Sunil Gangopadhyay's Arjun PDF

p r iy C L k k V /r ^ l Translated from the Bengali by Chltrlta Banerji-Abdullah m INDIANA  First Published by Penguin Book» Indio (P) Ltd. in 1991...

p r iy C L k k V /r ^ l Translated from the Bengali by Chltrlta Banerji-Abdullah m INDIANA  First Published by Penguin Book» Indio (P) Ltd. in 1991 Second Publinhed by Indinno in 2006 A i j u t i Published by AmilöVn -'Deb Indinnn 2/1 Shynmn Chnrnn Dcy Street, Calcutta-700 073 Copyright ; Sunil Gnngopadhyny 2005 All rights reserved Cover design by Debabrntn Ghosh Typcwci by J.^on Computers Bmirin, Howrnh-711 310 Print«d nt Rajendra Offüet 11 Pnnchnnnn Ghosh Lnne, CnIcuttn-700 009 ISBN: 8! 902233 3X This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not( by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior wriiicn conseni in any form of binding or cover other than that in which U is published and without a similar con^illpn including this condition being imposed on the subsequent,, INDIANA purèniser and withóüt limiting the rights under copyrightTcscrvcd above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording.or oïhcrwl«;), without the.prior written pcrmiMion of boih the copyright owner and the above mentioned publisher of this book,  ， ぃ1‘'?fp._. tsf Translaior's P r e v e e It is always difflculHo conyey4h€~flüfinpcrsrttHl«vourof an orlginfthvorf^uJraasMQfljrhLLbficomfiidouWydifflcuü^vhw there is a transition'bet ween two1such widely disparate：languages ai Bengali, and Bngiish；Added to thltf tbero the -difflouhy of depicting a South A must rummaging ground in my desk, among my books. have hit me from outside, perhaps they threw some leavy HjO is water, 0 ：is oxygen, 〇3 is ozone. The weight of one icsioimem a( me— and I passed ourimmcdiateiy,' hydrogen atom is equal to one-sixteenth ihc weight of an oxygen 'You arc sure you did not sec anybody?' atom; one-twelfth the carbon twelve atom is the 'Quite sure.' standard... I remember everything. didn't you hear anything, people talking or something like I ihaJl survive. I wasn't bom to die so easily. This Is a hospital that?' bed, It ii right next to the wall.I can touch It if lju it stre'tch my arm 'No, nothing of lhai kind. But J remember hearing a m ilollic out a little. But both my arms are pinioned with leather straps. Why clang, It sounded like somebody breaking a huge chain io p eccs'. have they done this to me? Have I done something wrong, committed ,Chain7, some crime? 各ofaJllhisiCEiUhty imprison 'Yes, U oil seems like a dream. Just he^rc* '1 Uisi people in hospita丨 s? Bui then, whyと4 0 1 也 ink Lam a prisoner? Of consciousness, J heard two things very dislim;i]y, One, thi.,s 14 * 15  SunU Cangopadhyay A fjun c h a in -b re a kin g sound, and then w ha t seemed lik e suppressed their parties. It \a other things that they don't hove the lime for.' w cS ^Ifï^^tyïètrtrlT T T p ü s iIë fe ig L 卿 :n 双 h〇 _.could be wgopinjg? Nly.mQthttr-was n〇c at homgx^Buu^y dog docs make V/e had problems jusuin surviving,【 f we v/eru in for polilieal activities we would have starved.' 4 heïcF^lftmp€Ün^avLncls at times了 which could, I suppose, sound like somebody crying. But breaking a chain. 'Nonsense, Tell me ihe truth now. You have nothing to fear, 'Oh, that's easy, to explain. There wasn't any chain around, you know. It will help us to investigate this ease, These dnys culprit left a crowbar behind. You must Have heard【 hat mosl crimes can be traced back ïö interpariy dashes.' ^ fMïïng and striking the floor. Must say, you arc really lucky to be 'I have nothing more to say,' Til como by again later, See if you can remember anyihing bythen.’ V.. 广 W e l l t w h y s h o u ld 'Nobody wants to die you know, and yet lots of people arc dying every day. Anyway, I don't want to tire you out by talking, X ß u i I do remember everyfhing. f)|y head slill hurls, Just tell me if you suspect anyone.' 'No... I don't suspect anyone,' ab()minacrtyr«tTbemWyr~&y^-^a4UEgA^al (Now was angry the victim would receive a caning, But at that particular Bangladesh), But Amjad Ali clearly said he was not in favour of ml, Helt no fear, The desperation bom of^cHildbbiiurt is ' maging the hdpjü?— p4Qj^kjaLa_M£r_agc^Liht_pti^JiLLhüi ^ ^ c r a t e inde&dJ&^iybod^ at home had warned me not to oppression. Political ignorance and obstinacy had Jed (〇 ihc iTsinglc word about that pcnciTTBirt ^T could not he]p splitting o f one country into two, each o f w hich had one religion 一 8axing- 4fh-«-4 te « e d -v ö lc e r^ W ]ïy noufeTYaqubTalc© «way my os its m ujorlty, Bui to oppress ihc m in o rity In ony «ouniry seemed pencil?' churlish to h in vH ow eva iyiJU ^osc days e^ f everbfflünaey, people Emotion slurred my words, and the whole question was so 4 ike him did nnt rm runnnd popular atlention. irrelevant, that the headmaster at first had trouble understanding しater, of course, ihc pcople^LE^st Bengal changed a lot. me. He frowned at me and asked, 'Pencil? What pencil are you They realized that you could not rule a country in the nurriL1 of talking about?' of the same religion could exploit euch other Jagonnath, who sat next to me, had been p u llin g at m y shirt jusi na much, Hght as bitterly over the conflict of imcresis. And all the time to stop me from saying any more. Yaqub, after ail, when that realization came, it was people liKe Amjad Ali who was feared by everybody. But I just went ahead, raying, 7 am stepped forward to reconstruct East Bengal. Bui in 19^4 or 1955, the prevalent atmosphere was not so healthy. Heavy pressure 'sï： ^ ,W h ^ © t ? ^ k c d the headmaster. was b e i n g t e d lo moly Hnt^7 In those 货 nil-nge everyone know.s cvcryrrne clsc.'After all, it is difficult lo days, nobody in Pakistan used the names Bharat or India. It ^ i i U 4>cr.sx)n you know. So on the whole, we had had an amicable \>/as always H in d usta n/Y e ^ jq country called Hindustan exists WiTh tne-M11511ms in our village. Apart from ;he any more on the map ^ h ^ jy ^ o r id r - J - ^ — Wf H ujunijchnhlcc f门 〇u^ ^~FföwevcrTThough we did not have riots in the village, villugü too. Ai one time it wüä forbidden for us caste Hindus to. burglaries and hold-ups were steadily on tho increase. Not just ^ i l J 5 ^ irr^ rei|*-Anc^ VörJA^ HV:U4Wouc^^fi_PcrA〇nÄ “ mcï to our at night either, but during the day as well. It wa* never any uie to 11011A&rttfoy W0ÏÏT3 go to tho police. If the person you autpected of theft, or even had th'oy even hagpeoed^to lean agaiiuLLhe walL we would have to soon committing the crimci happened to be a Muslim, you could throj^^way our drinking w aujt^be^lig^ with never mention his name. Forjhcn the officer in charge of the -Lbem mfiftnt a chnng-o of-cJiiihej;. And vet, now, we were police slalio^ would loudly declare it to be an attempt to vilify desperately trying to csubliüh a common idcniity of Hindu-ness fh； T^ ïïïïïïr :ïi^ r ^ r w e r e 印 reared of crimes, then why didn^ we wWnfiêïïïnïtniwHJw^eüuhJ swell our ranksぃ丁li.e vif e^;Qr& i[?Qge； go igjHipdufltün!LNQb.a.dy. was fordn^-mL to stay, By that time,  A rj un 5wn// G a n ^ o p ad h y a y magistrale,v, ^i^div.i.sionaf officers and superimcndcnKs of police many non-Bengali Muslims from Bihar and the other western had stayed ； n ihc Banerji House whenever they came io the state« of 3ndia had migrated to Ea幻 Bengal.Ii was mosUy Ihcy viliage. Anti the one or (wo days ol' (heir stay was always mtuJtr who 與 li^gmeTT；前 す aげcd invo an irnponuru occusion. The very besl i'ootl would be procured of the-WTncius wb,s extreme, for them. Ii wus considered a great honour to be able io house Oradually^we-stamd noticing how one Hindu house after the magisUiUc or supertnlendcnl of police. And many of them another became empty, Those among us who were reiaiivciy had accepted the hospitality of the Banerjis. Bui now, a magisintic beUerJ^Gj^ 仇QstAvれ〇had relmives m IndlarwotiW-jusirfmokへ could summon Ganapati BDnerji K> his court und i(^suH him iu up andleave for India, 丁heir preparations were so secreuhat npt public! eye—n - h. Any iancTThey..I do noi kni)w liuw m uch uf ihcir land the Banerjis fnunagcij /pü^esscä, (hey would sell at ridiculous prices. Homesteads were. io sell. Bui (he house'was not disposed of. A ll the i'urniturc—- left unsold, for sentimental reasons. even ihe iron gates and door^ and windows 一 was \ t \ \ b^irmd Cur I remember the Bancrji house— a huge magniflccm mansion. the taking, unü Uu>se disuppeured ^uun enough, inexorably, tin* The only concrete