Lal Teen Ki Chhat

Nirmal Verma is one of the few Hindi writers who had the rare privilege of seeing their works become classics during their lifetime. Almost all critics agree that he is credited with giving a decisive turn to the art of storytelling in Hindi. He transformed both the language and its method of use. Reading his prose, the communicative power of his own language astonishes us. Lal Tin Ki Chhat is his most celebrated novel. He began writing it in 1970 and completed it in April 1974. Written in Delhi, London, and Shimla, this novel displays Nirmal Vermas creativity at its peak. Lal Tin Ki Chhat is the story of a lonely girl living with her younger brother in a hill town. During the long, lonely winter holidays, she wanders here and there. She has woven an illusory web around herself, spending most of her time playing with her own memories, both true and false. She stands at a threshold, a threshold beyond which childhood has been left behind, and the future is filled with signs and messages. At one end lies a strange terror, at the other an unbearable fascination, and in the dark labyrinth that stretches between them, this novel traces its edges, grasping and releasing them.