphere created, the juxtaposition of self/moods and nature, these I enjoyed. And the characterisation of Sushama brought up a vivid image: Shabana Azmi or Smita Patil from the Hindi films of the 70s-80s or Shobana/Revathy/Suhasini/Geetha from a Malayalam film of the same period.

[Rahul Bharti · Rating 4 out of 5]

हाल फ़िलहाल मैंने उषा प्रियम्बदा की पचपन खंबे,लाल दीवारे पढ़ी ।
दिल्ली यूनिवर्सिटी की पृष्ठभूमि पर ये उपन्यास एक कामकाजी स्त्री की कहानी बया करती है , जो अपने परिवार को आर्थिक सहायता करने के लिए अपने सपने और ख़ुद से समझौता कर लेती है । इसमें एक स्त्री कैसे अपने परिवार की आर्थिक तंगी में ख़ुद को इतना मज़बूत कर लेती है कि पूरे घर की ज़िम्मेदारी ख़ुद पे ले लेती है और जो माना जाता है कि घर और परिवार की ज़िम्मेदारी का एहसास केवल पुरुष को होता है इस मानक को भी तोड़ती है ।प्रेम,शादी जो औरत की जीवन का अहम पहलू है , कहीं ना कहीं इसको भी अपनों के लिए भुला देती है,साथ साथ जो शहरी जीवन की ज़रूरतें है उसको पाने में स्त्रियों की भूमिका ना केवल चाहारदीवारी तक है बल्कि ज़रूरत पड़ने पे बीच बाहरी समाज में आ जाती है वो अपने नैतिक मूल्यों से बिना समझौता किए ।

[Pallavi Shukla · Rating 5 out of 5]

इस उपन्यास में एक भारतीय महिला की संघर्ष भरी जिंदगी को दिखाया गया है, जिसमें वह समाज और परिस्थितियों से जूझती है।यह उपन्यास उस समय लिखा गया जब समाज में महिलाओं की स्थिति बहुत खराब थी।

इस कहानी की मुख्य पात्र सुषमा है, जो एक मजबूत और आत्मविश्वासी महिला है। वह अपने परिवार की आय का एकमात्र स्रोत है और पूरे परिवार की जिम्मेदारी उसके कंधों पर है।

इस किताब ने मुझे बहुत भावुक किया, खासकर परिवार का सुषमा के साथ व्यवहार देखकर। लेकिन मुझे खुशी हुई कि कहानी का अंत मेरी उम्मीद से अलग था और अंत में कुछ उम्मीद बची। यह मुझे प्रेमचंद की कहानियों की याद दिलाता है, जो वास्तविक जीवन पर आधारित थीं।इस किताब को पढ़ना जरूरी है ताकि उस समय की चुनौतियों और समाज की सच्चाई को समझा जा सके। आज भी भारत में कई सुषमाएं हैं जो संघर्ष कर रही हैं।

उषा प्रियम्वदा की लेखन शैली वास्तविक है और वे औरतों की जिंदगी की सच्चाई को बहुत अच्छे से दिखाती हैं। समाज के दबाव में औरतें अक्सर खुद को खो देती हैं, जो इस कहानी में साफ दिखाया गया है।

यह किताब पाठकों को अंत तक जोड़े रखती है और इसका अंत बहुत भावुक कर देने वाला है। आज के समय में इसे जरूर पढ़ना चाहिए।🫶🏻❤️

[Abhaga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remembered this name from the eponymous TV serial that telecasted back in the golden age of Doordarshan. I remembered little of it save for the fact that it starred Meeta Vashishth.

This is the story of Sushma, a young unmarried accomplished women who is stuck between family responsibilities, her loneliness and a hypocrite society. She finds love but cannot embrace it on her own terms. Her family, even as it leans on her for their needs, holds on to the same old moral norms.

A strong first novel from an author who went on to write many more. Looking forward to more of them.

