ABSTRACT
Jainendra Kumar was of the same generation as Bhagat Singh-he too was to come of age as a young man in the late 1920s and 1930s. The early influence of Gandhi and the type of politics he engendered is decisive to understanding Jainendra's work. The other key influence was literary that of the most eminent of Hindustani novelists, Premchand was deeply inspired by Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement. In general terms, Premchand said to be the most responsible author for bringing the realist social novel into Hindustani. Sunita's dilemma stands metonymically for any householder. This situation is repeated in novels like Yashpal's Dada Comrade. By now it should not be surprising that transgressive desire has been twinned with political dissent-the novelistic tradition from at least as far back as Anand Math has mandated and formulated this twinning. The dubious heroism of Pramod has unfortunate effects. Mrinal has to resign her position as tutor and become a vagrant again.