building in our village, three storeys high. An wiJcJerncss 10ok over, thut even in brouO duylii;J)i Jhc si^ln vil Iron jiaio In rront* N o w , ihfct houw 1* surrounded by e n c ro a c h in g ihe house mueJe you stilver, Rumour hud it thui Ounapuii Bunerji n weecU and bushes, the ialr of jackals and cjvct cats. Tlicsc cats, futhcr^fhüïaTïï^röIïïïïöTplTüum r h r to o ^ T lT n itm tc If hull built, which were small replicas of tigers» would sit in the.wilderness ' (fie.coutd be seen wanderin£_about the place every evening. at night and scream. Wc children would often playfully shoui at 二及工 で aTtgrnooh. It hud them, 'Cheap or dear1, The response sounded an>pproximaUon ^ecn his ldcn. of "dear" so we felt that even those wretched animals could 'u o m c le i's g o an d gee so m e m a n g o e s / he h o d s a id to m e. foretell the coming inflation. An we went, I remembered on incident which had happened In my limited childhood experience, the Bancrji mansion when I was much younger. The Banerjis were celebrating a symbolized the ultimate expression or wealth and magificcncc. religious festival with extraordinary splendour. Lights in the 只-ilouse, Ganapati - garden, decorations of flowers and paper chains. Relatives from Banerji's h叫dsom^i educated sons held jobs In different places— different places had come for {he occasion, How beautiful their K^frtÄr'&ambay，eveiv London, Butthe elderly Ganapati had clothex were! And the women— ;air-skinned and bcaulifu) Ijkt; stayed on in East Bengal with all his other relatives, dependents 、 the imhges of goddesses, the sound of their laughter like sv/cot and hangers-om He had a rifle with which he fired blanks, anytime unfamiliar music. J stood outside (hose iron gaïes with my fucc [here was a furore in (he village. And what a variety of fruit grow pressing uKoinst the bars and looked and looked, I ctm utitt äöü in their orchard— dl/Tercm kinds 〇r mangoes，iychces， seven or mysel/'ü-v J wun then, t>urc-bodieüt v thin b o y óraascü o nly in u eight lypei of guava and countie»* other*. We would «tand o u ts id e pair oi'shohs, gazing wide-eyed on a fa iry-ia lc w orld where there ihc gates tnd gart z\ ihtm. For we were forbidden to enter. One was only happiness and plenty. Then my fathorcamc up behind night, o few of us did dare to sneak in, but the huge dogs ga^e u$f me, pul a hand on my shoulder and said, 'Whai arc you doing thec^asc of our lives. i here? You shouldlioi stand here fike lhii\ son. Tho^JJjliinif you So nobody had a clue as to why the powerful Bancrjis are a b c ^ a n 5ljgZZ^™ /r ' eventually had to itavc the village. The story went that the District M y b ro th e r a n d i w underccJ y ro u n U th e d t'^ c r lc d , Uc.soi〇 H： Magistrate had insulted Oanapaii Bancrji, and hurt his Ceelings house fo r u lo n g Lim e. O c c a s io n a lly m y (Icsh w o u ld c re e p , J'or I irrevocably. After all, ever since the days of the British Raj, 3:い *32*  Sun i l Ca ng oj xi dhyay A rju n thought I could hear deep sighs. My toother went on picking up prejuctl coconiu sweets. HI never forget the magic of lhaua*tc. derelict objects一 a broken pair of glasses, an empty jar of face A fW that, we boys used to turn up auhat house with or without cream. He looked as if he was expecting to stumble on hidden reason, just to drink some water. Every time Amala^/ would trca.sufc any minute. Then we came to a huge mango tree. The give us those same sweets. So we started referring to the house fruit was longish in shape, parrol green in colour. Sweet as honey among ourselves.as 'the sweet house/ too. Thick jungle growth.surrounded the tree. Bfi?whcn we came Mr. Dutta had four daughters; no sons, not even sons-in-law. c\osct we snw four or five people squa(ling\)n the ground, Amula^/ had been widowed two years after her wedding and engaged in some secret activity. We were immediately terrified. had come back to her father's home. She had a very quiet and One of ihem was Rajjah Sheikh. He glared at u& ahci said, 'Look serene nature; her face.was like the still, quiet waten of a pond ut these Brahmin brat.n, snooping around here. Get lost.' In tlie afternoon. Nobody had ever heard her ralie her voice. If , sccmcdj o he gelling more than our fnlr thero was a severe illness in any house, Amalsuf/'would be just because we were Brahmins. / %summoned to nurse the patient. Efforts were being made at that XiErTRc Banerjis, it was ihc Dutlas* turn lo leave. The family time to find a husband for the next sister, Kamala^/. In those used to have quite a prosperous grocery store in the main-market. day^, it was becoming increasingly difficult to find eligibló. They al.so owned extensive agriculturnl land. Their house was bridegrooma for HindujjjrJiJn-EAkktajn. next tn the cnnnli on the other ftidc lived the Musllm poaaijnta. I women who *how «trong matemft】tcndöDcio«， remember that year there were a lot of dying fish floating on the cVeh from their childhood* They arc born to be mothers, in surface of the canal. We knew that if you put carbolic soap in the motherhood lies their happiness. When we saw Amala^/ she was pond, the fish would die. Enemies often did that to you. But why only twenty-two or twenty-three. But she never behaved with us on earth should fish be dying off in the canal? Many people like an elder sister» she was more like a mother. And yet, she had thought that the fish had been poisoned and one should not eat been widowed at twenty, so her promise of maternity was doomed them. But the poor cannot afford the luxury of being finicky to remain unfulfilled. ïh at was wh” he always made a point of over such things, The poor don't die that easily anyway, feeding the little boys io the village» whenever she saw thorn. So we spent/One whole morning and afternoon splashing While we atèt she would look at us with deep, lingering around In the waters of the canal. One by one, ihe fish kept on tenderness, Scven.year-old Abbas from the fishermen’s floflling up lo the surface, very weak, sometimes turning up on community had los( his mother. He would spend practically ail their ÄiomAChs. But they were hard to gel hold of. As soon as we his.Mmc with Amain^/. touched them, they would slip out and surface again furlher off.. J.still remember there was not a breath of scandal about Bul eventually I did manage to get a five-pound carp. And as for Amal£uf/. It is fairly easy to spread ugly gossip abou't a healthy my brother, he rcajly caught quite a few, of different kinds. In young widow. But-wbenever we went near Amala^/, we seemed the end, he even got a fishbone stuck in his hand.,, to ficmao an emanaü^p of purity, somewhat like the haloes painlad All this fishing made us very tired. So we went oyer to the.. around~TKö~H^ÄgröTggti塵 飙 nd 息 【hm» huuAo, m JiÄk 广 or a drink of wator‘ Thfl A〇rva： mt.P.urdi、 chir. conccmod about our wctUbelng— which one of ue had got up hrought U5 water in a shining bell metal Jug. But when the old from the sickbed, which one had lost weight, nothing went grmulmothcr noticed it. she told him off very sharply. Apparently, unnoliccd. o ik should never give children water by itself, h i,s supposed to AmldJi had not had much education. Often she would say hrin只hml luck uuhe ho匕sa So 如 sent Amala/'  Sunil Cangopadhyay / rj un lell me all about ihc many s tra n g e c o u n trie s o f h iiv e to come and ihc world.' Though A m a i ^ was a widow, she still managed to r ’「 here lire some p 以)p[c i n 【 hi 卜 wuHd w h い o m n ui bcm. ih し ， remind me of the picture of a woman saint in. my school-books. I cxi.stcnee (iL iu iy 』 仙 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 丨 y h 汀 "'hem 寸1け 竹 卜 丨 ン I am sure she understood quite well why we v/ent to her house I 'ftjn te m ic tin T rirrT tT O ^ rïh ry r^ e n ^ 'w a s mnliing 1 cuultl iiTv叫 me so often to ask for a drink of water. But she never showed an I that v ^ 'm m H ^ c tm rifïT tT lïM Ä 行 unwelcoming face. The amazing thing was ihat ihe sweets were I Perhaps ii is iiccuusc I wus not an uciuitl w im ess (u the always prepared in that house. Every day. We never had to ))ave l discovery in ihc jute Helds, that it brings such horror n> my m im l. water by itself. Amalsudi would just look at us, and say, 'Come 5 ti. Everybody icars lu r and si( down children. You must be thirsty. Have a bit of a sweet i M y brother came running hume 1’rum Ihc jute fields first；And thosp wonderful sweets, made of thickened milk and ? and passed out as soon as he sol foot in our c o u rty u rd.