ABSTRACT
The world of literature will always remain indebted to the monkey that returned the baby Krishna Sobti to her mother’s lap. Sobti’s determination and sense of self-respect was probably inherited largely from her mother. Numerous incidents of her life bear out how important recognition of the self is for a creative person, and there is a great difference between self-esteem and arrogance. The idea that nothing and no place feels good surfaces again and again in his deliberations with himself, but unlike him, if we pay close attention to the long and serious dialogue between Sobti and Vaid in Shimla, Sobti comes across as someone totally free of weariness. She was as familiar with each and every nook and corner of Shimla as she was with Delhi. It was as though she was connected to every season, vegetation, birds, animals, the virtues and flaws of all the people dwelling in the neighbourhoods and the alleyways.
