#Bal Pocket Books & Popular Novels

Alike comics,Bal pocket books were also very famous once upon a time.These Bal Pocket Books were used to be like mini novels consisting of stories of King-Queens,Suspense,Thrill,
Murder Mysteries etc.
I remember being a fan of Rajan-Iqbal of S.C.Bedi series before i was addicted to novels in general and to Ved Prakash Sharma in particular. Popular bal pocket books publishers of that time were 'Manoj Pocket Books,Harish Pocket Books,Sadhna Pocket Books,Diamond Pocket Books..etc. Diamond pocket books use to publish novels of almost their comic characters,i.e Fauladi Singh,Chacha-Bhatija,Tauji,Mama-Bhanja and many others,whereas Manoj pocket books use to publish of Ram-Rahim and King-Queen stories. I use to read Rajan-Iqbal series and MPB,though also read a few of Diamond pocket books but liked their comics more rather than pocket books.
Here are some of the images of pocket books from my collection which i purchased in recent past.


































































These are of the famous S.C.Bedi....


























































In the comments section of last post an avid reader and living encyclopedia "Kuldeep" mentioned about Ved Prakash Sharma novels,inspired by his comment i thought to post something on VPS too,checked the old forgotten bag consisting VPS novels,find that rats had made their path into that bag but fortunately not much damage was done except few sides eaten up by rats.Thanks Kuldeep for making me look into my VPS novels before they would have been damaged permanently.
Well,Kuldeep,interestingly there is striking similarity between you and me regarding reading VPS novels. Do you know the very first novel which i read of VPS,before being addicted to him is also "Alfanse Ki Shaadi"!!There was a friend in my Mohalla who was elder to me,he gave me this particular novel to read,at that time i was a master reader and use to read anything whatever comes my way,though alike you novel reading was also a taboo for a kid of 9 years at that time. Prior to 'Alfanse Ki Shaadi' i did had read few novels of 'Manoj,Prem Bajpayi etc..but not liked them much,but after AKS i was totally engrossed into VPS.
I remember visiting daily to the nearby books stall of my locality in search of its concluding part "Kafan Tere Bete Ka" and after a religious inquiry of months finally it did arrived but i was unable to take it as it was costing Rs.6/- which was impossible for a kid to arrange who use to get a meager 10-25 paisa pocket money per day.
With heavy heart i asked shop keeper to keep it booked for me unless i could arrange the required amount. After a month or so of rigorous saving of pocket money i went back leaping to that shop keeper with Rs.6/-(all 25 paisa coins) in my upper shirt pocket.There the shop keeper replies that all the copies has been sold,i was disappointed as never before,walked back to home like a failure or loser.
But fortunately not much time later i find that priced novel at a old book shop and at half the cost of the cover price,i.e for Rs.3/-.....finished that novel at a one go,was fully satisfied that my long wait was rewarded finally.
After it i was addicted to VPS like anything,read all his available novels from a local library and still use to read his new novels which are not a fraction of his oldies,but still somehow i have traces of addiction left in me of him.
Ved Prakash Sharma was at his career best when he was being published by Manoj Pocket books,the format of MPB and its page/printing quality was unmatched.I feel disappointed when i see the page and printing quality of latest novels which is far-far inferior than MPB. The granular cover design of MPB was also something still unmatched and exceptional,i still long to see a cover matching with of those times.




Have a look at the granular cover design of these VPS oldies.











































Do anyone remember "Keshav Pandit & Kanoon Ka Beta"!!One of the best of VPS.


























Ved Prakash Sharma was inspired by Ved Prakash Kamboj and on his lines he started with Vijay series and soon developed a style of his own,created Vikas at a later stage and soon became very popular with Vijay-Vikas series,continued to write on them till "Teen Tilange",which was a non Vijay-Vikas thriller.It was a huge hit after which VPS carved a successful space for non V-V novels. "Naseeb Mera Dushman,Vidhwa Ka Pati,Dulhan Mange Dahez,Sulag Utha Sindoor,Aag Lage Daulat Ko,Kanoon Badal Dalo,Phansi Do Kanoon Ko,Aa Bail Mujhe Maar,Lash Kahan Chhupaun,Insaf ka Sooraj" are some of the successful novels from this space.



















































Apart from VPS i also liked Gulshan Nanda a lot,in my view GN was the best romantic novelist,he was a master craftsmen who had a tight grip over his story line.The focus of his novels was on social issues with a undercurrent of romance in tuned with moral issues.He mesmerized readers with magic of his pen,he was expert in expressing difficult human expressions in simple words,a quality very rare to find.
Gulshan Nanda was the most successful novelist of his time on whose novels many blockbuster movies such as "Kaajal,Pathar Ke Sanam,Ajnabi,Khilona,Hanste Zakhm,Kati Patang,Jheel Ke Us Paar,Sharmeeli,Paley Khan etc..were made. He wrote only 47 novels in all but all his novels were masterpieces.



























If one talks about very first successful thriller and spy novelists of India then the name of Ibne Safi can be taken without any doubt.He was the first novelist to set a trend for spy and series novels,which was followed up by likes of Om Prakash and Ved Prakash Sharma. Ibne Safi was born as 'Asrar Ahmad' in 1928 in U.P.,his work comprises of "Jasoosi Duniya" and "Imran Series" with former use to be published from Nakhat Publications,Allahabd(India) and later from Israr Publications(Pakistan).He was originally a Urdu writer whose work was also used to be translated into Hindi and Bengali. To know more about Ibne Safi please use this link













































There was a time when i use to read any novel which i could find of,during my summer/winter holidays i use to rent many comics/novels per day and devour them.My reading speed was so fast that i use to need at least 3 novels or 10-15 comics per day.That was the time when i read most of other novelists like Om Prakash Sharma,Rajhans,Raanu,Sameer,Kushwaha Kant,Rajvansh and many others.

Here are the few scans of novels of those innumerable novelists.













































































You people must be knowing that screenplay along with dialogues and stills of successful Hindi movies were also used to published as novels by Hind Pocket Books in order to cash the success of these movies.Here are two such novels.