Pujobarshikis to Benaglis is akin to the "Eid ka Chand" (moon during Eid), ushering in the Durga Puja with a great symbolic gesture. We bengalis start feeling that Pujo is round the corner, as soon as we get hold of the various pujobarshikis. Unlike every other year, this time I managed to get hold of the Desh pujo sankhya only by Nabami! Of late, it has become a general notion that these yearly installments, released right before the Puja, are no longer able to maintain the quality of the yesteryear. However, Desh came in the form of a pleasant surprise! Fresh story lines touching upon newer topics that went beyond the usual husband wife and family politics saga was a welcome change.
Out of all the novels, I liked Sparsho by Krishnendu Mukhopadhyay, the best! Here I would like to confess that stories revolving around World War II have always been among my most favorite ones. But I always had this qualm that we don't have much option around this topic in the Indian literature, less so in Bengali.
The story revolves around a WWII Royal Air force Pilot Hiranmay Haldar and young Zarina Ismail working in a corporate Law Firm. During the early 40s, a young boy (Hiranmay) from sub-urban Srirampur in Bengal eloped from his home to Ambala, stealing some money from his father's locker. His passion was to become a fighter jet pilot one day. The story progresses with how this boy grows up to become the fighter pilot he always wanted to be, fighting all odds, including racism in the Allied forces, bravely facing the Luftwaffes of the mighty Nazi Germany. During one of these operations, his Spitfire got hit by enemy bullets, forcing him to land in Nazi occupied Poland. He was taken in as a prisoner of war. The story is about how Hiranmay fled this camp, how he saved a Jewish girl Iliana Rozenberg in the process, and how young Zarina from the law firm helps the German Embassy fulfill the last wish of Iliana half e century later, which is very much related to Hiranmay and his self-centered extended family.
The story beautifully captures various human emotions - like father-daughter, camp inmates, envies and one-upmanship of an extended family in despair, holding on to their rich past. This is also a story about the Indians' involvement in WWII and their complex love-hate relation with Hitler's Germany.
All in all, it is one novel you should not give a miss!
Out of all the novels, I liked Sparsho by Krishnendu Mukhopadhyay, the best! Here I would like to confess that stories revolving around World War II have always been among my most favorite ones. But I always had this qualm that we don't have much option around this topic in the Indian literature, less so in Bengali.
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| Krishnendu Mukhopadhyay |
The story revolves around a WWII Royal Air force Pilot Hiranmay Haldar and young Zarina Ismail working in a corporate Law Firm. During the early 40s, a young boy (Hiranmay) from sub-urban Srirampur in Bengal eloped from his home to Ambala, stealing some money from his father's locker. His passion was to become a fighter jet pilot one day. The story progresses with how this boy grows up to become the fighter pilot he always wanted to be, fighting all odds, including racism in the Allied forces, bravely facing the Luftwaffes of the mighty Nazi Germany. During one of these operations, his Spitfire got hit by enemy bullets, forcing him to land in Nazi occupied Poland. He was taken in as a prisoner of war. The story is about how Hiranmay fled this camp, how he saved a Jewish girl Iliana Rozenberg in the process, and how young Zarina from the law firm helps the German Embassy fulfill the last wish of Iliana half e century later, which is very much related to Hiranmay and his self-centered extended family.
The story beautifully captures various human emotions - like father-daughter, camp inmates, envies and one-upmanship of an extended family in despair, holding on to their rich past. This is also a story about the Indians' involvement in WWII and their complex love-hate relation with Hitler's Germany.
All in all, it is one novel you should not give a miss!
