Harish Naval is an international acclaimed satirist of Hindi literature who has authored 34 books across diverse areas of literature such as satire, short stories, novels, literally essays, memoirs and reviews. He was awarded the prestigious 'Yuva Jnanpith Samman' for his first book, a collection of his satirical stories 'Bagpat Ke Kharbuje' which is considered one of the hundred most liked books of 20th century, according to a survey conducted by TOI. There are 18 researchers involved in researching Dr. Naval's literary works. 10 have already been awarded degrees of M.Phil./Ph.D. Post his retirement as an Associate Professor from Delhi University's Hindu college, Dr. Harish Naval was appointed as the Chief Editor of 'Gagananchal' an international literary journal of I.C.C.R., Government of India where he worked till September 2020. He has since been writing independently.
Many years ago, when I was 10th Class, a series of Satirical conversations between girls and boys was started in 'Neelam', Delhi Magazine. Girls used to write an open letter to boys and boys used to write an open letter to girls. I too participated in it and my letter was awarded the 1st Prize. Many young boys and girls referred to its context and content several times, as a piece of good humour and satire.
My articles had already found space in a magazine, 'Sarvhitkari, published from Dehradun. Its subject matter had moral and religious orientation.
My Hindi school teacher Shri Dharmbhanu 'Sukumar' used to go through both, 'Neelam' and 'Sarvhitkari'. He told me that they were in genre of good satire. He found my expressions quite fluent and original. The writeups in 'Sarvhitkari' where less original.... still should continue with it!
On encouragement from my teacher and mentor I started writing in line with the style of 'Neelam. I could guess what he meant by 'Original' but was quite ignorant about the word Satire! Then I composed an article in story format. The title was 'Ramchandraji Vs Shri Krishna'. I tried to portray a Cricket Match between 'Treta Yuga' and 'Dwapar'. The characters of the two eras were depicted as Cricket Stars and described the happenings of the match. My mentor went through it and liked it. In his opinion a contemporary take of mythical characters is acceptable so long as it is restrained. While modernising the narration the expressions should abide by the qualities the characters were acclaimed for. He also felt that my story format was more interesting.
The cheerful saga of our daily life has harsh undertones The which we tend to overlook until they are exposed to us in some form or the other. Here is a series of satire episodes which take a dig at our fake perceptions. In his book 'Indian Tea in American Cup' Harish Naval stirs up myriad shades of human emotions. As an accomplished satirist, he carefully scratches the superficial sheen to unearth the underlying dark mosaic of human nature.
Naval tackles every aspect of our morality and ethics. Our National Ethos, Religious Tantrums, Political Gimmicks, Educational Misadventures or Social Rituals are all under his probing eyes. He mercilessly delves into each and every corner of our psyche and questions the sincerity of our consciousness. Stretching us much beyond our comfort zones is what makes his satire hard- hitting without being vulgar.
The curtain raiser for the series makes a direct hit at our religious beliefs. When one becomes illogical about one's own faith, these beliefs become overbearing. Listening to even a school prayer can create a hypothetical web of queries in the mind of grown-ups. While innocent kids easily grasp what is implied, mature minds fail to connect to it. Then there is light at the end of the dark tunnel 'How will I find a Virtuous Way...I need to hold on to The Merciful within me, but how...' Even after brewing deep, everything fizzles out like a storm in a teacup...
Then there is an account of hollow promises of our Glorious National Heritage. While everyone wants to share the lime light of the new found 'Autonomy', no one is accountable for the 'sinking boat'!
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