BOOK REVIEW- ASHADH KA EK DIN

Kalidas- nayi bhoomi sukhi bhi to ho sakti hai

             (new land could be arid )

Mallika- koi bhumi aisi nahi jiske antar me komalta na ho, tumhari pratibha us komalta            

              Ka  sparsh awashya pa legi..

            (There is no land without softness at its core, your talent will definitely touch that 

             core)

‘Ashadh ka ek din’ is a play wondrously written by Mohan rakesh depicting the story of erstwhile famous writer Kalidas and his love Mallika. The story is presented beautifully with its limited characters and the conversations between characters are exhibited perfectly.

The female lead Mallika is madly in love with kalidas who lived in the same village and they both used to enjoy the beauty of the mountains , clouds, rains and of course the poetry of kalidas.

But after writing a master piece Ritu-sanghar kalidas fame took him to the capital of the kingdom and he became the national poet in the court of the king.

He wrote many epics like meghdootam, kumarsambhawa and raghuwans in Ujjani, the capital city. While kalidas enjoyed his fame and position , Mallika kept waiting for him living a life miserable and wretched .

As the story progresses , kalidas realizes that his life lacks everything without mallika’s presence. But then, these lines touchingly describe the rest… 

Kalidas- yeh shambhawatah iksha ka samay ke saaath dwand tha, par yeh dekh raha hu                        

              ki samay aadhik shaktishali hai  kuki..

             (It is probably a conflict between wishes and time, but I can feel that time is

              Mightier because….)

                                                         

Mallika- kuki....

               (because..)

Kalidas – kuki wah pratiksha nahi karta

               (Because it doesn’t wait)

The title of the book looks wispy being a love story, but the story begins with one day of the month of ashadh when the first rain of the season occurs.

The last scene of the story is also belongs to the month of ashadh.

Kalidas’s other creation Meghdootam is also its beginning in the month of ashadh when the lead character sees the first cloud of the season on a mountain top.

While reading this book I was highly impress by the flow of the story ,and the language used by Mohan Rakesh is marvelous.

Despite it’s first edition published in the year 1958 and the background which looks old. ‘Ashadh ka ek din’ touches the readers heart to the core. If any one in interested in emotional love story with beautiful dialogues. This is a must read....