Caste is a social evil that almost everyone is trying to battle in India. But when it comes to Odisha it is hidden so well that it is hard to distinguish and root it out. The very fact that the first Dalit novel from Odisha came out only in 2010 speaks volumes about the caste discrimination in the state. In a state that is known to make tremendous progress, caste seems to be one of the many dividing factors in many parts of the state such as the rural areas. Bheda by Akhila Naik brings this dark reality of Odisha to light.

Bheda: A Closer Look

Bheda by Akhila Naik brings to light the deeply rooted and often ignored pattern of caste discrimination. It is an eye-opener for all those who argue that caste discrimination has come to an end. The book is set in a rural area, making it the perfect place for caste discrimination to go unnoticed while brahminisation expands its roots. Told from the point of view of Laltu the main lead of the novel, a dom (lower caste) boy we get to see the world from the ground up.

The book, Bheda doesn’t only give us a glimpse of all the atrocities that a person from the lower caste community faces at the hands of the upper caste but it also sheds light on the manipulation of the mind that many lower caste people go through that makes them forsake their ways of doing things and try to emulate the ways of doing things of the upper caste as a way to finally become a part of the reputed society. This trickery or manipulation was shown in the way Laltu’s mother conducted herself on a day-to-day basis. 

A rather intriguing fact about Bheda is the way the chapters are divided with each chapter carrying one point of view of one character. Though many of them are not so important characters, their acts and conduct in that particular chapter of the book make them an integral part of Bheda. The climax delivered at the end of the book though will leave one appaled it is bound to wake many sleepy souls. That’s the magic of Bheda.

Afterword

The most interesting aspect of the book, Bheda is the very fact that almost all of the incidents mentioned in the book were experienced by the author first-hand in real life thus, making each word resound with that much gravity. It’s a must-read if you are interested in knowing more about regional caste discrimination that often goes unnoticed in India.

Sayantani Dasgupta’s The Party is a brilliant set of short stories that deepens one’s understanding of the complexities of emotions and relationships and elucidates the forms of contemporary Indian society. With thirteen unique stories, Dasgupta has woven a colourful tapestry of characters who contend with individual crises, conflicts, and change. The book is both a scathing social commentary and an incredibly intimate portrait of life in contemporary India; wit, vulnerability, and depth are woven together seamlessly.

Theme and Narrative Style

The very heart of The Party consists in the analysis of pressures that one faces in society and internal conflict caused by cohabitation with different socio-economic and family backgrounds. Dasgupta herself portrays a big bouquet of characters from homemakers to corporate professionals, each struggling to respond simultaneously to a mix of existential questions, cultural expectations, and self-wills. The stories comment on such themes as gender relations, class conflicts, suppression of emotions, and the problem of tradition restraining the urge for modernity.

A very skilful characteristic of the writing is that, as does Jhumpa Lahiri and the Indian writer Sudha Murty, Dasgupta invests layer upon layer of meanings and tension into everyday situations. Whether it is an ordinary family get-together or a purportedly routine social gathering, she turns on the sight of underlying anxieties, resentment, and hidden desires that shape human behaviour. For this reason, the stories have a flavour of universality while firmly rooted in Indian socio-cultural contexts.

Character Development

Dasgupta’s characters are best described as highly detailed and three-dimensional. They are neither good nor bad but belong to the moralistic grey areas that make them relatable and human. For instance, in the title story “The Party,” a perfectly disguised housewife and hostess begins to disintegrate under the pressure of social expectations. The story probably captures the emotional isolation and quiet desperation that lies behind that gleamingly pristine life of outward beauty, evoking sympathy for that which the women often have to be.

Another notable work has been “Inheritance,” which explores the thorny issues of family, tradition, and the burden it places on an individual. It portrays how to simultaneously hold onto family duty and build one’s identity. The powerful emotional depth in the paintings through Dasgupta makes readers return and ponder over their lives and relationships.

Language and Style

Dasgupta’s prose is elegant and intelligent. There is lyricism in it, but it also has excellent smoothness, sharp as a needle when required; dialogue sounds very natural and full of subtle irony or mood-edging humour that makes even the tensest situations witty. The vivid description of the settings sets their complete psychological insight into the inner worlds, often metaphors for emotional states.

Social Commentary

Although The Party is a personal novel, it presents a broader commentary on rigid structures of class, gender, and tradition in Indian society. Dasgupta makes no bones about criticising patriarchal norms that restrained the freedom of women or class barriers that separated people in those societies when those boundaries existed within the same spaces. Yet, she does all this without open didacticism; instead, she lets these critiques seamlessly weave into the fabric of her stories, where the reader thinks over the complexities of modern Indian life.

Conclusion

The Party is a solid and thought-provoking collection that gives a sharp lens into the lives of its characters whilst holding up a mirror in front of the reader. With Sayantani Dasgupta’s brilliant ability to outline the beauty and darkness of human experiences, this book is an exciting read. Every story is a call to musing by the fragile balance that shapes relationships, identity, and society.

Poetry is like a forest of mystery. Out of all the different forms of writing it’s poetry that is the hardest to master and easiest to decipher. It’s easy to decipher as at the end of the day one tends to unravel the mystery behind those few words based on their own experiences and situation. There is obviously a side that the poet wants you to see, but there is also a side that you perceive which is equally unique. It is often hard to understand what the poet is trying to say given we may at times don’t even live in the same era. But a poet who masters the art of expressing what they wants while also giving you the space to explore your perspective is truly a genius. Let’s look through the pages of one such genius, Bidyut Bhushan Jena and his debut poetry collection, Pages. 

