Jnanpith honored litterateur Vinod Kumar Shukla
Digital Desk, New Delhi. There is a wave of mourning in the literary world on the demise of Vinod Kumar Shukla, a distinguished creator of Hindi literature and Jnanpith honored litterateur. Many writers and intellectuals including senior litterateur Girish Pankaj, Sanjeeb Bakshi, historian Ramendranath Mishra and senior editor Sunil Kumar paid tribute to him.
In the tribute statements, Shukla was described as a magician of language, a sensitive human being and a writer who created something out of the box. Speakers said that his poetry and prose are unique documents of human compassion, silence and the spirit of walking together, the absence of which will be felt for a long time.
'They knew how to get along'
Girish Pankaj, senior litterateur
Finally, the worst fears came true. While struggling between life and death, finally the most famous creator of Hindi, the magician of the language Vinodkumar Shukla, left us all and passed away. And with this ended, the fake babble of some 'intellectual vultures' that the government was not doing anything for Vinod Kumar ji, whereas the government was working as much as possible at its level.
Today when Vinod ji is no longer among us, personally I see Vinod ji in front of me while wandering in the corridors of the past. Then he used to teach in Agricultural College, Raipur. Later he became a public relations officer there. At that time, I used to be the city chief of a newspaper in Raipur and being a student of literature, I used to read many important writers like Vinodji from time to time.
Vinod ji, as a public relations officer, used to send a new diary on behalf of the college to me and other media persons once a year. At that time, he used to have a Bullet, on which he used to go to college and travel here and there in the city. Many times I used to meet him at the intersection.
Although Vinod ji was not as popular in social life, he became popular because of literary criticism. At the time when Vinod Kumar Shukla was famous in the literary world, there used to be a national level famous satirist named Vinod Shankar Shukla in Raipur.
He was also a professor of Hindi in Chhattisgarh College and his satires were published in many important magazines. Even in the city, people used to invite him to various programs. The interesting thing was that whenever Vinod Kumar Shukla got any honor, people used to congratulate Vinod Shankar Shukla. Then Vinod Shankar ji would smile and say, "Not me, Vinod Kumar Shukla has got the honour."
Once Vinod Kumar ji was sitting in the first row in some program, then a big leader of the state, taking two or four names, said, "Vinodshankar Shukla is also sitting in front of us."
Vinod Kumar ji felt very bad about this. While discussing with me after the programme, he said that "Politicians deliberately insult me". This was the reason that later Vinod Kumar ji stopped attending public programs. He used to attend only selected programs. Whenever Prof. Namvar Singh came or there was a lecture by Ashok Bajpai, he was seen only then.
On other occasions the organizers would flatly refuse. Vinod ji was very hesitant in speaking. He used to go to some program with great insistence but did not give any statement of his own. Yes, he used to recite one or two of his poems on people's insistence. There is no doubt that among his hundreds of poems, some poems were very popular. He himself understood his popularity, hence whenever the opportunity arose, he used to recite his poems to him.
Exactly thirty years ago, when I started publishing 'Sadbhavna Darpan', a magazine of translation of Indian and world literature, Vinod ji had personally appreciated me after seeing its concept and had given me his best wishes.
But he also had a big concern about the fact that the works in Indian languages are being translated into Hindi but the works in Hindi should also be translated into other Indian languages. Vinod ji's concern was justified. Later such a situation arose that many of Vinod ji's works were translated into other languages also. He expressed deep satisfaction on this matter.
It may be a traditional thing that his departure is the biggest loss to Hindi literature, which cannot be compensated for a long time. But it is true that the contribution that Vinod ji gave to Hindi literature at the level of language and craft was out of the box. There was poetic flavor in his stories and the joy of prose in poetry. To understand the linguistic miracle in one of his poems, see these lines:
My daughter has two daughters. The youngest granddaughter woke up. As soon as she woke up, she picked her up in the morning like a doll. When the elder granddaughter woke up, she would pick her up for the day.
Of course he was not a writer for the common people. But there are some of his poems which even common readers found interesting, like this poem of his:-
"A person was sitting in desperation. I didn't know the person. I knew the desperation. So I went to that person. I extended my hand. Holding my hand, he stood up. He didn't know me. He knew how to extend my hand. We both walked together. We both didn't know each other. We knew how to walk together."
Many readers read his prose (novels and stories) and made negative comments, perhaps because they could not grasp his craft. But there was also a large section of people who read his novels with great interest. And was impressed by his magical realism. Because there was a different kind of playfulness in the language of his novels.
He laid more emphasis on artistic design than story. He did not tell flat stories like traditional storytellers, rather his linguistic skill was visible in every paragraph. In the story, if a person was going, Vinodji would not end the story by saying that a person was going, he would describe the physical structure of that person, his body language, his expressions, all these in detail.
This artistic expansion was his storytelling skill, which was liked by rationalists. Vinod Kumar Shukla's writing became special in the eyes of famous Hindi critics due to the innovation he made in breaking the traditional linguistic rules of a story or novel and presenting it with a new artistic craft. The positive result of this was that after receiving the Sahitya Akademi award, he finally reached the country's most prestigious literary award 'Gyanpeeth'.
But those who want to read the story like a story, did not like Vinod ji's story. Vinod ji has been clearly saying in his statement that he does not create for common readers, but creates for his own mind, and in that he gets ultimate satisfaction. Vinod ji is no longer among us, but he will be remembered for a long time because of the innovative experiments done by him in the world of literature.