^ in ii was cocoriuirreHolcni of camphor. The taste stil! lingers in my mouth, when he started having those occa.slonal fainling üpclFS/ Dear Altaf, the postmaster's son, was a great friend of mine, He and I ' 广 XTm rtoYrH rtrnrTgBü rrraTiyboiTky；learm mtmyntrtrrgs now, b u rit I spem quite a few arternoons talking to Amalfu//. We were nboui I is too laic to tell you any stories. 、 ten, but jhe never made us fee] unimportant because of our age. J Fifteen days uficr this, ihc D ultas Jefi East Bcngul. A group Her younger sister, KamaMA was a more aggressive person. o f Bihari refugees had come and sctiicd in M adaripur. Sometimes She once told me off very sharply because we had taken a lime they would,come into our village und glurc at us w ith the red lusl from one of their trees, the kind of lime that has a strong fragrance. o f blood in their eyes. Everyone blamed them secretly fo r this But Amala^/ happened to come by and saidr 'How can you scold incicicjni, Not that our police did anything about ii. M r. Duua thorn like that just for picking one lime? How can you? That tree took his w ife and daughters away w ith him , But his parents, ihc is loaded with limes. What can we possibly do with all of them?' old grandmother and grandfather, stayed o n 丁 he old p eo pk Then she herself picked some limes and sluffed them imo our w antecllo die in their uncxstral home. Somc|imes, when ] wem pockets, Altafs and mine. down to the canal, 1would see grandfaiher watering his vcgetablt; ' I donH know why十 1st)前 today, Ii piois, and grandmother sitting on the porch, w aiting w ith empty jA^ouldJiave'bcen better not to. eyes for. ihc-udveni o f death, W henever I s ^ w -th e m rM c ii m y* The jute fields stretched over several miles, the plants as high n e v e r jA ^ n L ln ir a to H K m s n p m to ask as a manf some even higher. I have never seen such jute Holds 一for a anywhere In West Bfcngal. We boys used to piay quite often in 1 一ろ姐如』 - w e n tr-e n c -b y ^ w ^ - 如 虹 她 m v ” 11' those wide," green fields of jute. Not only was iï easy for uü Ic a.ih ii-A a U H ^T -yke pawns-bein^: r e m o v e d 、 children tooide there, but even grown iTicn could disappear from c h e s s b o a r d. n い0 lt 、 cf"p4ttcxrtvr^i Ó sight if they Mt down among the Jute plants. If you chased thieves, 低一. they would inevitably make for the jute fields to escape. Ii was M y [gj]i£i_jiiiiLbc44^ve£H^nrtrintlfr'OTcH3uWia； UL__vyqu 屮 x ^ in one of those fields that a group of boys discovered Amala^/'j i^rhc-m 4Aeohce|jrfrtnH o f a few ignorant In a^ul tried to foment j^pütcg~ä?Tä diaa7yödliäfl^C 〆 lcmJcrs turned millions of people Into scrvnrUA. I wonder how - Gradually tho empty hcfuTffr~w〇rc occupied. M uslim much of this extraordinary IrrcÄftonnlbility will he recorded in refugees from Madaripurcamc in one day and took over several history. of them. The Banerji mansion wai once again filled with people. Not that 1 myself was old enough to grasp the implications of T h e S e n g u p ta h o u s e n e a r ehe m a r k e t w a s t a k e n b y a m a n c a lle d a ll th is at th a t tim e. B u i l a t e r ! realized lhai even ui\er the creation R a f iq u l A l a m a n d h is f a m ily * w h o h a d a c q u ir e d it JegßJly. M r.  Sunil Gan^opadhyay At) uft Alam, fi lawyer, had had a house in a village near Hooghty ' hay. N o i a scrup o f c e m e n t o r iro n a n y w h e re. T'hc w Ik j I l* tilin g which he had managed to exchange with ihc Scnyupias. was s lru c iu re d ro u n d b a m b o o p o le s lie d w ith c o ir m p e s. T h ^ So M r. A la m had not hod to su ffe r any Joss, Yci, as soon as he spark c o u ld ig n ite it lik e u m a tc h b o x. cam^c^artcd'prÖVOlcing cornmunal antagonism everywhere, My father Oictj al' apoplexy. He just wem to bed one night Islam wqs totally endangered in Hindustan, he said：Ihc Muslims and never woke u^ragain, Before this, he had had occasiunal hardly dared to set foot in the streets, the Hindus immediately bouts o f üsthamü, bul otherwise he had been in good hculth. 1 mowed them d o w n ; e v e n the police would fire on Muslims as suppose ii was the accumulated toll o f poverty, anxicly and fear soon as they saw them. Radio Pakistan was also doing its bit which caused his death, As I've sat'd earlier, in (he days hc/brc ( through propaganda, A locofpeoplcin the village had managed wds born, or even when 1 was a baby, my father would ienve to acquire cheap American radio scts(Anci if you listened to Radio home and just disappear from time lo lime. There would Ije no Pakistan broadcasts at the time, you thought that India was only word from him for three or four months. Bul ol' laic, he hud nut a land of bestiality, where aggression was thcjlaw. been able to do that, For that would have.mcanl the loss i)l' his；> My father and his friends were so terriHed of these broadcasts leaching job, and sturvuiion Cor his (umily. But it is always (rue and their possible repercussions, that they called a meeting u n d e r- itöa u miin who Ts sironyly üruwn by ihc w o r ld mitsieJe, cimnui , the boffvan tree in our village. The conduct of Hindus in survivc'lung in a ip tiv iiy ai home. Perhyps thut is why, m.y luthcr If^la was severely condemned and even a resolution was passed. iefi tom e forever, But such measures were like attempts to stem the influx of flood Some of the villagers helped us ()ul with money, and we by bailing out the onrushing water. did make arrangemems for observing ihc riiuuls uf ihc dead. Bu( ihc /iro cimff bc/'urt：)hc e le v e n th duy. Even on llie tliiy after the i'irc, we tried in rccunsiruct our cJomesiiciiy in ihc middle ofdcstruciiofï. Von lire iu>i suppused iu ic:ivc your You sec, I remember everything, not the slightest details has home during ihc period of mourning. So that following niglu, escaped me, my memory has not lapsed at a ll,I am lying in a my mother bulled us some rice und vcgeuiblc^ in an hospital bed in KoJJcala. ShuJeJa cmc and visited me a while earthcnwarcpoi. Bul [hüt same night several other houses in back. Haran^a, Sukhen, Dibya and some others came in the ihc.viilugc bLirnt'd 'down, Down saw us leave ihc village in morning. Apparently, Labonya and her father Biswanath had scparale liltlc groups.' come to sec ms yesterday In the afternoon, but I had been asleep. The grapefruit ircc hud escaped the touch of fire. It was (oacied The whole of my head is covered with bandages, my arms arc with fruii. We left it behind. My brother and I carried two bundles strapped to the bed. But my head itches in a most, unbearable slung from our shoulders. Our mother held out hands firmly. A fashion.Nurse, why don't you take off thi* bartda^e and »crotch few sicpa broi»ifhi us ncur Jibon Chakrabnrty's fumous lime n y head « Hule? I »hall be grateful forever. orchard. Now the place had become a wilücrncüs. The Trugrum When my father died, I did nol have to shave my head as is ijmc trees and ihc'gardenia irees had encroached on each other's he usual c u s to m. In fact, we were unable to carry the proper preserves. I remember the overpowering, intoxicaiing smell lhal ituals for him, On the eighth day after his death, our house caught used lo come to my nostrils in the evenings, whenever I happened ire. We still don't know whether anyone set fire to it dcliberaieJy (u walk pasi the orchard. Clusters of nrc-Hies would i)h;mi/wc ‘r whether it was just an accident, The foundations were earth, Ihe darkness. Could even heaven look more bcuuiil'ui? Jibun ot concrete, the walls made of tin and the roof thatched with Chakraburiy used i〇 gel very iingry cvcryu'mc you plucked ;i 40. 4t  Suni/ Gan^apiuihyay Arju/t lime from his trcef；. He would run after you with upraised sandal temple of Shiva, the betdnut grove, the big pond— the same pond in hand. Often in the morning.