Encounters with Difference in Krishan Chander’s play Darwaze Khol Do
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11409583
Abstract:
Krishan Chander was part of the movement associated with the Progressive Writers’ Association 1935. His play, Darwaze Khol Do (Open the Doors) was first published in 1963. In the concluding remarks of the playwright, “Ikhtetamiya (2)” (pg 59-64) printed along with the play, Krishan Chander shares his opinion about the state of diversity and the minorities in free India, almost two decades after independence which helps set the structure of feeling that the play is set in and the horizon of expectations that it arises from.
Krishan Chander, in the concluding remarks, writes about the great diversity in the country, in terms of religions, faiths, languages, cultures, traditions and customs. The disagreements between communities based on these diverse differences have been taken advantage of by ‘outsiders. The theme of the play aligns well with the other writings of the PWA writers, that were also about existing social issues and promoting diversity, pluralism and the acceptance of other cultures and faiths etc, as they strove to make a difference through their writing. Discrimination based on faith and lifestyle was and still is very common, especially when it comes to housing, renting and residential localities as is demonstrated in the play.
Works cited:
Bakhtin, Mikhail. “Discourse in the Novel”. 1935 (from “Social Heteroglossia”, The Bakhtin Reader by Pam Morris. 1994), pg 73-79.
Buber, Martin. I and Thou. 1923.
Chander, Krishan. Darwaze Khol Do. 1963.
Chander, Krishan. “Ikhtetamiya (2)”,Darwaze Khol Do. 1963, pg 59-64.
Khubchandani,, Lachman M. “Language Plurality of South Asia: A Search for Alternate Models in Knowledge Construction.” Applied Linguistics Review, vol. 3, no. 2, 2012, pp. 315–331., https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2012-0015.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. “Dialogue and the Perception of the Other”, The Prose of the World. 1973, pg 131-146.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Others”. (from Jean-Paul Sartre: Basic Writings. 2000), pg 221-243.
