Upendranath Ashk (1910-96) was born from a middle class family in Jhalandhar in Punjab in 1910. He started writing poetry in the Punjabi Language. Later he began writing in Urdu. His first Urdu poem was published in 1926. During the 1930�s, when he lived in Lahore, he shifted to Hindi. Ashk has been writing for different newspapers and magazines, from 1941 to 45 he worked with A.I.R., thereafter he also wrote film stories and dialogues. He made translations into Hindi(Dostoevsky, O�Neill) and edited some anthologies. But he is most famous for his novels, short stories and plays. In 1965 he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Academy Award as the leading playwright of Hindi. One of his most famous novels is “Girti Diivaaren”, which was first published in 1947. In describing some years of the life of Cetan, the hero, Ashk depicts the everyday life of the urban middle class in a realistic way. It is said to contain many passages which are autobiographic. Some other works     1.  Shahar men ghoomtaa aainaa (1962)(second volume of the above mentioned novel) 2. Ek nanhi kindiil (1969)(third volume) 3. Tufan se pahle (1946)(play) 4 Udan (play) 5 Diip jalegaa (poem)