This is the first book of Premchand that l have read and can't wait to read more of his work.
It has been more than 8 years since I have read more than 2 pages of anything in Hindi and more importantly Hindi literature, but I prepared myself before taking this old lane of reading Hindi stories.
Vardan is a story of love, sacrifice, human values, spirituality, poverty, superstition, the lifestyle of India in the early 20th century and much more.
Set in Varanasi, the story revolves around its two main characters Pratap and Vrajrani, who become neighbours due to Pratap's mother's financial condition. They are friends from childhood and spends all their time together, either playing or reading. Pratap has a really big impact on Vrajrani's habit of reading. Pratap and Vrajrani fall in Love with each other, but their love has a very different meaning than today's love, as I think it is from a different era. Even the people around them see their love as' brother-sister's love, but nobody sees the love growing and transforming into something beautiful, something different from all kinds of love present around them. As the story progress, we see both of them sacrificing themselves for their country and beliefs. Other than this beautiful love story, the narrator also takes us on those old houses of villages of ancient India, where it was a ritual to talk abusively on the occasion of Holi, where one's words held more value than one's money, where pride and respect were considered as most expensive ornaments.
The book is for those people who want to live in that old India and wants to experience its values through Premchand's writing.