Book ‘Harvest of Human Values’ is a confluence of human values, traditions and social responsibilities
The Mayor of Lucknow, Dr Dinesh Sharma recently released a much awaited book by Pt. Hari Om Sharma ‘Hari’ at the UP Press Club, Lucknow. On this occasion, renowned litterateurs, writers, poets, administrative officers, educationists, judges and book lovers gathered at the press club and read the book with great interest showering praise on it as an eye-opener and a socially useful book. Top scholars expressed their firm conviction that the book will show a new direction to present day youth and encourage them to touch the highest pinnacles of success and glory. Following is a review of the book penned by Praveen Shukla :
English literature is rich and varied in its own way, even then when we connect it to our Indian culture and Indian way of life, there is something lacking in it. English is gradually becoming a global language and a language closely related to our day to day life in India. This trend is especially visible among the younger generation. In this state of affairs, if we say that there is not enough of English literature in our country specially concerning our rural population, then it will not be entirely wrong. Pt. Hari Om Sharma’s book ‘Harvest of Human Values’ is an attempt to bridge this gap. The significant point to note here is that the present younger generation is madly rushing after Western culture and tradition and is getting steeped in materialism. In this scenario, the book ‘Harvest of Human Values’ acquires a new significance and useful purpose. It shows the right way to the new generation in the language they associate themselves with. It takes the youth towards their roots and teaches them the basics of Indian culture, customs and tradition making them realize the folly of blindly aping the western culture and philosophy.
Written in simple and direct English, ‘Harvest of Human Values’ contains 33 unique stories which present a rich confluence of human values, culture, traditions and social relationships set against the canvas of human emotions in rural and urban India. The varied stories of Pt. Hari Om Sharma ‘Hari’ not only reflect the unity in diversity in Indian culture but have a higher purpose of reflecting universal human values and emotions that teach the youth to become balanced human beings and progress from nothingness to eternity. Even though there is no dearth of story books in English language today, yet there is a crying need for such books which explore human emotions and cement relationships in society, expose social evils and show a new direction towards social upliftment. Harvest of Human Values fulfills this purpose. This is easily evident from the fact that while most books today contain stories based upon human fantasy and imagination, the stories in this book are based on real life situations and offer practical solutions in dealing with difficult problems that every human being faces at one time or the other.
The most significant feature of ‘Harvest of Human Values’ is that its style is simple but the subject matter is not trivial. It is deeply touching and emotional and the stories are full of humour, irony and satire. The style changes with the mood of the characters and becomes harsh when dealing with social evils and causes which are harming our social framework, disuniting the family and leading to breakup of human relationships. With these 33 stories, Pt. Sharma has created a new social thought for Young India that brings together the way of life in villages and in cities. The book is definitely worth reading and absorbing in its content. While the captivating style of the book, interesting character sketches, real life stories, attractive cover and beauty of prose arrest the reader’s attention at once, the actual message behind each story and inspirational content stirs the soul of the reader.
Let us examine the irony of the situation in present day society. Writing the preface to the book, Pt. Hari Om Sharma writes that our traditional relations of ‘Bua-Phupha, Chacha-Chachi, Mama-Mami etc.’ are being eroded to give way to terms like ‘Uncle-Auntie’ and relationships like ‘Dada-Dadi, Nana-Nani’ are being explored through television serials instead of getting acquainted to them in real life. In this regard, the book ‘Harvest of Human Values’ tells the story of three generations, child, parents and grandparents, changing human values, traditions, goals, aspirations, relationships and ideals. It shows how one can reach the top by following good human values, respecting tradition, learning from he past and carving one’s way in life through sheer hard work.
Throughout the book, a deliberate attempt has been made by the author to keep away from complicated and unknown vocabulary sticking to everyday expressions and language of daily usage which the middle class youth can easily identify with. In this way they will have no difficulty in adopting those values and keeping on the right track in life. There is no facet in life which has been left out by the writer. He has touched upon every human emotion, every relationship in society and every social problem that is of importance today. Even the titles chosen by the author have a world of meaning to them persuading the reader to read the story and grasp the meaning within it. Take some titles viz Elderly are like God, Atonement, Father of four sons, Who is religious, Children of Kaliyug, Grandmother, The teacher, Millionaire Beggar, Love Marriage and so on.
So far as the decoration and pages of the book are concerned, the book comes up to expectations. The book is attractive and approximately 200 pages have justified thickness. Its petty cost of
Rs. 200 is easily affordable to each strata of society and high quality paper, good binding, thick and coloured cover adds to the value. The author has thrown light on various facets of life and used quotations to connect rural and urban life-style that is simply unforgettable. Apart from it, the glimpses of blind race and restlessness of urban life is also there in this book. In nutshell, ‘Harvest of Human Values’, leaves a lasting effect on various untouched aspects of life and inspires the youths by teaching cultures and values to do something noble and reach the highest point of success in his life.
सुरेन्द्र अग्निहोत्री
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