Dopahar Ka Bhojan (दोपहर का भोजन) a story in Hindi by Sahitya Akademi Award winner, Amarkant

Nearly 300-million (30 crore) people in India live at or below the poverty line and the 2020 pandemic is expected to throw many more in deep penury. This story, written by eminent story writer, Gnanpeeth (2009), Vyas Samman (2009), and Sahitya Akademi Award (2007) winner, Amarkant presents a tale of such a family. It presents the real life struggles of many and uses a narrative that is both poignant and heart-rending. Siddheshwari Devi distributes a very limited quantity of food amongst her retrenched husband and unemployed children so that nobody feels half-fed, but when nothing but half a roti is left for her, she cries silently. The ending of this story is extremely touching. 

Narrated by: Savitha Samu and Vikas Dhurka
Presented by: Naatak

About the author:
Born in 1925 in Baliya, UP, Amarkant is at the top among the most prominent storytellers of India. The beauty of Amarkant's writing lies in its simplicity, which the critic Pranaya Krishna described as “the most difficult pursuit”. Amarkant goes deep into the sociology as well as the psychology of his characters without any cathartic drama and turns them into authentic representatives of our social margins. Amarkant is best known for his short stories although he also published six novels. He started writing in a period when the Nai Kahani (New Story) movement was heralding a big thematic and structural shift, and almost overshadowed the tradition of Premchand which used to be the mainstream fiction in Hindi. This movement focussed more on urban settings, individual characteristics, man-woman relationships, and so on, in place of people in villages and small towns. The scene was dominated by authors such as Mohan Rakesh, Kamaleshwar and Rajendra Yadav, aggressive advocates of the movement as a new metaphor for and of modern society.