[sadhuji]

There is a Bengali magazine ‘Desh’ that is considered to be the torch bearer of Bengali literature. Those who gain the distinction of writing for this prestigious magazine are the cream-de-la-crème of Bengali literature. Every year it brings out a special issue on the occasion of the Durga Puja – it contains novels by the biggest names, along side there are some short stories and a whole bunch of poems. This year the volume has been priced at seventy five rupees and contains five novels. But, these novels leave a bad taste in the mouth. All the authors are distinguished ones and they do not need props like vivid descriptions of intimate bedroom scenes and lavish sprinkling of pre-marital and extra marital relationships. What used to be written about in innuendoes are now explicit!

Others may not agree but, when one encounters stalwarts like Sunil Gangopadhaya (Hey Mhajiban) describing how a girl seduces her Uncle and then explains matter-of-factly that he is not actually her blood related Uncle, one has to pause and think what prompts an author like him to resort to such cheap gimmicks. Then there is a novel by Suchitra Bhttacharji (Aina Mahal) where the central character is an artist who does not care who he takes to bed to satisfy his animal . – he was married but, when his wife discovers him in a compromising position with his own maternal sister (mastooto bone) she is livid. But the man grins and tells her – ‘these things happen, you should accept them. In fact, you should have locked the door after you.’ This artist does not spare the other sister and even the house maid. The third novel is by Harsha Dutta (Aharnish) – one more well-known author. Here, one of the characters barges into the flat of a near 50 year old widow and asks her bluntly – ‘do you still have periods?’ Then he rapes her. The woman is traumatized and after the man leaves, she goes into the bathroom and washes her intimate parts to remove all traces of the filth before her daughter returns from work.

It seems to be a great coincidence that the central character of all the three novels (Hemakanti Lahiri of Hey Mahajiban, Dibyajyoti Singha of Aina Mahal and Jibitesh Roychoudhury of Aharnish) are well past their prime and land up in isolated spots in the midst of Nature, far removed from locality. All of them have pasts that continuously keep coming back to haunt them. While two of them succumb to the inevitable death, the third decides to remain in isolation and expresses a desire not to return back to Society.

Those who release these annual compilations usually tell the authors the subject that they should write on – the reason is that there should not be repetition of themes! It is also rumored that the authors are paid extravagantly in advance and adequate time is given to them to prepare a novel that will last a lifetime. However, the offerings this year leaves much to be desired – at least that is my personal opinion. An inference can, therefore,  be drawn is that the publishers had issued specific instructions to the authors that their products must have that extra zing of strange relationships and must have enough spicy descriptions to influence the readers. The reason could very well be the gradually downward graph of the sale of printed matter – books do not sell and studies must have been conducted to identify the problem and work out a solution. Unfortunately, it would have been better if the experiment had excluded established authors whose products should not require such cheap publicity gimmicks.