^ when our mother gave us last where I had learnt tt> swim. The road sloped considerably near _ u ' s sonked rice for breakfast, my brother and I vv(iuld run to the settlement of the uniouchables. During the monsoon, lenr some leaves from ilic lime trees. As soon you squeezed rainwater would accumulate here until it blended with the waters (hose leaves, and mixed them wirh the rice, [hey gave off a most of the canal. We h a d 【〇swim across this place when going to wonderful flavour. ( ^ I J i m i i a r g ^ i J i c. a n e l l of those lime school. Thank God it was not the monsoon now. Ganapati Banerji's house was now full of people» all the weeds and bushes We wcnl along Ihc raised path beside the narrowx'anal. On cleared. No doubt.his father's ghost had also ceased haunting the one.side were the jute fields, on the other the rice fields. At the place. But even in that house not a soul Stirred. Wc walked past, edge of the canal, a cane grove housed ihc nesL oT bulbuls. I had unobserved. ' , an impulse 10 run forward and pluck some ripe cane fruit. But But there was one person whom we could n ol escape. Our I didn't. Ii was in those jute fields that Amala^i's dismembered headmaster Amjad A li would get up every day at. the crack of body had been discovered. I was afraid to go there. dawn and stroll down to the canal while brushing his teeth with A iittic further on, where the road curved, you could see the a twig broken from a neem tree. A habit of many years. Suddenly big banyan free, At one.time.this used 【 〇 be the site where the we came face to face with him. The headmaster stopped short in gss Kali wasj^orAhipped. Wandering gypaies came and his tracks. His face looked melancholy. After a short silence he Shed their tents hers iao. During the d$yt.we could-come here spoke to ,t _ ^uitc often to play, but at night the place gave me the shivcrs.Thcro/ 'So you all have decided to leave too?' was a deep hole in the massive trunk of tho banyan tree. But T Wcfwcfe-spce€)Ue*5T-^^^rtibther was frightened. Everything had never had the courage to peer Inside. We all knew that it frightened her now. Her grip on our hands tightcnca. H k housed a snake, q kind of cobra, Once we had seen headmaster spoke to me. a pair of eyes glittering in the darkness of the hole— probably a 'Arjun, your exams arc only one month away. Will you go polecat or a civet cat— but we had pretended it was a real tiger. away without taking them?' 丁lie village cremation ground was also nqar the barkan tree. U. What could I say in reply? Tears choked my voico» I could was only a few days ago lhat we had cremated my father here.' hardly look at him. Amjad Ali came forward a few steps and NohocJy in ihc village+iad died in the Iasi few days. So the remains said in a tone of entreaty, 'Please don't go. I myself shall write to (if our Jc;ul. hils and pieces 〇rhurrn wood and.shards from broken ihe District Board and'gct funds sanctioned to rebuild your house.' ptM^ y-nli l;iy undisturbed. My nuMhersnid.' DoiVl 10ok thal way, I don't know whether it was anger or huruha.t was uppermost, (kui'f'lurn your head. Come along, wulk fn.s!,1-She had not even but our mother suddenly spoke wich suppressed violence. had ihc lime to mourn our falhcr. Ai that point, her only 'Don't speak to him. don't say a word, Quick, start walking. prcoccopntion wns how to save us. So we wuiked past ihc hanyan Don't keep on standing here.' ______ ircc. father, you were sup 卩 asccJio break a She pulled us by tho hand. P ro b a b ly ü e r words reached the pot and walk away from thexrcmulion ground without looking headmaster*» ear». Wo moved forw ard a few steps. M y brother hack, Wg^t〇Q： wcPc-lMvliig our cremAUofrgTound behihd, never only turned hU head and said, ‘Goodbye «lr, we must goノ to look bncK ogfilTi. Sadly the headmaster said, 'Don't talk about going, « a y y o u Il wax not quite daylight,The village wqä still rtslecp. the will be back/ pcasams had not come u) work i n 【 he Helds. We left behind【 he It was probably out of habit that he said thau It was cuüto.mary.42 «43  Sunil Gan^opc'dhyay There were so many people waiting for the sicamcr. iuid ye) not to.speak of going atihe time of departure, you were supposed (here was hordly ahy noise, uny rush. One and uli( they sü( there- to talk about coming back. But we would never be able to come in a mute cJu/.e, Turing Dt the river. Wüiiing Ibr ihe stcumcr. I back ayain. Those afternoons spem catching fish in the submerged remember ir丨 y c少es. hegürno hur! /Vom ihe intensify uf stiir’mg. rice fields, Ihc fragrance of lime leaves in ihe rice, the call of To be quite honesi, I was*su'(I too young, at the agcj (； rdcvc/i, (n chameleons from the banyan tree, swimming across to school, he my cmimry. shivering with fear of the supernatural, climbing the date palm ^ ~ u^H^~rrTrcfcmOTröré^ëtIë7ïïöïïCTTïïr1ïïrrTtf-^üini；u>-sumc— irees io steal the tapped, accumulated juice, accepting swcet.s sirangc and discyni land. So i Ik lack of (bod and huvin^i lu sla*|) from Amala^/, encountering a chameleon underneath a tree— in an uf； cn l]ckJ*did nul make mo suffer 100 much. my native land consisted of all this and so many other images. T tic r iv e r A r iy a l K h a n has no a.ssu cia iio n s uJ h u ii/ie s s i i k r And I lefl il behind, ihe G a n g e s. O ri the c o n tra ry , the r c a ir r c n c o o f H o o d s w K k 'h ul'u'/» We walked eleven miles to Madaripar. Other groups had cjisa.siruusiy c h a n g e ih e co u rs e ( ) r t h c riv e r, as w e ll; t s the f r a iu e in come and joined us along the w ay. Riots had started in in c u rs io n s 1 by pïnues, h ü v c g iv e n th e r iv e r u Iciir'l'uJ N arayanganj, in reprisal against riots in T itagarh near Kolkcia. Vet, it vvüi' u /i ihe b a n k s oJ' ib is r iv e r ih a i y u r m u ih c r m a d e vis , So thousands of helpless people were coming into Madaripur. complete ïhe final riiuaJs of ihe dead. Wiihoui the hcncfil of priests We had never seen Titagarh, nor had we ever been to und prityers, we just sat on ihe river bank and muüc ourulTcrin^x Narayanganj; we did nol know the people who were killing or 〇「soaked riee iü being killed in those places. But we had to leave our homes t。shuve uur because of them. was not disoirdecJ either. As l’ur emitig The river Ariyal Khan flows pasl Madaripur, its swift current Hsh 〇r meal, lhai came „ages later. as potent as its name. Before this, I had come only once to the There is no point in dwelling on subsequent details, This is banks of the Ariyal Khan, I was with my father who had come to nov a e x p e r i e n c e s of horror- und jtuciness arc buy some hilsa fish, I was about five years old, All the fishermen 女 better 丨 du丨 mold, and boatmen took me in their arms and pelted me. That was the The steamer brought us to Khulna. There also we encountered hilsa season. There were countless vessels midstream, all catching masses of people, ii was impossible to gel on to a train lor three fish. The ma^ke^were-awash with hilsa, My father bought n days, Many people reached the limits of (heir patience here, jjk J three pound fish for two annas, The fishermen gave us a tiny started fighting and jo.stüng umong Ihcmselvcü. One group finally hilsa for free.. "Fry this one whole and give it to the little decided they would not wait for (he train, but make for the Indian gcnileman, sir* they said to my father. b o rd e r o n fo o t. We mac^c the mistake Joining them, B u t w h m N ow whori we ca-me to thnt *ame riv e r bank, we hod lo w o ii could we hqvc done? TTiere was no one we coulcJ turn iü IW for the staomcr, for thirty-six hours we had to sit there. The first advice, i-was eleven, my brothcrscventcen, and our mother in u iteamer did no! have room for us. So we slept in the open fields daze in {hüsc.iotai.ly-unknown surroun.dir>gs, She had once vïs/lcd m the river bank. We satisfied our hunger by chewing on Kolkata in her youth, bul lha! visji had nothing in common with lattened, dried rice, After all, we were Brahmins, custom forbade this e x p e rie n c e. s from cooking in such sucroundings, open 10 possible W e a c c o m p o n ic d ih e g ro u p f o r a w h ile b c /'o rc lo x in y d ie m. ontaminaiion by othe^ castes. Actually, we did have some rice 丁hw was when we got inlo real trouble..V/e had no ^Cnsc 〇( nd foodstuff v/ith us to cook>And, of course, we forgot all such airecuun. h is ülv/Qyü ictates of custom and ritual within a few days.' *45 * 44  Sunt! Gftn^opaähyay Arjun — l i a r 【owns and villa ge s. TJVo inh ab itan ts lo o k 'at you us ui any rriomcnt. Yet, the pangs of hunger drove us to plunge fttrangoly. Even though there had been no riots in K hulna ai that ' imo the seitloments of the woavers-and fiahormcn and *tart lim e ジlill it was a tim e o f anarchy and robbery. It is very easy to begging. This was the flrsuimc I was doing something like this, rob FTclple sei l：uui ouï.side ,ihe siïilion. The prolonged luck of food hud 48. 