Litterateurs pay glowing tributes to famed writer

Lucknow: Writer and poet Naresh Saxena on Thursday said that award winning author Shrilal Shukla was an extremely simple and humble man who loved to read and had no airs about his status.Saxena was speaking at the session ‘Shrilal Shukla in the Mirror of Memories' organised to mark his birth centenary celebration by IFFCO at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan.Shukla was a civil servant and renowned Hindi writer, known for his satirical works. Born in 1925 in Atrauli village of Lucknow, his writing career spanned over five decades during which he penned over 25 books. His notable works include novels 'Raag Darbari', 'Makaan', 'Sooni Ghaati Ka Sooraj' and 'Pehla Padaav'. He was awarded Padma Bhushan, Sahitya Akademi Award and Vyas Samman for his literary work. Social activist Vandana Mishra said that Shukla always helped people and had good knowledge of literature as well as music. "He had such a helping nature that sometimes even he used to leave his own work to help others. He also used to sing very well."Poet Anamika Srivastava recalled an incident which showed simplicity and humble nature of Shukla. "Once he came to my house and I was writing some poems. He read my poems and corrected the errors in the poems. It was a big deal for a young poet like me."Utkarsh Shukla, grandson of Shukla, shared some memories of his childhood with his grandfather. "After coming back to home from school, I used to share everything with baba - from fight with classmates to difficulty in studies and love life."Poet Shivmurti and litterateur Akhilesh also expressed their views in the session.