'Recollection of a poem written in half an hour'
Sunil Kumar, Senior Editor
Vinod Kumar Shukla's demise is a loss for Hindi literature as his kind of writing will no longer happen. Only what they have written will survive. The second disadvantage is that I have hardly met such a simple and gentle person in my life. His departure has left a void for me. I had very few meetings with him, but they were full of memories.
He was much older than me, perhaps a generation. But while sitting with him the age difference was never felt. At that time, I had not even read much of his writings, yet I used to argue with him full of absurdities on every subject, with all my ignorance. His simplicity and gentleness were such that he never tried to show me how little I knew and was making a face.
While working in 'Deshbandhu' newspaper, I remember one incident the most during the preparation of Holi issue. On the same day Vinod ji came to meet our editor Lalit Surjan. There was a deep friendship between the two. Despite being very young at that time, I took him to a separate room and requested him to write a poem for Holi. They were shocked.
Said that he does not write poetry in such a time limit, poetry is not like news. I again insisted - said that the newspaper was going to be published and the poem was needed within half an hour. When he did not agree, I crossed the limits and said that I was locking the door from outside and would ring the bell when the poem was completed. He said that his health would deteriorate under such pressure. But I had the stubbornness of a young man and perhaps also the arrogance of knowing him for years. I literally locked the door from the outside.
When Lalitji came to know about it, he became very angry. He said, you don't know how great a litterateur Vinodji is. He said that the editors of the country's biggest literary magazines wait in queue for years for Vinod ji's poems. But Vinod Kumar Shukla remained closed for half an hour. I kept wandering around the office with the keys in my pocket. The door opened after half an hour. He was sweating and also upset. But he had written a long poem. That poem was published on the front page of the Holi issue on the same day. Later I had his plate framed and hung in Lalitji's room. I am sure that Lalitji too must have been very jealous of my success with his friend that day.
Today neither Lalitji nor Vinodji are there. But in front of many people, including Vinodji himself, I laughingly narrated this story to the other people present there. People cannot believe that someone can force Vinod ji to write a poem as per their request in half an hour. This is the most unique memory of Vinodji for me. I used to send his poems in his handwriting to my friends who were crazy about Vinod Kumar and such friends would go crazy. Now I won't be able to send, because that man wore a new warm coat and went away like a thought.
'There is no one like Vinod ji...'
There is no one like Vinod ji. The zeal and enthusiasm with which they are writing novels, stories and poems for children and teenagers is amazing in itself. Recalling the past, Vinod ji tells that his elder cousin was Bhagwati Prasad Shukla. He used to write very good poetry. He brought a copy to Vinod ji and said, don't write here and there on papers, write on this. The brother sold his wife's jewelery and got a poetry collection published. The collection was named after him. Sadly, he died of cancer.
The bundle of poetry collection remained lying in the house. Vinod ji got a literary environment at home in his childhood. Madhuri and other literary magazines used to come in the house. Once the money deposited with Vinod ji reached two rupees, he asked his mother what to do with it? Mother asked which book to buy. Mother was Baiswani. Vinod ji again asked which book should I buy? Mother said which book of Sharat Chandra should be bought. He tells that he remembers that Vijaya had bought the book at that time. Mother told Vinod ji, son, whenever you write, write after reading the best book in the world. Vinod ji remembered what his mother said and read Khoja Naseeruddin.
According to Vinod ji, he was never a student of Hindi. His mind was never concentrated. There was a kind of restlessness in the mind. When he was admitted to Science College, he failed in Hindi Essay and Chemistry. Later he went to Agriculture College, he did not like it there either but he passed with good marks. When he passed in first division, he telegrammed Muktibodh ji that he passed first. Later Muktibodh tells him that I thought he had come first in the university. Vinod ji was at tenth position in the university.
Vinod ji tells about his stay in Jabalpur that whenever he went to Parsai ji, he used to sit writing. He would stop writing as soon as he left. Would sit nearby and talk. For the first time he met Parsai ji with a letter from Muktibodh ji. In Jabalpur, Vinod ji was in Agricultural College, Naresh Saxena was in Engineering College and Somdutt was in Veterinary College. All three met each other in Parsai ji's house. Since then a deep friendship developed.
'Glorified the soil of Chhattisgarh in the form of literature, meditation and penance'
Acharya Ramendranath Mishra, historian
The untimely demise of renowned litterateur Vinod Shukla ji, who glorified Shivnath and the streams of Mahanadi and the soil of Chhattisgarh in the form of literary practice and penance, is an irreparable loss for the Hindi literary world at the national level. The many honors he received at the national level always remained inspirational for the young generation.
His meetings, discussions and guidance with him on various occasions are unforgettable. Staying away from publicity, he remained engaged in literary creation like an ascetic and accepted literary honors as easily as Ritu.
His Jnanpith award was a proud, famous and inspirational achievement for Chhattisgarh. He was the guiding leader of the literary world of Chhattisgarh. Sahitya Akademi, Shodhpeeth and Hindi Granth Academy continued to get inspiration from his thoughts and writings.
Rajnandgaon and Raipur have been his workplace, where his writings and thoughts will continue to inspire the coming generations. His death is an irreparable loss for Indian Hindi literature.