 In all the excitement generated by the phenomenon and no doubt well-deserved success of Indian novelists writing in English today One often tends to overlook the fact that English is after all only one of India's 18 officially recognized languages and Only one of its 200 or dialects Beyond the purview of English untamed by a Western sensibility and untethered by its concerns Exists a vast India that thinks reads and writes books These books written in Indian languages by mature and modern writers are so completely different in terms of philosophy and style That we as Nipal once described them as the literature of another India The problem is not simply that a lot of this literature escapes the notice of the West But because of the many languages it involves it even eludes most Indians Which is a pity? Today contemporary Indian writers who have proven themselves Masters in the literature of their respective languages have a readership of over a million each and Their work though rooted in the language the land its people and their collective Unconscious moves on in the best of literary traditions to seek truths that are universal And it does so with narrative skills and a stylistic flourish that match the best of writing anywhere in the world Marshweta Devi is a writer activist Intensely driven by a social conscience Marshweta sees her road as that of helping in the upliftment of people especially the tribals of Bengal Activist social worker reporter journalist Marshweta Devi's works are profoundly influenced by the Nakshalbari movement the most radical social movement of the last few decades The best known of Marshweta Devi's novels which portrays these troubled and exciting times is Hajar Chaurasi Kimar or the mother of number 1084 Today at 73 Marshweta Devi continues to be as passionately involved in a cause as ever Every minute of a time is taken up meeting people answering correspondence and traveling into the interiors of West Bengal Quite unlike the educated family background of Marshweta Devi Empty Vasudevan Nair Mentor to a whole generation of writers in Malayalam is primarily of agrarian stock The most popular living writer in Kerala today and the recipient of India's highest literary award the Gyanbeat Empty is equally famous as an editor and filmmaker Empty is supposed to be largely responsible for the resurgence of short-friction in Malayalam Unlike the fiery socialist realists of his time his work is gentle and warm yet suffused with tragic undertones his vision is quintessentially modern successfully blending inner and outer landscapes and laying bare the conflict between traditional family values in a Decadent feudalistic society the author of 20 anthologies of short stories eight novels and 57 screenplays almost all of which have won an award of some sort Empty Vasudevan Nair is one Indian writer who rightly claims a cult status Born in 1929 in Shimla Nirmal Verma spent his childhood in the mountains before moving to Delhi where he studied history at St. Stephen's College Initially held at arm's length by a conservative literary establishment Nirmal's subtle sophisticated language and his urban cosmopolitan characters provided a Significant shift from the predominant Premchand school of social realism and rustic themes Because of this Nirmal is popularly seen as the father of the Naikani movement in Hindi literature a tag He's acutely uncomfortable with The fact of the matter is that modern Indian literature is both vigorous and purposive There's a determined breaking of shibbolets a bold experimenting with forms and language and a sincere attempt to expose social evils however Though the translation of Indian texts is finally catching on and writers like these masters have been made available to readers in English There are many more whose work locked in the cryptic symbols of different languages Which lack the media glare and commercial strengths of English remains tragically unsung