3 Review(s)

Ek Gadhe Ki Atmakatha by Krishnan Chander is a satirical look at our modern world full of insincere people, sycophants, crooked politicians, greedy bureaucrats and unscrupulous businessmen, artists looking for shortcuts to fame, and others in our society. The novel is the first of the trilogy in which the Donkey represents the common man and his troubled life, and  was earlier called Gadhe Ke Surguzasht. The novel was dramatized last year in New Delhi. It received critical acclaim, and is also one of the author’s two plays to have done so. The Gadhe meets everyone, from socialites to the late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in his eventful visit to the capital. The play is full of easy recognizable and relatable caricatures who are part of our public lives, and it also provides ample food for thought. Krishnan Chander, born in 1914, managed to write more than 20 novels and plays, more than 30 collections of short stories, and many skits for radio performances that are relevant even today. Though he initially wrote in Urdu, after the Partition, he started to write in Hindi. His Gadhe trilogy is particularly relevant in today’s political climate. He passed away in 1977.