TITLE OF THE BOOK: IT BEGINS AT HOME AND
OTHER STORIES
AUTHOR: SANJUKTA
DASGUPTA
PUBLISHER: VIRASAT ART PUBLICATION
ISBN:
987-93-92281-06-8
PAGES: 123
A
short story owes its immense popularity to the fact that through it a slice of
life is presented which consumes one with infinite zest. Sanjukta Dasgupta’s
volume of short stories It Begins at Home
and Other Stories is an eclectic mix of sixteen exceptional short stories published
by Virasat Art Publication. The cover design of the book by Partha Pratim Roy
depicts an apparently unobtrusive eye which in fact signifies the deep gravitas
of perception. I had read some of the stories in this volume which were
published in The Statesman. But while rereading them for this review I realized
the appropriateness of Kunal Basu’s observation of the book, “These sharply
observed tales… demand to be read and read again.”
 |
| Amita Ray |
The home in its metaphoric reach extends to the space of inner life
lived by Dasgupta’s characters. In the story “Bhajan Ram’s Last Night” the protagonist,
a dalit casual farmer fosters a world of dreams. He dreams of building a house
with a garden just like those of the Thakurs in his village. He also dreams of
taking his family to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. But dalits, always at the mercy
of Thakurs are not entitled to either dream or dare to overstep limits. As a
result of his adamant stand for refusing to sell a piece of land housing his
piggery to the Thakur, Bhajan Ram had to pay a heavy price. He was brutally set
ablaze in his sleep and killed.
Being a sensitive woman writer Dasgupta’s stories are replete with women
characters, specially the marginalised second sex. They are mainly the ones who
bear the brunt of injustice, oppression and relegated to obscurity. In “Just
Another Suicide” Kalyani is diagnosed with cancer in uterus and needs
hysterectomy, the money for which the poor family can ill afford. Her husband
Nirmal together with her mother and sister conspire to get rid of her by
poisoning her food and pass it off as a suicide. Ironically enough, Nirmal ties
the knot second time after Kalyani’s death. In the story Hair Raising (based on real life incident) the leitmotif of
patriarchal power and possessiveness is revealed unabashedly. Bela a teenage
ordinary girl dreams of continuing her studies to get a job. She spurns the
advances of Madan, a crook and turns down his proposal for marriage. As a
revenge for his bruised male ego, Madan toppled Bela from her bicycle pulling
hard her long plait. Then he dragged her along a bumpy road until she breathed
her last.
Death and unfulfilled dreams, the stark facts of life predominate in
Dasgupta’s stories. Being a keen observer,
she delves deep into social problems which precipitate them and explores avenues
not oft trodden. “Mira’s Madness” probes
the post marriage traumatic experiences of a low- born graduate girl who dreams
of a decent life with a job. She flees
to her mother’s home from her ‘sasur bari’(in law’s home) where people are
apathetic to her dream, engaging her only in household chores. But her mother too is equally insensitive and
sends her back to her in law’s place. The mother believes that the ‘sasur bari’
is her rightful abode after marriage.
Mira attempts suicide but survives; she is “trapped like a rat in a cage.”
She frantically searches for a job and is eventually stigmatized as a lunatic! The story “Change” focuses on the ubiquitous
love for gold ornaments of supposedly emancipated women hailing from all
classes of society. Ironically enough this fondness for the yellow metal belies
the iconic Rokeya Sakhwat’s article Alankar
naa Badge of Slavery.
But women are not the only losers in life; there are male losers too. In the story “Loser” the protagonist Anil is
a jobless slum dweller with a Master’s degree in English together with a B Ed,
degree. He is destined to be a loser not only in building up his career but
woefully a failure in love too. The story “Charred Dreams” highlights a hard
hitting truth. Any sophisticated endeavour to be implemented in a locality
demands that the people of the place should be sensitive enough to the
enterprise and mentally ready to accept it as a part of their social existence.
Hence Ranjit Gupta’s dream of establishing Rabindra Bhavan Library in a
locality inhabited by people who fail to comprehend its worth and sanctity is
not successful.
Nostalgic facts of life and emotions spin
around the stories “Adjust” and “Freedom” leaving a whiff of pathos in our
mind. The story “Metamorphosis” vividly portrays the change in Avik’s attitude
towards life and his elderly parents, once he is married and settles down in
America with his materialistic wife. A bitter slice of present day life is
evinced in the poignantly narrated story.
The much favoured device of a short story ending with a twist in the end
is ingenuously employed by Dasgupta in some of her stories. Both the stories “Freedom”
and “Loser” bear her idiosyncratic stamp of gifting the reader with surprise
ending. The fine raconteur with an array of themes to lay her hands on
skilfully transports the readers to the pre independence days of Master da and
his band of freedom fighters in the story “Good Friday 1930”.
The stories are heartfelt engagement with a broad spectrum of life in all hues and spirit. Her pithy style, insightful clarity of thoughts, rejuvenates us. At the same time they leave an overwhelming sense of despair exposing the ironies of human existence which plague our society.
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