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एक खाली जगह
Story of a lower middle class girl who marries in a rich family with a widower.
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About the author
Amrita Pritam
370 books470 followersAmrita Pritam (Punjabi: ਅਮ੍ਰਿਤਾ ਪ੍ਰੀਤਮ, امرتا پریتم ) was considered the first prominent woman Punjabi poet, novelist, and essayist. She was the leading 20th-century poet of the Punjabi language, who is equally loved on both the sides of the India-Pakistan border. With a career spanning over six decades, she produced over 100 books, of poetry, fiction, biographies, essays, a collection of Punjabi folk songs and an autobiography that were translated into several Indian and foreign languages.
She is most remembered for her poignant poem, Aj Aakhaan Waris Shah Nu (Today I invoke Waris Shah - "Ode to Waris Shah"), an elegy to the 18th-century Punjabi poet in which she expressed her anguish over massacres during the partition of India in 1947. As a novelist, her most noted work was Pinjar (The Skeleton) (1950), in which she created her memorable character, Puro and depicted loss of humanity and ultimate surrender to existential fate. The novel was made into an award-winning eponymous film in 2003.
When British India was partitioned into the independent states of India and Pakistan in 1947, she migrated from Lahore to India, though she remained equally popular in Pakistan throughout her life, as compared to her contemporaries like Mohan Singh and Shiv Kumar Batalvi.
Known as the most important voice for the women in Punjabi literature, in 1956, she became the first woman to win the Sahitya Akademi Award for her magnum opus, a long poem, Sunehe (Messages). She received the Bhartiya Jnanpith, one of India's highest literary awards in 1982 for Kagaz Te Canvas (The Paper and the Canvas). The Padma Shri came her way in 1969 and finally, Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award in 2004, and in the same year she was honoured with India's highest literary award, given by the Sahitya Akademi (India's Academy of Letters), the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship given to the "immortals of literature" for lifetime achievement.
She is most remembered for her poignant poem, Aj Aakhaan Waris Shah Nu (Today I invoke Waris Shah - "Ode to Waris Shah"), an elegy to the 18th-century Punjabi poet in which she expressed her anguish over massacres during the partition of India in 1947. As a novelist, her most noted work was Pinjar (The Skeleton) (1950), in which she created her memorable character, Puro and depicted loss of humanity and ultimate surrender to existential fate. The novel was made into an award-winning eponymous film in 2003.
When British India was partitioned into the independent states of India and Pakistan in 1947, she migrated from Lahore to India, though she remained equally popular in Pakistan throughout her life, as compared to her contemporaries like Mohan Singh and Shiv Kumar Batalvi.
Known as the most important voice for the women in Punjabi literature, in 1956, she became the first woman to win the Sahitya Akademi Award for her magnum opus, a long poem, Sunehe (Messages). She received the Bhartiya Jnanpith, one of India's highest literary awards in 1982 for Kagaz Te Canvas (The Paper and the Canvas). The Padma Shri came her way in 1969 and finally, Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award in 2004, and in the same year she was honoured with India's highest literary award, given by the Sahitya Akademi (India's Academy of Letters), the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship given to the "immortals of literature" for lifetime achievement.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 2, 2017
What I liked was, it was written from her perspective. Her thoughts form an entirely different entity in the book and portray every complex emotion that she might be experiencing. It's not an easy read for a hindi sahitya beginner though.
August 31, 2017
To describe one feeling. This intensely. Wow.
January 14, 2018
कभी कभी जीवन की सारी साँसें एक धागे से बंध से जाती है - ऐसे ही एक बहुत जटिल सी नारी हृदय के संवेदना/भावना को लेकर लिखी इस कहानी को अमृता जी ने पाठक को सरल शब्दों में अद्वितीय तोहफ़ा दिया है।
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February 26, 2024‘दिलीप राय का वजूद उसके लिए पूरी धरती बन जाता है, उत्तरी ध्रुव से लेकर दक्षिणी ध्रुव तक ―जिसके निर्जनों में वो खो जाती है, जिसकी आबादियों में वो बस जाती है, और वो मीलों पर मील फलाँगने पर भी धरती की थाह नहीं पा पाती…हाथ एक अनन्त में भटकते रह जाते हैं …
पर वह, दिलीप राय, कभी भी उसे धरती की तरह नहीं ढूंढते। वह हमेशा नपी-तुली चीज़ की तरह उसे अंगों में सम्भाल लेते हैं ―चाहें तो बाँहों में समेट लेते हैं, चाहें तो एक ओर रख देते हैं…
आँखों में पानी भर आया। लगा, उसका अस्तित्व इतना छोटा है, सीमित कि आँखों के पानी में डूब सकता है।’
It's my first Amrita Pritam book. It's the story of Mukta who gets married to Dilip Rai, a widower, but she always senses his first wife's presence between them (not in an eerie way), she feels like she's there merely to fill that empty space left by his first wife (and the child they lost).
A 64-page novella, enclosed in hardcover with large font (even without reading glasses). So, basically it's a short story; if the publisher had used a normally big font, it couldn't have covered more than 40 pages.
If you see the writing individually, it's beautiful, poetic, full of metaphors, however if you take it as a story and the storytelling, reading this book was (It may sound ‘छोटा मुँह, बड़ी बात’) quite underwhelming.