[Sudeep Kumar Mishra · Rating 4 out of 5]

वापसी कहानी और इस उपन्यास में काफी सारी समानताएं थी। पहली तो ये की इसमें मिडिल क्लास फैमिली को दिखाया गया था। दूसरी ये की इनके मेन किरदार अपने आप से ही लड़ने में व्यस्त थे। तीसरी ये की दोनो में से किसी भी कहानी की हैप्पी एंडिंग नहीं थी। उपन्यास के आखिरी कुछ पलों में लगा था कि फाइनली सुषमा को उसके हिस्से की खुशी मिलने ही वाली है, पर ऐसा हुआ नहीं। चौथी ये की उपन्यास और कहानी के परिवार में केवल खून चूसने वाले जोंक ही भरे हुए थे। पांचवा ये की पूरे कहानी व उपन्यास में दोनों ही मेन किरदार अंत में हार मान ही लेते है। इंग्लिश में एक कहावत है - we accept the love we think we deserve.
इस हिसाब से दोनो मुख्य किरदार वोही रास्ता इख्तियार करते है जो उनको सही लगता है।
कुल मिलाकर कहूं तो ये दोनों कहानी और उपन्यास काफ़ी लंबे समय तक मेरे जेहन में रहने वाले है।

[Anurag Majumdar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tender, moving novel about being a woman in the 60s when the gates of employment became half-open doors to empowerment, enough to squeeze through but still within the stifling matrix of societal expectations and gender roles, embodied in the form of a redbrick Delhi College. The text looks at the fatigued life of a professor vacillating between newfound desire and accrued responsibility. A short but heartfelt read.

[Animesh Priyadarshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The translation by the ace translator Daisy Rockwell is quite easy and straightforward (not using flowery words).

The novel should be read for understanding a lonely and responsible person’s fight with his/her destiny in order to take away some chunks of happiness out of the mountain of sorrow, ennui and mundane cycle of responsibilities.

I could very much relate to the story with my own situation(s) at the start of my career.

[Kakoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 1961 Usha Priyamvada debut novel still holds relevance in present times. The protagonist Sushma, an educated, self-reliant woman falls in love with a much younger man and for the first time, thinks of her own happiness over her obligations to her family. She goes through emotional turmoil and eventually gives up her desires to fulfill her responsibilities as a dutiful daughter. Doordarshan had telecast it as a serial in 1993.

[Dev Shani · Rating 4 out of 5]

पचपन खम्भे लाल दीवारे........ ख्वाब और जिम्मेदारी का बोझ
बस इन्ही शब्दों के लेकर नॉवेल की कहानियाँ घूमती है
तो घर में बड़े होने की जिम्मेदारी निभाते बड़े लड़के की कहनिया हमने सुनी है जो छोटे भाई को पढ़ा लिखा कर कामयाब करता है, छोटे बहिन का घर बसाता है और बुढ़ापे में माँ बाप का सहारा बनता है
एक आदर्श बेटा.....
यही आदर्श बेटी बने तो....
उसका जीवन बर्बाद हो जाता है
लड़कियों का जीवन लड़को से अलग होता है, यह कहानी बताती है की ये जिम्मेदारी उसके खुद की इच्छाओ को कुचल कर रख देता है
उसका जीवन पचपन खम्भेहो सा था जिसने पूरी बल्डिंग का भार उठा रखा था
...... और लाल दीवार तो बस एक स्वपन.

[Sanchita Pathak · Rating 5 out of 5]

अभी तक यक़ीन नहीं हो रहा कि ये किताब 1961 में प्रकशित हुई थी। सुषमा की कहानी, आज भी कई महिलाएं की ज़िंदगी का प्रतिबिंब है। एक ऐसी सच्चाई जिसे वो खुल के स्वीकार कर सकती हैं और न ही नकार सकती है। मैं नहीं चाहती थी कि मैं ये किताब खत्म करूं। इसलिए एक ही पन्ना कई बार पढ़ा। एक बार तो मैंने ये ठाना कि जब तक मुझे मधु कामिनी के फूल नहीं दिखेंगे तब तक मैं सुषमा के साथ आगे का सफ़र तय नहीं करूंगी। इस किताब ने मुझे चुना मैं इसकी शुक्रगुज़ार हूं।

[Aman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that perfectly describes how the weight of responsibilities can crush a person, and how parents can exploit their own child. This book was also one of the most realistic portrayal of love and longing that I stumbled upon. I found it a perfect 5/5, no word is extra and characters are still relevant today

[naveen gupta · Rating 1 out of 5]

the novel was published in 1961..those time society was totally different, values were different, but today society has changed. Sushma would be able to recognise 1961 if she were in today's time and may be she would have lived rather more comfortably. . today its look like a filmy story.

[Anu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great description of feelings but a bit orthodox, at places.

[Sukomal Banerjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

[Divya Pal · Rating 3 out of 5]

एक युवा महिला की मार्मिक कहानी जो अपने से बहुत अपेक्षाएँ रखने वाले परिवार हेतु अपने व्यक्तिगत सुख का त्याग कर देती है।