Belletristic, the literary society of the Department of English, Shoolini University, organised a literary session on ‘Writers from Indian Subcontinent’. Ms. Sakshi Sundaram, faculty of the English Department, Shoolini University, was the presenter for the event. She discussed the short stories by Krishna Sobti, the Indian fiction writer and Essayist. The panel for discussion consisted of faculty members, Purnima Bali, Tej Nath Dhar, Neeraj Pizar, and Rajesh Williams.
Ms. Sakshi began the session with a biographical discussion on Krishna Sobti. She also stated certain remarkable facts about Sobti. Ms. Sundaram talked about Sobti’s fondness for her ancestral place, and maternal and paternal grandparents, which is very much evident in Sobti’s work. The two short stories that Sakshi Sundaram talked about were, ‘Sikka Badal Gaya’ and ‘Main Tumhari Raksha Karunga’. She chose these stories because they reoccur in Sobti’s novel which was published before her death and had an autobiographical effect on it. ‘Sikka Badal Gaya’ lead to her becoming a writer. She also talked about the bold characters of Sobti as, Sobti herself was a very unconventional writer. She also mentioned that it has always been difficult for critics to do the feminist analysis on her.
The session was further carried forward by an interesting discussion based on the questions asked by the attendees and the panelists. The session was very illuminating and intrigued students to read more works by Krishna Sobti.