Dilip Rai opens up when Mukta cooks his favourite meal(?). But I didn't see Mukta developing feelings for Dilip. There's no proper, emotional conversation. Everything is in the narration.
The ending is supposed to be poignant, evoking sorrowfulness, but sadly, the writing/narration/storytelling doesn't achieve that.
Overall, to me, it seemed like a slow paced (and it's just 64 pages), yet hurried (if you know what I mean), poetic commentary.
पर वह, दिलीप राय, कभी भी उसे धरती की तरह नहीं ढूंढते। वह हमेशा नपी-तुली चीज़ की तरह उसे अंगों में सम्भाल लेते हैं ―चाहें तो बाँहों में समेट लेते हैं, चाहें तो एक ओर रख देते हैं…
आँखों में पानी भर आया। लगा, उसका अस्तित्व इतना छोटा है, सीमित कि आँखों के पानी में डूब सकता है।’
It's my first Amrita Pritam book. It's the story of Mukta who gets married to Dilip Rai, a widower, but she always senses his first wife's presence between them (not in an eerie way), she feels like she's there merely to fill that empty space left by his first wife (and the child they lost).
A 64-page novella, enclosed in hardcover with large font (even without reading glasses). So, basically it's a short story; if the publisher had used a normally big font, it couldn't have covered more than 40 pages.
If you see the writing individually, it's beautiful, poetic, full of metaphors, however if you take it as a story and the storytelling, reading this book was (It may sound ‘छोटा मुँह, बड़ी बात’) quite underwhelming.
Dilip Rai opens up when Mukta cooks his favourite meal(?). But I didn't see Mukta developing feelings for Dilip. There's no proper, emotional conversation. Everything is in the narration.
The ending is supposed to be poignant, evoking sorrowfulness, but sadly, the writing/narration/storytelling doesn't achieve that.
Overall, to me, it seemed like a slow paced (and it's just 64 pages), yet hurried (if you know what I mean), poetic commentary.
October 5, 2020
A novella revolving around the marriage of Mukta,a girl from a middle class family and Dilip Rai, who is considerably richer and a widower, the story explores the trepidation that takes root in the mind of a woman who is expected to take the place of another.
Not knowing how much of her identity is relevant in her new relationship, Mukta struggles to reconcile with the fact that there are memories of her husband's previous marriage that he may be holding onto which means she can never fully be a part of his life.
Her inner turmoil is reflected in the monologues she has with herself as she begins her new life and experiences each new situation that she knows is not new for him.
A very natural train of thought has been explored very sensitively.
Not knowing how much of her identity is relevant in her new relationship, Mukta struggles to reconcile with the fact that there are memories of her husband's previous marriage that he may be holding onto which means she can never fully be a part of his life.
Her inner turmoil is reflected in the monologues she has with herself as she begins her new life and experiences each new situation that she knows is not new for him.
A very natural train of thought has been explored very sensitively.
August 21, 2020
बेहतरीन उपन्यासिका/लंबी कहानी !
एक स्त्री के अन्तःमन का सजीव चित्र !
निम्न मध्यमवर्गीय खूबसूरत लड़की के लिए एक विधुर धनिक का रिश्ता आता है। वह लड़की रिश्ता आने के बाद से लेकर रिश्ते में बंधकर प्रेम में पड़ने से लेकर विधुर के विगत से साम्य बैठाने तक जिन मनोभावों से गुज़रती है उसका बहुत ही खूबसूरत भाषा में, खूबसूरत प्रतीकों के साथ चित्रण है।
या यूँ कहें कि यह कहानी उस सुन्दर युवती के अंतर्मन की यात्रा है जो "कुछ फूल सिर्फ किसी कब्र पर चढ़ाने के लिए उगते हैं" जैसे मनोभाव से लेकर "आपका अतीत सबका सब मेरे में शामिल हो गया है, मेरा अपना बन गया है, मेरा अपना .." तक की यात्रा है।
एक स्त्री के अन्तःमन का सजीव चित्र !
निम्न मध्यमवर्गीय खूबसूरत लड़की के लिए एक विधुर धनिक का रिश्ता आता है। वह लड़की रिश्ता आने के बाद से लेकर रिश्ते में बंधकर प्रेम में पड़ने से लेकर विधुर के विगत से साम्य बैठाने तक जिन मनोभावों से गुज़रती है उसका बहुत ही खूबसूरत भाषा में, खूबसूरत प्रतीकों के साथ चित्रण है।
या यूँ कहें कि यह कहानी उस सुन्दर युवती के अंतर्मन की यात्रा है जो "कुछ फूल सिर्फ किसी कब्र पर चढ़ाने के लिए उगते हैं" जैसे मनोभाव से लेकर "आपका अतीत सबका सब मेरे में शामिल हो गया है, मेरा अपना बन गया है, मेरा अपना .." तक की यात्रा है।
September 23, 2021
इसे पढ़ने के बाद ऐसा लग रहा है जैसे हृदय भारी हो गया हो, किसी अज्ञात एहसास से, बहुत ख़ूबसूरती से लिखा गया उपन्यास है ।
July 9, 2025
I love how much I hate it
December 29, 2020
सागर के समरूप स्त्री मन के उतार चढ़ाव, उथल पुथल की, उसकी जटिलता को बयां करती अमृता जी द्वारा रचित मार्मिक कहानी - एक खाली जगह !
October 30, 2019
A simple yet profound read on human relations & womanhood woven through a moving story.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews