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A Reader at the Department of English, Gargi
College, University of Delhi, Radha Chakravarty
is currently working on English translations of
major Bengali writers such as RabindranathTagore,
Mahasweta Devi, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Syed Shamsul
Haq and Selina Hossain. Her doctoral
dissertation is a cross-cultural study of
contemporary women novelists including Doris
Lessing, Anita Desai, Mahasweta Devi, Toni
Morrison, Buchi Emecheta and Margaret Atwood.
She has contributed essays and review articles
to various journals and critical anthologies.
Her other interests include travel and freelance
writing.
Crossings
Twenty powerful stories by writers from
Bangladesh and India, translated from Bangla by
Radha Chakravarty.
Radha Chakravarty retains the musical language
and distinctive cultural features of the people
and places depicted in these narratives.
"A Dream Day" by Sunil Gangopadhyay presents a
romantic interlude that remains a cherished
memory amidst the humdrum routine of everyday
life.
In Debes Ray's "Ranju's Blood," the antics of a
precocious child end in pain and devastation, a
tale of innocence and violence figuring the
situation of the nation-state.
"Raft" by Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay uses futuristic
science fiction to comment on changing social
mores and the dehumanizing effects of so-called
'progress.'
What is the secret of the mysterious lighter
that has the power to transform Debnath from
simple seafarer to covetous collector of luxury
items? Atin Bandyopadhayay's "Amazing Light"
combines the voyage genre with adventure fiction
to demonstrate changing class-consciousness in
today's consumer society.
Through the musings of a woman who relives the
pain of her broken first marriage while
recognizing the new-found confidence that she
has subsequently acquired, "Proprietor" by
Nabaneeta Dev Sen explores the impact of divorce
on the relationship between mother and child.
Loss of innocence is the central motif of the
story by Sadhan Chattopadhyay, in which sixteen
year old Aditi romanticizes her encounter with
the local MLA, imagining that the new bus link
to the city is really the politician's personal
gift of "Six Midibuses for Aditi"' The story
compares the growing pains of the young girl
with the dream of modernization that affects her
entire village.
Women today may have an altered self-image and
enhanced expectations of life; but have our
social practices and attitudes kept pace with
these changes in the female psyche? Dibyendu
Palit in "Wonderstory" explores the implications
of an arranged marriage in today's changed
social scenario, through the narrative of
Shohini, a modern working girl in search of
happiness.
Set in the hills of Tripura, "Gangacharan's
Champreng" by Debabrata Deb is about one man's
yearning for beauty and tradition in the face of
violent social change. Rabichandra remembers his
father, Gangacharan Debbarma, playing the
champreng on a moonlit night. He, too, longs to
play such beautiful music. But life catches up
with him …
Seeking admission to a school can be a harrowing
experience for children, and also for most
parents. "Rainbow Colors" by Suchitra
Bhattacharya reminds us that despite the
onslaught of textbook knowledge and the
pressures of the rat-race, it is the simple
things in life that remain important.
In Mahasweta Devi's "Jamunaboti's Mother," as
the child Jamunaboti wastes away due to hunger
and malnutrition, her impoverished mother saves
coins in an earthen jar to buy her daughter a
beautiful golden-haired doll displayed in a shop
window. The story is a powerful indictment of a
city that prides itself on its progress towards
modernization, ignoring the plight of its
poverty-stricken inhabitants.
"Incognita" by Rashid Haider is a Liberation War
story with a difference. The narrator's casual
telephone flirtation with an unknown woman
develops in mysterious and unexpected
directions, leading to a startling denouement.
In Secret Life, Public Death" Shamsul Haq
explores the forbidden desires that lurk behind
the morally upright façade of an eminent member
of a village community. The tide of rumor swells
to engulf the entire village in shame, making a
public spectacle of Shukur Mohammad's alleged
attraction for Mariam Bibi, his beautiful
daughter-in-law.
Gopal in Selina Hossain's "Spent" is exposed to
domestic violence at a very early age. He takes
to crime, his aggression and rage misused by
politicians to suit their devious plans. But
concealed inside the hard outer shell is a
tender hearted boy who still loves his mother
and dreams of beautiful private landscapes.
In a "Mother-Daughter World," Hasan Azizul Huq's
apocalyptic story about the rape of a mother and
daughter by members of a village community,
nature metes out a violent poetic justice.
"Alone, Together" by Manju Sarkar charts the
social and familial pressures that force an
estranged couple to remain trapped in a loveless
marriage.
"Return, in the Moonlight" by Jyotiprakash Dutta
evokes a ghostly presence that spreads terror
and fear of discovery. The lonely moonlit
landscape gradually turns into a mindscape, as
characters peer into the abyss of their own
repressed guilt.
In Rahat Khan's story, "The Shape of Things,"
depicts the decadence of the urban upper
middle-class in their pursuit of material
pleasures. Three couples on their way to a
picnic indulge in forbidden fantasies, oblivious
of the procession of angry workers marching
towards them . . .
Rizia Rahman's "Irina's Picture" links the
public theme of war and peace to the breakup of
private relationships within the family. Branded
a lunatic, the protagonist watches family
dynamics in helpless rage, clinging to the image
of an orphaned girl's attempt to stem the tide
of violence.
Victim turns predator in "A View of Famine" by
Showkat Ali, as Abid and Akkas Ali go on a
nightmare journey through the forests of a
famine-stricken area.
In Hasnat Abdul Hye's "Still Life," a portrait
of heartbreak unfolds, revealed in the scraps of
torn paper tossing and turning in the gusts of
wind blowing through the emptiness of a broken
home, where a pair of sparrows painstakingly
build a nest to begin anew…
Love and desire, laughter and tears, jealousy,
greed, power, violence - these stories
reverberate with myriad shades of emotion,
exploring the depths of the human psyche.
Tracing the lives of ordinary individuals as
they grapple with forces larger than themselves,
these narratives will leave an indelible
impression. |
