CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: A literary discussion on Savita Bhargava’s novel “Jahaj Paanch Pal Wala” was organized under the ‘Path Series’ by Vanmali Srijan Peeth and AISECT Publications.
The event was held in the auditorium of Vanmali Srijan Peeth, Bhopal, in the gracious presence of Santosh Chaubey, senior poet-storyteller and Chancellor of Rabindranath Tagore University, Bhopal.
At the outset, Savita Bhargava presented a beautiful reading of selected excerpts from her latest novel “Jahaj Paanch Pal Wala.” Her reading deeply moved all the listeners. Speaking about the novel, she said that its storyline and background are set around 30–40 years ago, a time when women faced their own struggles, challenges, and limitations. Alongside these, there were various forms of displacement and emotional turmoil. Keeping these aspects in mind, the novel was crafted.
She further shared that writing a novel demands a great deal of time, patience, and concentration from a writer. It also requires lived experience, as a novel is fundamentally rooted in realism.
She added that a working woman writer faces numerous challenges, as she has to balance family life, relationships, professional responsibilities, and social obligations while continuing her creative work.
Sharing his views, Santosh Chaubey said that Savita Bhargava’s reading of selected excerpts was so beautiful and emotionally powerful that it left everyone spellbound. A truly good reading is one that leaves the audience stunned. He noted that the prose of her novel is highly poetic and touches the inner self directly. For a woman writer, the poetic language she develops after enduring various displacements becomes her true home.
He further elaborated that a woman, in her life, is compelled to experience displacement at multiple levels—home, family, city, and even socially, economically, and psychologically. These displacements, while causing disturbance, also provide strength and resilience.
Santosh Chaubey also praised the language of the novel, calling it remarkably rooted at the grassroots level. He said that Savita Bhargava has expanded and creatively refined the scope of language. Her writing carries a unique wit that both amuses and stirs the reader. The emotional depth and intensity of compassion are also clearly reflected in her work. Being an accomplished theatre and television artist, Savita has also written seriously about theatre and cinema in her novel. Reading “Jahaj Paanch Pal Wala” offers a fresh understanding of the sense of sisterhood among women. The novel leaves a deep impact on readers as a powerful saga of women’s struggles.
Senior poet-critic Dr. Vijay Bahadur Singh remarked that Savita Bhargava has written her novel with great honesty. Women’s writing faces multiple challenges, and in contemporary times, the market has emerged as a formidable force influencing women’s lives. The growing pressures of commercialization are binding women in subtle yet powerful ways, raising serious questions about how they will navigate these constraints. He added that Savita deeply understands the displacement, struggles, and challenges faced by women, and the pain reflected in her poetry finds a fuller expression in this novel.
Senior poet and novelist Nilesh Raghuvanshi, on this occasion, said that through her novel, Savita has portrayed the struggles of women’s lives in a very compelling manner.
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