Novel attacking family values.

 A Suitable Boy

1) “A Suitable Boy” is a novel by Vikram Seth, published in 1993.

2) “A suitable boy” is one of the longest novels published in a single volume having 1488 pages.

3) The story of the novel ‘a suitable boy’ is based upon the arranged marriage of a girl Lata who is university student.

4) It has 19 parts.

5) “A Suitable Boy” is set in a newly post-independence, post-partition India.

6) “A Suitable Boy” also depicts a story of young girl Lata who is Hindu and loves a Muslim boy Kabir Durrani. In this love story Lata was ready to run away with Kabir but Kabir is depicted as responsible person who had refused to run away with Lata. Finally this love story ends and a saga of arranging her marriage with a suitable Hindu boy starts.

7) Seth has stated that the biggest influence on writing A Suitable Boy was the five-volume 18th century Chinese novel The Story of the Stone by Cao Xueqin.

8) On 5 November 2019 BBC News included A Suitable Boy on its list of the 100 most inspiring novels.

9) The book was among the contenders in a 2014 list by The Telegraph of the 10 all-time greatest Asian novels

10) Emma Lee-Potter of The Independent listed it as one of the 12 best Indian novels.

11) A six part series “A suitable boy” was telecasted on BBC one in 2020 based on the novel of Vikram Seth “A suitable boy”.

So this was piece of information about the novel which attacked family and social values of Hindus and promoted interfaith love relations. Part of this novel is in the school curriculum and even questions are asked in Olympiads about this novel. Why the novel is promoted in school studies which are below 18 years of age? Now let us know about the writer of the novel.

Vikram Seth

1) Birth - 20 June 1952

2) Father - Prem Nath Seth, was an executive of Bata Shoes

3) Mother - Leila Seth, a barrister by training, became the first female judge of the Delhi High Court and first woman to become Chief Justice of a state High Court in India.

4) In 1980, Vikram Seth wrote Mappings, his first book of poetry.

5) List of Awards and Honors of Vikram Seth:

a.       1983 – Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet

b.      1985 – Commonwealth Poetry Prize (Asia) for The Humble Administrator's Garden

c.       1988 – Sahitya Akademi Award for The Golden Gate

d.      1993 – Irish Times International Fiction Prize (shortlist) for A Suitable Boy

e.      1994 – Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book) for A Suitable Boy

f.        1994 – WH Smith Literary Award for A Suitable Boy

g.       1999 – Crossword Book Award for An Equal Music

h.      2001 – Order of the British Empire, Commander

i.         2001 – EMMA (BT Ethnic and Multicultural Media Award) for Best Book/Novel for An Equal Music

j.        2005 – Pravasi Bharatiya Samman

k.       2007 – Padma Shri in Literature & Education

l.         2013 – NDTV's 25 Greatest Global Living Legends In India

Thus a fictional writer who had defamed Indian society and attacked family values is awarded by many, but this blog will not be shared by the readers of the blog. Hence every one want to be like him and not like writer of this blog.

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