Hello viewers! 👋
I am Kavita Chauhan,
and recently I read Vinod Kumar Shukla’s Hindi novel दीवार में एक खिड़की रहती थी, a book that felt less like a story and more like a world I quietly lived in.
While reading, a thought kept returning to my mind—“दीवार में एक खिड़की रहती थी”—and I found myself wishing, काश मेरे पास भी ऐसी एक खिड़की होती, a window through which I too could enter such a gentle, beautiful way of living. This novel is not just about walls and windows, but about seeing life differently, where simplicity, silence, and ordinary moments carry deep meaning. Shukla’s writing reminds us that “उसे ज़्यादा कुछ नहीं चाहिए था”, and through this calm, inward gaze, the book stayed with me long after I finished it. Reading it helped me understand why it received the International PEN Award—because its quiet human emotions cross boundaries and speak universally
दीवार में एक खिड़की रहती थी — Vinod Kumar Shukla
,It is not a novel that announces itself loudly. It does not rely on dramatic plots, heroic actions, or striking conflicts. Instead, it walks quietly beside the reader, holding their hand gently, asking them to pause, observe, and feel the unnoticed rhythms of everyday life. Reading this novel feels less like “reading a story” and more like living inside a consciousness that sees the world with innocence, tenderness, and philosophical depth.
•Some line for this book
“यह कहानी नहीं, एक जीवन है।”
“कुछ खिड़कियाँ बाहर नहीं, भीतर खुलती हैं।”
“जहाँ चुप्पी भी बोलती है।”
“एक साधारण आदमी की असाधारण दुनिया।”
At the heart of the novel is a simple, ordinary man a clerk whose life revolves around his home, his wife, his routine, and his inner world. There is nothing extraordinary about his social position or achievements. Yet Shukla turns this ordinariness into something deeply meaningful. The novel reminds us that life does not need grand events to be profound; sometimes, just looking at a wall, a window, or a familiar room is enough to trigger reflection.
The title itself, दीवार में एक खिड़की रहती थी (“There was a window in the wall”), becomes a powerful metaphor. A wall suggests limitation, confinement, and boundaries, while a window symbolizes openness, imagination, and connection with the outside world. This window is not merely physical; it represents the protagonist’s inner vision his way of seeing beyond routine life, beyond social expectations, and beyond rigid structures of meaning. The novel gently suggests that even within limitations, there is always a space to look beyond.
One of the most striking features of Shukla’s writing is his language. His Hindi is deceptively simple. The sentences are short, calm, almost childlike, yet layered with emotional and philosophical resonance. He does not explain ideas; he lets them exist. Silence plays as important a role as words. Often, what is not said feels heavier than what is said. This minimalism gives the novel its meditative quality.
Domestic space plays a central role in the narrative. The house, the walls, the window, the bed, and everyday objects are not mere settings; they become participants in the story. The protagonist’s relationship with his home is intimate and emotional. The house becomes an extension of his self, reflecting his vulnerabilities, comfort, and quiet resistance to a noisy, demanding world. Through this, Shukla subtly critiques modern life’s obsession with productivity and ambition
The relationship between the husband and wife is portrayed with remarkable sensitivity. There is no dramatic romance, no loud expressions of love. Instead, love appears in shared silences, mutual understanding, and everyday companionship. This portrayal challenges popular literary notions of passion and conflict, offering instead a gentler, more sustainable idea of intimacy.
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| रघुवर प्रसाद- पत्नी सोनी, हाथी और दिवाली की खिड़की |
Philosophically, the novel aligns with existential and phenomenological thought, though it never names them. The protagonist’s reflections on time, sleep, work, and existence echo existential questions: What does it mean to live meaningfully? Is a quiet life any less valuable? Who decides the worth of a human being? Shukla answers these questions not through arguments but through lived moments.
Another important aspect of the novel is its resistance to power structures. The clerk’s life, governed by offices, schedules, and authority, subtly reflects the pressures of bureaucracy. However, instead of open rebellion, the protagonist resists through gentleness, imagination, and inner freedom. His window becomes an act of quiet defiance — a refusal to let life become purely mechanical.
Nature appears softly throughout the novel — light, air, night, and surroundings merge with the protagonist’s inner state. This blending of the inner and outer worlds gives the novel a poetic quality, blurring the boundary between prose and poetry. It is no surprise that Vinod Kumar Shukla is also a celebrated poet; his prose carries the rhythm of poetry.
What makes दीवार में एक खिड़की रहती थी deeply relevant today is its reminder that slowness is not failure, silence is not emptiness, and simplicity is not lack. In an age dominated by speed, noise, and visibility, this novel quietly argues for inner richness. It teaches readers to value pauses, to listen to their own thoughts, and to accept life as it unfolds.
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| खिड़की के उस पार की दुनिया 🖼️ |
In conclusion, दीवार में एक खिड़की रहती थी is a novel that does not demand attention — it earns it. It stays with the reader long after the last page, not as a story remembered, but as a feeling retained. Vinod Kumar Shukla invites us to look at our own walls and ask: Where is our window?
• Rating:- 10/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thank you for Visiting😊
Happy Learning ☘️🖼️📖📚
