The Diary of a Maidservant

Post-Independence Hindi literature is by and large dominated by the representations of urban, middle class life. Given this context, the focus of Krishna Baldev Vaid's The Diary of a Maidservant is unusual. While the setting is still the big city, the novel bridges the class-divide to delineate the life and thoughts of a young woman who earns a living as a casual household help. The story revolves around Shanti, a teenage maidservant. The generous and literate Mrs Varma gives Shanti a notebook to write in. Through this 'diary' Shanti gradually discovers all kinds of things about herself-impulses, dreams, contradictions.