49  S u n i i Gut \ f i 〇 f)(itihyay f Arjun mother emaciated, her youth, aad bcauiy had bccornc a thing of but possessed of unusual brilliance in the other. He wore a dhoti the past. So no one came lo show u.s kindnc.f^ anymore. Once and a half*s]cevcd shirt, and he did not squat. He sat down flat in a while, photographers from newspaper offices would come on Che duèt o.fthe platform，along wkh us. He shouted ai us in take pictures. WeiUdressed reporters would come.to us, squat lhat harsh voice or his. on llie ground and ask ax tricky questions一-we did not fficl the 'What do you think you are doing? Do you want to just sit need to answer. When they went away, we would siart and rot here? Are you men or just animals? Have you left your bemoaning our fate in whispers. But there was one man among own homes behind only to come and beg h^re? Don't you have a us whom 1 never heard lamenting, and thi.s. was old, blind right to the soil of this country? Do you knov^ what will happen Grandfaihcr Nishi. Sometimes, in the middle of the night, I if you just keep on sitting here? The children y^ili scavenge in even heard Kirri hum IT ^---1- Mauram', Bande 出c streeu* the young girls will become vyhorps apd the rest of nationaliiL&Qngs. you beggars, V/ell, why don’t you open your mouths?’ つ Finally, however* we came to the limits of ou-r endurance. * And Biraj iTiakur went on, 'Nobody shows you pity when し ƒ We had heard many rumours by then — o f plaïis to.send u*s 10 you beg for it. How long can you sit and wail for the government L settle in the A ndam an 【.Manch, or Danciakaranya. Bm nothing 夕 to take pity on you and send you somewhere? And why should M was actually being done. Occasionally a man would come and 夕üu have to squabble among yourselves every time the ---- nmkc a speech about no Bengalis being forced to move out of government doles out a handful of rice or two rupees In cash? /^^^Y ct~ ïT T m ty S 7r~ü^ïïT3~ëöTffë jTnd~p?0施 trrrtivsMh^IiicIian Arc you a race of beggars? Isn't this youp owa. ootmtry? It was v j T ^ o v e rn m e n t had betrayed us hy refu sing to take responsthiTky not your fault thftt-thc-coumfjn^ü^SIïiööê^TTfië more you x !^ (j fo r U5, B u t all th a t wn.s ovor olirlTMtfyT-A 11 wa w^mc?i then wax delay, the worse off you will be. You just can't afford to sit back in )lQ-〇ft-ftur-hacy ：5,~ti.some ,son rw e fo u r bends, and wait, you must hghi for your rights. You will have to work iw.n m cal 5 a day and some privacy. B efore th is cxndus, my hard to achieve self-reliance, but you can do it. There is a lot of /n olh er had never gone out in ffom of.sirnngcr.s, iiiid now a land on the outskias of Koikata, and quite a few unoccupied thousand eyes were turned onTicr. country houses, I know them ai!. Come with me. You must force Thi.s wa.s the point ai which Biraj T'hakur appeared before us. your way in. If anyonMries to stop you. fight UKhe death, biu do A man of mystery. The mcinbcrs of our present colony.still talk not give up your land.' nhout mm. Yci. taler on* he disappeared completely, we never U took Biraj Thakur many days to make his ideas acceptable hcm lof him again,卜[erdid luuhdong to liny fioliiiul puny either, to us. To the people of*Easl Bengal, the righuo land wam sacred for somebody would surely have said-,so. right. They still believe that. These people who had been forced was very (all and fair. Blind in one pyc. With a loud, to leave their own land behind, still shrank from acquiring other ruuco’us voic^ w i i i c h ^ a v e y ^ i m o ^ p p o m f n t ^ T i r t h k i k that this people's land by force. Besides, nobody really knew Biraj Thakur. man wal^apaMe-of^Indhcss or benevolence. AU of a sudden, Who knew what kind of trouble they could get into if thoy were one morning, he called all the adulu in our group together around led by him? But finally, ail ^hßs&äpubis and h e sita tio n i had to himself. His manner was not that of an unknown political leader. give way. We had come to such a pass that we could not Rather, U was like that of a village headman, who could tcli us contemplate anything being worse. Early One morning we sec off In no uncertain terms. Wo children also tried to hover an the out with BirAj Th&kur* He Ju«i camo to jus and announced. 'Those ouMklriA of iho group and ovorhoar thingA. of you who want to follow me. comclalong now. And those of He certainly was taller than any one of us. Blind in one eye, you who warn «〇become beggars can stay back. Come)' 50'  Sunil Cangopadhyay I Ar— N oi b single sou) was le fï behind. we d o n 't have tht*. a n sw e r. I-a le r o n , u ï ' c o u rs e , u fe w p o lit ic a l panics efaimeci (ha( (hey were respemsiWe l、 ur our refuge und I don't suppose one could have cillcd that a procession. We tried to acquire (hc righ(i>' 〇r supervision over us. Bui we know had not le a r n e d th e art of w a lk in g to g e th e r in a n o r d e r ly fashion. for su re thai Biraj Thakur had never belonged [〇a n y one of ihem. J u s t a g r o u p of m e n a n d w o m e n ru s h in g a lo n g th e s tre e ts — n h re c There is an altar buili underneath th e h u g e m a n g o tr e e b e s id e thousand in all. My b r o th e r held o u r mother's hand. I was guiding our pond, with his name engraved on it-. Later in life, when [ Grandfather Nishi along. Dibya had got hold of a broken stick read ihe biography of Che Guevera, l was Teminded oT Biraj from somewhere and was brandishing \\ with glee. You w ould Thakur 丁hat ta丨 丨llgun： , blind in emu eye, harsh ofexpresskm, have thought from his cmhusiasnuhit he was setting forth on n conquest, Mile after mile flashed by, we were running, panting yet so noble. for brcaïh, and yei we did not stop. Appreciation o\' our wonderful new home overwhelmed us. Then we came to a »uburb in D um D um and. sure enough, there wore quite a few o f those coun try homes. B iro j T hakur % We were always ein the fcjokour for aitempts to drive us out aga-in. divided us into groups and allotted each one a house and a gardtn. {'' G ro u p s o f p e o p le w o u ld g u a rd the c o lo n y d a y and n ig h i. H o v in y t been fellow ir a v c ilc r s oji th y roucJ of s u T fe r in g g u v 〇 us u We did hofmcct with resistance. The properly that we entered I tremendous feeling oi solidariiy among oursclveü. The men uüed did have two guards, but they disappeared in the rush of this tide o f humanity. ； io stay up ai nighi and stand guard with sticks in ihcir hands. We could not even have dream t o f such r w o n d e rfu l place o f Even we hoys did o u r^nre. Dibya had already become u big, refuge. T h is b e a u tifu l garden, surroumded by m any kind s o f s tru p p in g y o u n g I'c llo w. ii w » s iiu u ir M I’u r h im tü be e u lk.iJ in w h e n e v e r u n y U iin i ； d i r iic u ll nccU cd (o he d o n o. A m ) he h im s c ll' irccs— it reminded us of our village. Trut, there was a chance o f had no h e s itc itio ti in s te p p in g F o rw a rd u) h e lp ir u im e s tru u h k. bickering over the occupancy of the dance hall, For everyone We used to pnictisaik* use of slicks in defence every wamecilo possess the one concrete building. Finally, it was * as a pari of t)ur physical ftiness regimen. But Grandliilhcr Nishi Grandfather Nishi who gave us the solution. Brahmins had always. always wiimcf! u.v a^； )ij)s! any excess,. been w ell respected in East Bengal. U was often customary ïo 'Never pick n li^ht with outsiders/ he said, 'wiihoui n very cai] in Brahmins from other pteersftd give them land to seuje good reason. We have come here,;i new place; we must make in a village. There were two Brahmin families in our group, ourselves accepted. The local people must learn lo like us/ ours and Haran^s, they had been priests by profession, and my That was only about fifteen years ago. So many changes have c father had been a »chool ïeRcher, So ihcsc iwo fnm ilieü were ' given thv dunce, haJI, In keeping w ith th e ir special scatus as taken pl.ßc.e since then, hset I’oot in this city no! knowing which B ra h m in s. The u n d e rs ta n d in g was th at once the c o lo n y w a y io tu rn , üml/ m>w U iïüü h cct^m c j u ；Tïi 1j ^ r it!ggko r y f m y n w o / p a s t u r e , 1 Ou n iu hnvt: u m o m e n i'i; htfsiiauoTVTn ihinking of it as / established 〇 school of its own, my brother and I would have to rny own city, fiveryone in the colony hud succeeded in HnUing j teach there. And Haranrfa was entrusted with the responsibility his or her own means onivelihood^n ihe beginning some of u " of carrying out religious riles fo r the liv in g and the deneJ.