Pages: A Closer Look

Consisting of just over 100 pages, Pages is a collection of poetry that is bound to take you on a trip down memory lane. It is especially true for those hailing from the state of Odisha but stranded on different shores all over India. As a poet, Jena explored the concept of joy, happiness, nostalgia and even death in depth. Each piece in Pages seems to be an etching from the poet’s life. A raw piece of memory carved out with very little fine-tuning that gives it its iconic flair.

Many may object to the rawness of the themes and imageries portrayed in Pages, but personally, I feel that it is this rawness deprived of any refinement and polish that makes this one of the greatest works by this poet. The writing will remind you of Plath given that it is a form of confessional poetry and is heavy with imagery. For an Odia soul stranded in the middle of nowhere these imageries act like a blueprint of home. As a poet, Jena has given his readers what they want the most, i.e., a sanctuary.

The words carry a deeper undertone that can only be truly cherished when one immerses oneself in the pages of Pages. From reminding the reader about a time when “sandhya aarti” was sacred to any Odia kid to talking about age-old buildings and trees that carry the nostalgia and playfulness of days gone by, Pages, though deeply rooted in the customs of Odia culture, manages to carry a universal tone with its metaphors and images that bring to halt a moment in the past. And that’s the brilliance of Jena’s work.

Afterword

Pages by Jena is a book that is packed with nostalgia and emotions that run deeper than any memory. From reminding you of the gentle easy days of the past when loving someone just required you to fall for someone for who they are and life was not so complicated as you waited for your father to return back from work with treats at hand and a broad smile on his face, to delving into the darker side of life that is death and coming to terms with it, Pages is a book for a day when you just want to sit back and enjoy the act of reading.

Remember the days when playing in the hot sun was no biggie? From eating sweet stolen guavas from the neighbour’s tree to hiding from parents as you are scared to get scolded for your marks to enjoying the summer warmth and breeze from your window, the days spent in pure bliss and innocence of childhood will forever be etched in our memory. Ruskin Bond just immortalises the same by breathing life into those childhood memories with his words in his short story collection The Road to the Bazaar.

The Road to the Bazaar: A Closer Look

Set in Bond’s beloved streets of Dehradun, The Road to the Bazaar, follows the childhood tales and mischiefs of Suraj, Ranji, Koki and their friends. The short stories need not be read in a serial manner but are connected to each other in the sense that they portray the life of one main character in each short story who we have probably met in other short stories as a minor character. Each short story adds a layer of personality to each character overall who was probably introduced in a previous short story. Filled with simple yet joyful moments of childhood, The Road to the Bazaar takes you down memory lane to the times when travelling the world didn’t require you to think about visa applications getting rejected or the foreign exchange rate. All you thought about was getting on a train and just letting it take you anywhere and everywhere.

A simple book saved from the adulteration of adulthood, The Road to the Bazaar is a taste of the past that many of us have lived through and today reminisce with nostalgia. The past that the new generation is tired of hearing as it always starts with a “Woh din bhi kya din they” (Those were the days). The Road to the Bazaar gives today’s generation a chance to relive that past of your childhood without thinking it’s torture or a bore as it doesn’t start with a “Woh din bhi kya din they”.

Afterword

The Road to the Bazaar is like a small time machine. It will teleport you into a time in the past when the concept of electronic gadgets was still out of reach for many people. A time in the past when childhood was spent playing with friends near the house. A time in the past when a beatle race or a zoo managed to hold your attention for long hours. A childhood of pure innocence and simple joys.

It is a book for anyone who is looking to relive their fond childhood past. Or just looking for a way to introduce their kids to the beautiful time that they hold close to their hearts. It’s a set of evergreen tales that is bound to evoke a lot of emotions when you read it for the first time. But will manage to make you hold onto them forever.

Joy and sadness always come hand in hand. Many writers tend to highlight the greatest joys or the most devastating sadness. But what about the everyday small sorrows that build up each day until the sorrowful dam breaks? It’s the big dam break that is always highlighted. Nobody or very few pay attention to the tension or the small excruciating moments that lead to those big catastrophes. Jhumpa Lahiri is one such author. And she does it not once but multiple times. Each time with a different tale in her very first book, Interpreter of Maladies which won her a Pulitzer award. 

Interpreter of Maladies: A Closer Look

It is easier to dismiss shadows than to accept their existence which only brings more sorrow into one’s life. But sadly most of the characters in the book, Interpreter of Maladies don’t have the option to live in ignorance. Their sorrow and maladies are conveyed by the author, making the book title very apt.

A reader will find that each story is different yet similar in many ways. The similarity lies in the fact that it always carries a hint of diaspora with it. In most of the stories, the nostalgic link to the mother nation is not that profound but its presence is felt in many ways. The most prominent of these ways is through food in most stories. Lahiri’s focus on this one distinguishing factor that makes Indians Indian is what sets her apart from others. What is more intriguing in Interpreter of Maladies is how subtly the food is presented in the context. One might think they are cooking and eating Indian food right at home in Calcutta (given that most of the characters’ background is in West Bengal). And not somewhere in the United States more than 10,000 km away.  

Interpreter of Maladies brings out Indians in a way wherein they don’t stand out because they look different or engage in stereotypical behaviours and practices. But rather Interpreter of Maladies showcases how Indians like people from every other ethnicity try their best to blend in. But there are certain habits and traditions that they do latch on to that make one pick them out as Indian by an Indian. The simplicity and raw emotions and sufferings of the stories are what sets the stories in Interpreter of Maladies apart from other books in this genre.

Afterword

Mostly set at the time of the formation of Bangladesh and its separation from Pakistan, Interpreter of Maladies charts a very troubled time in Indian history. But its focus on individual suffering at a time of mass suffering etches that time into the mind of the reader. Because it becomes more personal and more vulnerable. Interpreter of Maladies is a must-read to give readers a fair introduction to Lahiri’s works. And also to understand the troubled time of India’s past through the lens of those worrying overseas.