Putul Naacher Itikotha - Intense!

 Manik Bandopadhyay is not an easy read. Highly acclaimed as a great Bengali storyteller, his stories often throw light at the darkness of the human mind that we want to overlook. His most famous work being "Padma Nadir Majhi" - is legendary in its capability of depressing the reader. 

I am not sure why I picked this book, even after knowing fully well the effect his writing has historically had on people. Reading a Bengali book after a long time, it took a little bit of effort on my part to warm up to the writing and pick up the pace to read it. I am generally a fast reader and can finish a 200 pager over 2 days to a week depending upon my interest level. This book took me a little more than a month and it was around 200 pages. This is not a testimony of the book being boring or not engaging. In fact, it was more than engaging, a little too engaging if I may say so. It was 200 pages of pure pain. 

Of course it is an outstanding work of art and a beacon in modern Bengali novel writing. The stunning word play that is alternatively exquisite and rustic makes it quite charming. We have an ensemble of characters who have their own flaws and forthright qualities. The protagonist Shashi is a doctor in a village and though he begins as a do-gooder in the small community, he wants to rid the people of their petty superstitions, create a better society, provide facilities. This absolutely exemplary public figure is not as straight as an arrow as he appears to be. He is tempted by the urban life, wants on multiple occasions to ditch the people and move out and even gets romantically involved with a farmer's wife - a farmer who is his friend and greatest cheerleader. 

The story takes a close look at the lives of the ordinary people and the struggles that they have to go through. The pain of being poor and without resources, the ability to be happy in limited means and the realities of being born in a certain socio-economic class in India are core to the book. But it is more than just that - it is not just about building a hospital and getting a better life for the people - it is about the nuance of friendship and family, love and sense of duty. 

Generally, when I read a book, I am rooting for a particular character or feeling absolutely heartbroken for one. This story takes me through a roller coaster journey where I alternatively love and hate the same person. 

From the very first page to the last, there is a constant quest for the very purpose of life, the immense importance we attach to ourselves and obvious frivolity of it all. In that seemingly bleak prospect of our lives actually amounting to nothing at all, every now and then people find their true purpose and identity. 

If I have to describe the story in one word, i would say "intense". I kept thinking back about one isolated event and another, many weeks after I had read the book. there are moments that just stay with you and these moments would be different for different people. Bandopadhyay plays masterfully with the emotions of his readers -  what affects you, makes you really connect to the real person you are. I highly recommend. 

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop - An Intriguing Premise

I received this as a gift on Christmas and it was the first book I finished in 2025. The premise was very interesting to me and the writing lyrical and light. 

The premise of this book initially captured my interest, promising a compelling narrative set against the backdrop of a charming bookshop. The first part of the story, which unfolds within the bookshop, held my attention and provided an enjoyable reading experience. However, as the focus shifted in the second part to the life of the protagonist Takako's uncle's wife, my interest began to wane.

Without giving spoilers, Takako is a young girl who has shifted to a big city. She has grown up in a small town and she occasionally feels overcome by loneliness. It is a story of finding love, of heartbreaks and eventually of finding oneself. While she is disengaged in the beginning often finding a second hand bookstore a massive waste of time, she slowly grows to love the place and the people. Through the shared experiences of regulars at the store and the people she gets to know through her avid reading while she is there, she is able to cope with her situation in life, and not just cope but overcome it. 

The simplicity with which her uncle who she did not care to keep in touch with opens his heart to her is quite touching. However, the development of the relationship is not really followed through. Takako makes many friends but they remain acquaintances - we do not really get a deeper understanding of what happened in those friendships. Perhaps this was intentional on the author's part - or perhaps we lose some depth in translation, who knows!

But I really enjoyed the easy breezy writing style.

If you are drawn to books set in quaint, literary environments, you might find some enjoyment in the first part of this novel. However, if you seek deeply developed characters and intricate relationships, this book might not fully satisfy those cravings.

The Write Project

 In the summer of 2024, I had started a project on writing. It was a creative writing workshop for kids. I had always enjoyed writing and I wish when I was a child I had someone to guide me. I did not want someone to tell me what to write, but a slight nudge towards what to read, just a polish here and fixing there would have gone a long way.  That’s how the creative writing workshop idea came into being and I started it in my home, right in my living room with three different age groups of curious minds. 

There were three age groups:

6-7 year olds

8-9 year olds

10-11 year olds

It was a two hour workshop where I spoke about the structure of a story, how to develop a story arc, we did a couple of activities involving writing prompts, some group activities and at the end of the session each child had a completed story that they would be taking home to call their own. Within a span of a couple of hours they had created something out of scratch!

For the 6-7 year olds, we did a partner activity involving art, colors and story writing. The colors and art work allowed them to freely think and the stories that they came up with were uninhibited and wonderful. 

For the 8-9 year olds, we discussed their favorite authors and genres. For this group, we discussed the building blocks of creating a memorable character. Just like Lego bricks can build anything from a dragon to a truck, our imagination can give our characters wings to fly or fatal flaws. As a group we decided to create a superhero character and our little creators gave their very own superheroes amazing names and awesome super powers including but limited to “the ability to score a sixer in every ball”, “being able to live without sleeping”, “having an unlimited supply of ice cream” and “kindness”.

The last group of children were in the age group of children were 10-11 year olds and here we turned it up a notch. Children had to write a complete story following the story arc that we learnt about from few prompts given and the results were very impressive! The friends even took inspiration from each other to build out different parts of a story.

The experience of teaching and learning with young minds was something absolutely beautiful. The level of distractions that children have these days is something we could not even have imagined. We hear so much negative narrative about children having lost their ability to concentrate, really focus etc. etc - but I would strongly disagree with all of those because these kids were completely into in for two straight hours. they really applied themselves and came up with something. I guess crafting something you can call your own is a special feeling nothing else can replace. I hope I can come up with a more robust plan this summer. But the first batch will always be special.