-' T hai wus how a group of* dcsUlutc people found a new piacc worked purlers in ihe markcl, waiters in ihe tcashops and ün o seitlc, H aving left th e ir own land behind, they.named this place ric k s h a w p u lle rs - S o m e even went ou! begging, Bui look at US no w. S o m e ru n Uicir o w n business, o Tew have /'ounJ jobs in Deshpran Colony' or the colony of pairims. We never heard o f bakeries and p ly w o o d factories. Haren^o did not comtnuc tu be B ira j T h a k u r a g a in. W h y h e h a d s u d d e n ly a p p e a r e d t o h e lp us, our pr i est he drives a taxi. There is also a school teacher in d w h y h e c h o s e to d is a p p e a r — th e s e a re q u e s tio n s to w h ic h c o u p le o f c le rk s , 52 53  Sw/n7 Congopadhyay , 1myself worked as a waiter in a teaihop for the first few months. I was paid ö monthly salary oftwclve rupees, which came to about twcniy-fivc rupees with lips. Plus, [ was.given a free m^ai a day. On days when I managed to gel hold of^omc leftover meal, I would bring it home and share it with my brother. III I Äiill remember clearly how my wit^ sharpened'in the course nf my apprenticeship at the shop, If I noticed a group of customers sitting at a table for a long time and chatiing, I would g() up to Dibya was going along to the pond, holding the dead anake ihcm and ask. 'Would you like anything more, sir?.Shall[ bring on the edge of a raised stick. A host of children trailed along you something?1This pleased the owner of the tcashop. It also behind him. Dibya had b e e n looking o u l for th e s n ^ k e for quite a iUUacied the aUemion o f 【 he owner of the Punjabi shop acrosqhe few days. Once he was obsessed with somethlng.Tiè.woüld never n trcct. He trie d to lu re m e a w a y w ith the b rib e of a b ig g e r salary. I stop until s a tis fie d. It was a huge snake, non-poisonous, but any resiste d Tor a w h ile , then w e n t. T h e bearded o ld P u n ja b i sho pke epe r p o n o f y o u r b o d y that was to u c h e d b y the th ra s h in g tail w o u ld re a lly g r c w.to be v e ry fond of me. He n e v e r scolded me. Long ro t. after I stopped working for him, the old man would invite me into Grandfather Nishi put his hand on Naru’s shoulder ancUakedt his shop whenever he saw me passing by, and give me a meal 'W h a t is a ll th a t n o is e a b o u t? N a r u , w h y d o th e b o y s s h o u t s o ? 1 without charging me for it. One benefit of working ihcrc was that 'D ib y a ^ f l h a s k i lle d a s n a k e.' s a id N a r u , 'A h u g e b ig o n e.' I could bring home curried meat quite often— whatever was loft He extended his hands to approxim ate the length, even though nver in the kitchens. M y brother wna always dolighiod w ith that. I hU grandfather could not aoq ihe gesture. 帅 not g c u o o many opponunitias lo pjetisc him. 'Good Ood, whai kind of snake waji It? Did anybody get.KZ mothsr*^>f course, was entirely against my working. She billen?' 'usciTto weep bitterly over it. She knew that I had brains. I could 'N o , n o , Y o u j u s t s ta y h e re * T il ru n o v e r a n d la k e a q u ic k do a lot if 1 was given the chance to study. Whereas, if I stuck to look.1 working in a teashop,1 would probably do so for the rest of my 'Can’t you see from here? WelUheMake me along with you/ cJny.^. Besides, it was possible for ma to gei frre admission in 'How will that help? You just stay here.' i\ny school, for boys who stood at thc top of tlleir class always I t w a s th e tim e o f d a y w h e n 加 抑 io n y w a s q u ie t a n d -p c a o c fu l. gol tuition waivers. My mother was a very good seamstress. Uncle T t ie o ld e r m e n w e r e m o s t ly a t w o r k w h ile th e y o u n g m e n , w h o Biswanath got her a contract wiih a tailor's shop to sew shirts wore m o s tly unemployed, w o u ld s ta n d a r o u n d ta lk in g in th e it r e e l im d tro i/s e rs. A s h o rt lim e a fte r th a t, I w a s a d m itic c M o s c h o o l, in front of the colony. Somehow, it had become the practioe for h a v in g Jost q y e a r In b e t w e e n , 1 k n e w th e n lh a i I had to w o rk ihe boys to go to school for a while, then quit when they got to desperately hard— 中at ^a^iny only weapon to ensure ^c[〇rv； the last one or two grades, and start looking for jobs in the thcr^was no other way for iis t o jiirv iv ^ S o I electrified the. n e ig h b o u r in g fa c to r ie s. S o m e o f t h e m tr ie d to o p e n s t o p s , « o m e whole colony by setting the second placMn the final school- became re a l toughs, a n d a f e w j u s t d is a p p e a r e d. T h e f e w b o y s leaving exams!) who graduated from high school and went to the university See. 1 remember everything. M y m em ory I,s intact, nothing stopped speakin名 U) the rcat. There wore alao ä few girU who i.s forgmten, But I wonder who could have h il me like this. I wont to work in the city; some of them even worked in the evoning hnve never harmed anyone. shifts. 1 *'3S *  Sun i i Co n g c pad hy a y A rjun Dibya was one of those who hated to waste time sitting arounti 'What do ymi want with yet another broum? Do you warn (〇 and gossiping. He wanted (o have something to do, all the lime, hit some luckless fellow with it?' That was why he was so enthusiastic over hunting down the しahunya smi1cd:und.said, ’Well, ck、 n’i woiTy, whoever ii m;ty snake, li was nol wise to leave a dead snake lying around. They be, it's nol yiïu.1 were supposed to revive with the rain, or so the superstition went. 'As if \ am scared of you. Now then, bring il along here.' So Dibya was making arrangements to bum the snake on the 'No, f w ont.i goi it first. banks of th e p o n d. H e c o lle c te d a p ile oftwigs and bits of wood Bui if Dibya wanted something, it was in his nature lo make and sei fire to it. The girls had come to the pond to bathe, and do su「e he go( if. He ran kward山 ibonya, 丁he snake-burning being their washing, They gazed al him with wondering fascination. a iot of fun, u ^rotip u i'liuie hoys also rushed forward IkmiuuI The rubbery corpse of the snake waj difficult ï〇burn. Everyone him. Labonyü Jci the coconui Icuf go before Dibyu could pul Itis had thought the »nakc was absolutely dead. Vet the touch of Hre hand on i(. He smiled «( thru, still made its body writhe. "Whin's come uver you Labi? Why cK) you answer buck su Dibya had quite a reputation for hunting and killng snakes. often these days7' Once a snake had been sighted in the compound of the Mitras1 Labonya sn^iled back m him. house, on the other side of the street, Everyone saw the snake 'Why noi?"'shc suid. 'Dü J huve to be iifraid o/'you?' glide past and hide under the stairs. That was it. They were 'Thai you can find oui my girl, any time you like.' terrified of climbing up and down those stairs. That was when And Dibya raised his fist playfully in the air, but Labonya Dfbya had been called in. O f course, it was child's play 1 0 him. moved aside in n flash. He called after her again, He wrapped a piece of burlap round his hand, went round to the DüiV』gt) ofl. like Uiui しubiしistun, iherビs someihihg f want back of the staircase, and came out dragging the snake by its lo discuss with you.1 tail. He might even have been given some sort of a reward for his Bui Lübonya didn'i reply. She walked rapidly (〇 the d;incc courage, except that he held the snake up close to the face of Mr hall, climbed up on. 10 the porch and’ started talking to Arjun's Mitra's daughter-in-law and scared her. They all became so angry mother. a[ his impudence, that nothing was offered to him. Not that Dibya ShanUpishi, w^en is Arjunda expected back? ever expected any rewards, Dibya stood 6y the pond, looked uround and siiw (he mymigcr しabonya was walking along the other side of the pond. There of ihc plywood luciofy. Kewni Singh, sionding u little wuy o/T, was another giri in the neighbouring colony who wns about to talking lo sohk people from the colony. He tivcrïc haven'i ycl been able to land a job. And'one 'Someone from the colony beat up Arjun ! What'arc you saying of them did finish high school and passed l]ie final exams.' H aradhanda?' * 'AU right, bui your daughlcr has a job o f some sort,' It*s always hard to know what people are really like，my boy. 