Kapalkundala

I was very young when I first read Kapalkundala by Bankimchandra, I remember that I loved Kapalkundala since our first introduction.. though I was too young to understand her then, still I wanted to be as brave and honest as her. Being a book worm I have devoured hundreds of books but I have not met a character like kapalkundala again.. she is unique, perfect in my eyes.

 

A little girl most probably abducted by a tantrik, being brought up by him with not very honorable intentions in a scary forest. She grew up roaming in the forest completely alone, serving the tantrik she called father, her only other companion was the priest of a nearby temple.

 

He rescues the hero, nabakumar who gets lost in the forest. Though she knew that the tantrik will kill both of them, still she saves him from being sacrificed and takes him to the priest. He marries them off and requests nabakumar to take her with him. Who happily does so, first reason because she saved his life and second reason was she was gorgeous, even though she was a perfect tomboy.

 

He brings her home, her family members too start to love her. She was a very charming lady, her domestic skills were perfect, but she just did not knew any thing about married life and was not least keen to learn any thing about conjugal life. Her husband’s love for her was so deep that he did not forced any thing on her but waited patiently.

 

Fate had something else in plan, nabakumar’s first wife who deserted him for money comes back to his life and falls in love with him. She slowly poisons his mind, convincing him that kapalkundala refuses him because of infidelty.

 

In a strange irony of fate nabakumar hands her over to the same tantrik from whose claws she has saved him risking her own death..

 

The tantrik asks nabakumar to bathe her and bring her back to his hut for sacrificing. As they both were standing in the river bank, Nabakumar’s love overpowers his hatred and he begs her to tell him that she is not infidel. She calmly says that he is the only man she has ever loved. When nabakumar asks her why had she not told him before, she calmly says because he did not asked.

 

The river bank collapses and they both perish in the raging river.

 

The traits which make me Kapalkundala’s admirer are her complete un atachment to material things..she gave away her entire box of jewellery to a beggar.

Her extreme honesty and truthfulness is the second trait of her which is magnetic to me.

 

Her fearlessness.. lack of fear for any thing including death is something I would have loved to have within me.

Bibhutibhushan

This is another author my mother taught to love. She was a big fan of bibhutibhushan bandhopadhyay, so am I, just like most of the bengalis, I first read his pather panchali and cried like a river. I first came across this book when I was studying in raisina bengali school, delhi and instantly started to dote after durga. And that girl still holds a piece of my heart, and always will. With time I started to pity sarbajaya, love indir thakrun, feel ranu’s pain. But my first affection was for durga. I have read this book atleast fifty times and can read it again with great pleasure.

 

A simple story written by a fantastic writer, in gist, so simple a story, just like of human bondage by somerset maugham.. struggles of a clubfooted, ordinary boy. Pather panchali is struggle of a village boy, his entire life. Yet the magic touch of the master sculptor made the entire difference. Its one of my hot favourite books.

 

Just a little more adored is another masterpiece by him, aranyak, not very popular, even though I don’t know why, may be because most of the people don’t feel strong bonding with nature. The bonding which is reflected in every line of this book. Now, as I am writing this a piece of me is asking me to get up and get the book and start reading it. it’s a fantastic, divine story of a surveyor appointed by a landlord to chop off a forest and sell that land, how he fell in love with that forest and how it broke his heart when he had to order his people to chop it off. I will never forget those descriptions of simple life of rural people and tribals. The gorgeous beauty of virgin forest.

 

He was one of his kind writers, one of those who has left a priceless heritage for coming generations, books which can be relished again and again with same love.

Aranyak

Its written by my favourite Bengali author, bibhutibhushan bandhopadhyay. The writer of the novel “Pather panchali” story of  Satyajit Ray ‘s legendary movie of the same name.

 

Aranyak means “of forest”. It’s a fabulous story of few years spent by a man in a remote forest covered land of Bihar. A fashionable young man of Kolkata, who had to go to Bihar for livelihood,.  How he fell in love with forest and its people. The innocent people of rural Bihar,. Who were so poor that they used to throng his Kachhari (office) to eat the leftover rice.  

 

First he was sick of that desolate land, without any companionship with kindred souls. Then he slowly fell in love with the nature. It unraveled its virgin beauty to his mesmerized eyes. In the nights he spent on horse back traveling from one place to other, while miles of land lay in front of him, miles behind him and above him the moon shined in a magical glory.

 

The acute poverty of local people, their pain, innocence, exploitations. The  cruelty of those who had the power.

 

How he tried to fill up a local pond with different types of flowers with the help of a person who was equally in love with the place. Then the sad part starts and he had to chop down the forests and every thing to distribute the lands, mostly to the corrupt and powerful people. Finally his return to Kolkata with ever-lasting memory of that beautiful place, virgin nature and human beings.