ABSTRACT
In this piece, the writer Joginder Paul discusses the rather complex relationship that a writer has with the villain/devil he may have created in his story. Taking an example from his own story “Hum Jins” and Premchand’s story “Kafan,” he establishes the need for the writer as well as the reader to identify himself and empathise with those who may be perceived as villains superficially. To actually discern the criminal, there is a need to be able to see the façade created over the truth. The patronage accorded to the ‘Phantom of Vice’ must be recognised. He laments the fact that today it is very difficult to sift the good from the bad. Life, he declares here, consists by its very nature, in communal living, not just with other human beings but also with animals, trees, etc. Citing his story “Dadiyan,” Paul demonstrates how the grandmother is never lonely in the big house because she had related to life ‘so elementally’ with the cobra and even the earlier inhabitants of her haveli. The writer also describes his own relatedness with his characters. The kinship with life creates a fellowship which he discusses with examples from stories.