'She won't give u penny io her.faihcr, Vou know svhoi ihis These days people have so many motives. I don't care what you generaïion is like, She says that she's still on apprentice, that she say, b u t t h a t K c w a l Singh f e l l o w is n o t to b e m is t e d. W hy donft doesn't gel paid yet；It's only-Kartik who somehow manages to you pul him in his place?' get hold of five or ten rupees from time to time. But we won't Most people in the colony disliked Kewai Singh, But he was have anything to eat today/ a wily person and had managed to gel the young people on his '1 refuse to give you any money. I'll send you some* rice and side. He was on reasonably, good terms with Dibya, ienliis from home/. 'He hasn't done us any harzn/ said Dibya, 'And he gives us a 'Oh no,；no. How can you say that? It's impossible. What wii! fifty-rupee subscription for our S a r a s _ Puja festival.’ everybody in the colony think? That J am taking a hand-oul of A boy called Shashadhar spoke up at this point, In h/« rice from you. No, you give me Hvc rupees, und I shall' repay opinion, A rjun w«» »pending too muoh tim e w ith a rich m a n ,# you/ dnughter. So il musi have been the girl's father who had hired (Why should it be u huntf-out? People burrow l't>〇u ['rum others thugs to beat 咖 up, Shashadhar had come across this kind of in limes of need.1 melodramatic plot in-^a recent Hindi film. But Dibya dismissed 'No, one should never take a loan of rice, i can't do ii,N o one him easily. in my family has ever done that.' 'What nonsense, y/ho's been talking to you about Arjun?' For an inütüni, Bïüwanuih's thoughts went back in time. When 'J toll you, I've »een H with my own eyes. Arjun was driving Ihcy hacj lived in the village, Horodhon Ruy used to observe the with a ^irl in a white can And that girl visits him in hospital too, D urgaPuja f e iiv a i whh a good deal 〇r splendour. On ihc Fve heard her unde is a mmistcr/ day of the Puju, thib whole village would be invited io cat at hh Biswanath n e v e r joined in such discussions, He was home. Haradhan himself would serve ihe guests. He would force cutting up pieces of paper with numbers written on them food on them, saying, 'Come on, have a couple more of these anti lagging laundered clothes for idenïificatton. He hnd swccis. You arc younj> y d. This is the lime lo col well. And all absolutely no enthusiasm for this kind of gossip oboul other these are offerings t.o the goddess. That Cüfï never mïike yuu'.sjck,' people. He was amazed that even now, people could not Bui even though his heart softened for a while, Biswunaih ) 72..73.  Sun/) (jnn^opnMhyfi'y h“ rdcnücHt iipain. He spoke iilm asi in a tone 〇rrcf)f.im aiul. never give you »rioncy, As.soon as Suiurday comes muud» you need inoncy. A nd ns soon as you gel it, you go over u> ihc h(R)kiし Vi tn bet on the rvtcc.s. I don't know how you gn( this fiddiction Ibr racing You never knew nhout irtese Lhings in the villa g e. These arc habits fo r rich people. Not for poor people like us 丨 Haradhan protested in low, bitter tonCvS, 丁here used to be a beautiful driveway leading from the road 'V/hat!, I go racing! Who fold you? If you can'i give me a into the colony, Bui now ii was a rough-hewn surface with loan, don't. That doesn't mean you h^vc to fijin my repatation.' exposed brickwork, A white car drove straight up 出is uuhe dance 'You think I don't know what\s going on? Areniyou always hall and stopped. A group of children came rushing-up and sniffing around thai Gohinda from Ghughudanga?' surrounded the car. Women peered from behind the windows, 'Shh quietly, quietly. W hy must you shout.so? Please give me the men stood some way off and watched. A car like this had five aipccs today. It's for the Iasi tim e / never come inside the colony before. 'You think you can turn your luck by gum bling? Docs that The shining new car looked totally out o f place among Che ever happen to 卩oor people? You would be far better ofT if you decrepit habitations, with their shabby inmates. The people aiiting tried m look for some w ork. You could at 'iéas('have opened a inside the car were different coo, well-formed, clean people, as litd c shop ； if from a different world. 'D on't you need capital to open a shop? W ho's 10 provide the Abanish sat next to the uniformed chauffeur. On the back cnpiiat? W ill you? come on then, give me ü hundred rupees, and scat were Probal and Shukla, with Arjun between them. Ho still l.shall open n cignrcac.shop.' had a heavy bandage round his head. Probal gripped one arm. 'Ha! A nd yo u 'll be ihc one who w ill smoko all Ihc cigarettes. an(l Abanish quickly camo out to hold the other. But Arjun smiled in ihm shop.' and said« 'No, really, it's all right. You don't have to hold me. I Siiashadhar, m eanwhile, was s till vociferously arguing his can manage on my osvn. I really can/ point.. He was coming home after twelve days. The first couple of '[ tell you, !'vc seen it with my own two eyes, Arjun and that days in the hospital were critical, But now he could climb the rich man-\s dnughlcr. You*ll ,scc. Those people will bring Arjun stairs himself, He had Iosl a bit of weight over the last few days home injLhcir car/ bui his eyes gleamed with the unquendjable fire of life. 'Why should theyV said Dibya. 'Can'i we bring our own boy He let go his friends' hands, and stood up straight. He turned home?1 am sure Haranrf^ will let us use his taxi if we ask him.' his head and looked around. The same old surroundings, the 'Listen, he w ill he brought back in state in a privaic car. He same people— but somehow they looked different. Perhaps that doesn't need yo u r ta x i!1 always happened when you came back from the nearness of death. It is a very special happiness to return home after a long absence, Shantiiata stood on the front porch, Labonya 2 bit further fiiitïk, ncur the cioor. Shßmilötsl face had the cxpressionlesft look of a graven.sutMe* hor eyas abioluiciy still. The question she  A rj un Sunil Can^opadhyoy ihc iahlt：, when some uwarcneüs of.imaginary dust, m.^dc him had miinagcd to put aside for a few days, was hammering in her slraighicn up und keep slundiny,. Bu( Arjun hud lo lie down m brain again— who could have been cruel and heartless enough their insisicncc.- to have injured her precious son? Suppose he had died? Her son Shukla hud betn looking around Arjun's room during these had never JiÄrmwLaflyonc. Nor had she, Oh God, how much exchanges.' A room built originally for bygone generations of more will you make me suffer? iuxury-iovinü people, wide walls and high ceilings; the prisms Bui Arjun'i voice wa* vibrant with life, from the chandcllctwcre momly gone, hui you cou/d self! «cc how 'Hello mother, how *ra y ou? Hello there L»bl, everything all It had boen. The rejom had nel büen piilniccJ for Iht* )»Kt lH'tccn right with you?' years, the plasicr wus falling off in pluces. There wus hurüly The old dog came running, threw himself at Arjun's feet, anyihing \n !hu room other than Arjun's pile of books, There was lumed a somersault and whined his happiness. Arjun patted it n〇( even a bookshelf, the books had jusi been stacked he/e and on the head, saying, 'Well, Becharam, still alive and kicking I there, Abani,sh,wasvu bom bibliophile, he could never resist books. sec.' He started pulling them out and looking through them. Then he turned ï〇his companions. The dog had come inside, and was frisking around, which 'Abanish^j, please come this way. Come Shukia, come made Probal a bit wary, Probal. Abani5höfö, this is my mother. Mother, you know 'Don'! worry；said Arjun, 'He won't bile^you. He is q mosl Abanish^o, our professor. And this is Shukla and this is Proba!— harmless creature, Bccharam, gel out of here,' my friends.' 'Where on earth did you find ihis strange mongrel?' asked Abanish and Probal folded their hands and bowed' to Probal,Tve never i；ccn anybody keep u pet like this,' Shantilata. But Shukla bent and touched her f e e t , ' This shook 'Oh, ihis one was a great favourite of rny brother's. That's why Shantilata out of her trance, She quickly took hold of Shukla's I keep him.1 don't remember when he took up with my hrolher hand saying, (Comc inside, my dear, come in and sit down.' He is ancient now( look how his huir'ü falling off. Bui he slill doesn't Abanish tried to avoid a visit at this point. show any signs undying, J ean’i possibly shoo him avvüy,1. 'No, I don't think wc'U ita y now. We have to s 〇* Arjun, you 'Y o u huve c c r t u in ly c h o se n u mo»» u p p ro p rio tc rtum u I'wr h im ,' should go In and real,' said S h u k la. 'B e c h a ru m. It's r c u lly v e ry x w c c i.' 