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Echoes of My Past…

Echoes of My Past…

The candid, provocative memoir of one of Hindi literature's most original writers

Rajendra Yadav
,
Poonam Saxena
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The remarkable life of Rajendra Yadav

Rajendra Yadav was a stalwart of the Hindi sahitya (literature). Having started the Nayi Kahani movement, he was also known for helping Dalit writing and promoting new and upcoming authors.
One of the most controversial figures of the literary world, his charming personality, his open living style and scathing criticism of contemporary writers, drew both ire and admiration, praise and brickbats.

Mud Mud ke Dekhta Hoon is a collection of his writings on his life, marriage, writing process and the hardships of being the editor of Hans magazine for Hindi literature, which was started by Premchand. While his writings reveal the scanner he put on himself and his works under, they also expose a man who was much criticized for his marriage to Mannu Bhandhari. another doyen of Hindi literature and the woman who held him up for thirty-two years before finally giving up on him.

Breaking myths surrounding writers and their lives, this book is the story of a man, a writer, a father, a husband and his struggles with definitions of right and wrong.

Imprint: Ebury Press

Published: Dec/2025

ISBN: 9780670096657

Length : 280 Pages

MRP : ₹599.00

Echoes of My Past…

The candid, provocative memoir of one of Hindi literature's most original writers

Rajendra Yadav
,
Poonam Saxena

The remarkable life of Rajendra Yadav

Rajendra Yadav was a stalwart of the Hindi sahitya (literature). Having started the Nayi Kahani movement, he was also known for helping Dalit writing and promoting new and upcoming authors.
One of the most controversial figures of the literary world, his charming personality, his open living style and scathing criticism of contemporary writers, drew both ire and admiration, praise and brickbats.

Mud Mud ke Dekhta Hoon is a collection of his writings on his life, marriage, writing process and the hardships of being the editor of Hans magazine for Hindi literature, which was started by Premchand. While his writings reveal the scanner he put on himself and his works under, they also expose a man who was much criticized for his marriage to Mannu Bhandhari. another doyen of Hindi literature and the woman who held him up for thirty-two years before finally giving up on him.

Breaking myths surrounding writers and their lives, this book is the story of a man, a writer, a father, a husband and his struggles with definitions of right and wrong.

Buying Options
Paperback / Hardback

Rajendra Yadav

Rajendra Yadav (1929–2013) was a leading Hindi writer, known as much for his novels and short stories as for his editorship of the Hindi literary magazine, Hans. He was born in Agra, and moved to Calcutta after his studies, where he stayed for almost a decade. This is where he met Mannu Bhandari, herself a writer, and they married in 1959. In 1964, the couple moved to Delhi. His first novel was Sara Akash (1951), which was made into a film by Basu Chatterjee in 1969. Sara Akash was followed by Ukhde Hue Log, Kulta, Shah Aur Maat, Andekhe Anjaan Pal and Mantravidh. He also co-authored a novel with Mannu Bhandari, Ek Inch Muskaan. He wrote over a hundred short stories and was part of the ‘trikon’ who started the influential Nayi Kahani movement in the 1950s (the other two were Mohan Rakesh and Kamleshwar). In 1986 he revived Hans, the magazine founded by Munshi Premchand in 1936. He edited it till his death in 2013, making it the premier Hindi literary magazine of its time.

Poonam Saxena

Poonam Saxena is a journalist with Hindustan Times, where she is the editor of the Sunday magazine. She did her BA and MA in history from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi, and went on to do an MPhil from Delhi University. She has been a journalist for almost twenty years, first as a freelancer and then as features editor with newspapers such as the Asian Age. She wrote a popular TV review column in the Hindustan Times called Small Screen for almost ten years. Her translation of Gunahon ka Devta, acclaimed Hindi writer Dharamvir Bharati’s iconic 1949 novel into English (Chander & Sudha, Penguin Viking) received glowing reviews.

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