Books are very dear to me. I enjoy reading and thank my schoolteachers for inculcating this habit in me. I was an avid reader of English and Hindi novels, short-stories and more. They took me to a wonderful place as well as showed me the reality of life. Books are often written on one’s personal experience or of something one has heard about happen, while some books are sheer imagination, of a world one wants to live in.
One such writer, I read a lot from is Munshi Premchand. He is well known for his Hindi and Udru writings. He is called ‘Upanyas Samrat’ in the world of Hindi literature, Upanyas meaning novel and Samrat meaning king.
Munshiji was born in Mouza Lamhi, which is near Banaras on July 31, 1880, as Dhanpat Rai fondly called Nawab Rai at home. He lived a life of hardships as he lost his mother at a young age, and his father was a poor man. With many responsibilities on his shoulder, he worked as a tuition teacher and also studied to complete his matriculation, which he did in the year 1889.
Later on he received his degree in 1904 from Allahabad Training School and in the year 1905, he was posted in a Government school in Kanpur. This was a turning point in his life. He met the editor of Zamana magazine and the foundation for his work in literature was laid. In the year 1919 he completed his B.Sc in English, Literature, Persian and History.
He went on to be part of the non-cooperation movement by opening a spinning wheel shop, which did not fetch him any income, resulting in him taking up a job in Kanpur in a private school. After this he set up a printing press called ‘Sarasvati Press’, which again underwent loss and had to be shutdown.
He first wrote at the age of 14 a comedy drama, which was based on his uncles, which was never printed. His printed novels and other works are Nirmala, Sevasadan, Rangbhoomi, Gaban, Premashram, Roothi Rani, Pratigya, Godaan and many more.
Premchand breathed his last on 8th October 1936, while he was holding the position of President in the Progressive Writers’ Association in Lucknow.