'Rubbish, you can't leave just now, You have to come in for a 'Yes；said Abanish» 'you arc absolutely right, His name suits little while. Abanish^a, please come and have a cup of tea.. Come his appearance pcrfecily/ in Probal/. 'Wail, you don't know how harmless he is. Life is sacred to Abanish had to givejn. him, so Ke wonl bite anybody. Not only thaï, he is scared of eins 'Very well,' he said. We'll come. But you don't have to get so and mice. And we can't afford to give him meat very oficn. So sxcited, Oo and lie down. You shouldn't let him get up for a he's quite happy to have potatoes, aubergines, greens and things week»' he continued, turning to Shantilata. 'Doctor's instructions. like that.' ；'ll send a medical assistant from our house, who'll change his Abanish got up and looked out of the window. Iressings every day.' 'Is ihis where you were silting when you were hit? Near ihis There was only one chair in Arjun's room. Abanish was made window?' o sii on ii.Shukla sat on the bed, Probal was the well-dressed 'Please Abanish^, Icf.s no! talk aboul it/ »ne. He alv/ays walked carefully, and he had not said a word till fWhat do you mean, nol talk aboul i(? you mus( be very careful i〇w. He would not sit on the bed. He was about to lean against ，，フフ. 76  父.Vum l Co n x' » /J n >'« y /Vn/n now on. You /mj.si never npc/> IJii.s wi/ul〇w iiKor dark. ! am 'How many families do you have fiving here now?' asked goinj! \o tell your mniher tn see \o it.' Abanish. 'i\u l Äin's \hc nnly w\m inw in my ro o m.II ' 1 citMi'l open iu 1 'Well, originally ihere were thirty-seven. One of them later shnli su(Tocnic with the heat..' moved to Kharagpur wih a job. However, our numbers have I'lu il w a5 w h e n ih c g u c s is re a lis e d th a t th e re w as n o fan in increaAcd a lot over Lhe last few years, and h's becoming difTiculi ih is m い m. t m m c tlin t c ly (h e y s tn rtc ü fe e lin g l\n (. H in A h a n i.sh co room for all of us/ inKiKtcd n g n in , jrvo never been in a place ükö this. Probul, come with mo, Never miml ilie heal, You iu.si have lo he very qnt'clül, Arjun, Lei's go out and have a look around/ Ai least umii ihc culprii has been caught. My father has Probat did not feel too enthusiastic about this,, tclcphmicd the police, they will send another man.to talk, to you/ 'Why don't we do that some other time?1 he suggésted. Let Ihn it\s been so many days already. Whai good is talking us allow Arjun to get some rest today. We can come baqk again/ MOW?’ ' 'Bui Arjun doesn't have to come with us/ , ' I.J.sicn, it's always bciicr to know ihc enemy. There's Jes.s At this point Dibya looked in from outside the window. rca.son to fear then- But an unknown assailant, who comes 'Hello, Arjun, How are you feeling now?' healthily in the dark and hits you is../ 'Fine. HoW are things with you?1 'Don't be so scared Abanishr/a. HI survive, that's for sure. I The fact that Arjun had come back home from the hospital in won't die äo cn.tily,* Y 【he enr with that same rich man’s daughter who had pfcviousJy (How can you be so sure? asked Shukla. 'Do you think you been the object of much discussion, was no cause for grievance arc immortal oj invulnerable?' today. For Har如 had a細 unced in lhe morning that he had to 'Now. of course not, But I have had many other opportunities make a trip to Ranaghat, so his laxi would not be available. in d ie b e fo re iliis. S in c e I h a ve s u rv iv e d Lhosc, I d o n 't su p p o se Besides, there was a iringe benefit to Arjun's ride in the rich HI die K〇diully/ m an1« car. The m *n'i daughter could b« looked at. D ibya certainly L n h o n y u «nd S h o n tiln ta cacnc in w ith «om e w n and «om e /b o d. looked hU n il.S h 丨篡hAdhar stood next to him »nd nud 慕 od him lo ShJintilniu.Mill felt tongue-tied in front ofstrangers. This young man convey that this was the same girl he had been taUking about. Ahnnish ai^d his fiul^er had made ail ihc ;\rrangcincnis for Arjun'^ 'Dibya/ said Arjun, 'can you do me a favour? This is p u r. irentmeni, She wanted to express her gratitude but couldn't find the professor. A banish^. He wants lo uke a look around the colony. words, She looked at them witli tcaclcmcss, Wl\at 'j： nocJ looking Will you take him around?' youny jxuijMc. how wcnllhy (〇〇, andytu with nota vesiige of pride. Dibya agreed wiih enthusiasm. Bui Shukla, when she goï £〇 Theirftcighhour^, Haran\s wife, mothcrand children, iill came ihe door, said to her brother, 'Why don't you go and take a look? arul looked in on Arjun. Olhcr members of ihc:colony also'came 1')] just sil here. Don't be too long,1 Jiiul went. While visiting Arjun, they made sure they t'ook-a good She had suddenly realized that as soon as she stepped o u t , , l(Hik at Sluik(iU*Shukia was dressed in a while silk sari, her face hundreds of pairs of eyes would follow her, and chat thought ((M“!ly iVecn/'emlmms.snicni, lier skmsmoótft. her heahh radiani, made her uneasy. DiDya looked rather crestfallen. her hrcusis hcauiiiul— nobody here had ^ccn f.uch lovetinc^?. The Bihari chauffeurstood by thccar, iwirling his mpustache except on the sereen. Noi only (hat, here was a young, unmarried' in majwüc style. A group of children,stood and watdied him girl, and yet she was so totally self-possessed. That was what from a safe distance- Some had even come up to the car and impressai them m(m. , wero running their hands ail over, almost with affection. The 78 79  ^um7 Can^opadhyay A rj un lighi coating of dusi on the car began to bear a pattern of But why? 7b p/ccisc whom? i can renounce the scholarship and fingerprints. When Abonish stepped out, Dibya tried to warn him go find myself a jo b.1 know a lot of people just can*t get jobs, about possible disappoi咖 cnし baï 1 am sure 1 shall.1 could even become a civil servam； 'There isn't much to see here, Sin Just a few huts, like pigsties, 'There's no need to brag about yourself to me, you know,' and that's where poor people like us huddle together.' ' ] am not bragging. I know the ones who go and qualify lor Abanish smiled tt Kim, ihe c iv i l s e rvice. Most 〇(' them have far worse academic records 'You »ay you «re poor, but your phyilque ii mAgninccni,' he than mine.1 said to Dibya, 'If I could have had health Mkc yours, I would _It is not enough lu tuivc a good academic reeoreJ, Y üu also have no complaints about poverty.' have to be sm a/r し sually. to descend from the formality of apm inio 'Please. Can't I make you understand that I have other things ihc familiarity of tumi did not require an exchange of notes, or to do? I can't just sit here all day/ Hccrcl» romactic encounters. 'What other things?1There are no classes now»' 'Haven't you hod enough?' 'Can't J have anything to do but attend class?' *N o ； No, you canH. I refuse【 〇believe you do anything dse.’ Then you must start contemplating me in mediiation.1 have 'But I have to be somewhere.' to go now.'.Where?， '1 have better things 10 do than meditate on you.' 'I am supposed to go to a film. I'll be Ifitfi.' 'That'.s right. On ïho contrary, you should meditate on ihc 'Who are you going with?' goddess Saraswaii. That will he good for your ihc.sis,' ‘Barun went and g o t【 he tickets. Barun、Probal and 1/ * 85*  A rj un S uni l C a n ff opadhy ay has stifferoi. Such a predous buy. I can'! imuginc who could 'A fmc life you lead! Going to films and wandering around； S h u k la s m ile d , * have hurt him so. How could anybody he so ruthless?' 'Whal else is there to do? Tell me,' Arjun fried to overcome his embarrassmenl by culiing in, 'Sure, what else? OtrfrTSfi have nothing better ïo do than 'You know, Shukla, Orandfaihcr whs a revolutionary during seeing nim s and gadding ab o u t/ ihc days t>t' the BriilMh. He losi hin cyen because o f torture üi the 'But do you oxp«ct m© to bury my»o!f in my book», like you? hand» oJ* th« ;>nJice, Ho could even u»« u revolver,' O r should I go into the kitchen and meddle w ith pots and pans?' Lübonya hüd been standing in one corner of ihc room during 'Ah, I see I have made a mistake. It's hard for me to define this imerchange. She was looking üï Shuklfj 〇m of ihe corner ol her eye. Labonya was dressed in an ordinary printed cation stiri, areas of work for women/ Even now, there was the touch of a smile about Shukla's and a tom blouse, bin.xhe was tJetermineü n o l 10 lei Sluikla see m outh. H e r bright eyes looked at A rju n. H e r fath er was a the icur, so she kept standing sideways, A h soon as her eyes mcl successful doctor, who Just kept on earning money. He never