March 2020 Reads (Part 3)

BOOK REVIEW : The Mountain of the Moon by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay

"It is much better to be a shattered piece of jade lying on the floor rather than a tile in the corner of the roof". -- Chinese proverb from the book.

And Shankar Roy, the protagonist of - The Mountain of the Moon (the original in Bengali titled Chander Pahar) by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, translated by Jayanta Sengupta, believes in the above.

Set in 1909, Shankar, an arts student in Calcutta, an avid fan of travel, astronomy and geography and a very promising sportsperson, reluctantly takes up a job in the jute mill in his village to meet his family's financial ends. 

Thanks to a neighbor's husband, an opportunity beckons him to the Dark continent, the alluring lands which he always gazed at fervently in maps. In Mombasa, he works in a railway construction firm, and then as railway station master before the call of the wild takes him on a grand expedition with an older Portuguese man, Diego Alvarez who he saves from death throes.

Alvarez tells Shankar tales of his earlier unsuccessful expedition in Richtersveldt mountains close to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), his quest for diamonds and tryst with an evil monster that killed his teammate Carter. Shankar yearns for a life full of adventure and Alvarez wants to accomplish the unfinished task; having forged a father-son, master-disciple like relation, the two set out on a journey where known factors are very few and unknowns uncountable and highly intimidating.

With frugal maps, a non working compass in a land with no natural landmarks, limited food, water and ammunition can the two achieve their dreams, come out alive and victorious?

Impenetrable jungles, arid Kalahari desert, chattering baboons, man eating lions, tsetse fly that causes sleeping sickness, evil monsters like Bunyip and Dingonek that devor those who trespass the lands they guard, an active volcano explosion, labyrinthine cave systems add thrill to Shankar's peregrinations that cover most of Sub Saharan Africa.

Well translated, this brilliant work of fiction gives vibes of movies like King Solomon's Mines and Congo. 

Thanks to such stories, the 'free spirited, wide eyed and mouth agape' kid in us stays alive.

BOOK REVIEW : Ships That Pass by Shashi Deshpande 

Radhika is a fiesty, headstrong girl who has just finished her BA degree. Questions on 'what next' from friends and family members jangle in her head. She just cannot make up her mind and when she does, getting married; an arranged marriage seems the best answer. Though taken aback at her suggestion, her family finds her a groom - Mr. Ghanshyam with Radhika still mulling over her choice of the man and marriage as a solution.

Meantime, a letter from Shaan, her elder sister Tara's husband, written in a secretive tone arrives. Shaan sounds both urgent and helpless describing Tara's failing health condition and summons Radhika to their home in a different town hoping Tara will feel better.

Tara, 33 yrs old, looks aged and withered since the last time Radhika met her. Tara suffers from arthritis and a psychosomatic illness. Shaan conveys that Tara refuses to see doctors, considers pain her punishment and fears she would commit suicide one day. Tara, on the other hand fears Shaan is putting her life to risk. Between two whom she trusts and cares for equally, Radhika sways like a pendulum between extremes, unable to understand what led this once ideal marriage esconced in complete love to decay.

There is none to offer her clues except Dr. Ram Mohan, their neighbor since childhood days in Mumbai. The denouement arrives with Tara's death and Shaan's arrest for her murder.

Did Tara commit suicide, what caused her illness? Did Shaan kill Tara, but why? How do these events shape Radhika's future, her thoughts about marriage? 

Ships that Pass by Shashi Deshpande smoothly blends elements of a murder mystery with keen observations on human relationships, putting greater stress on delving into human psyche. All this in a 144 pages novella in simple and powerful prose speaks immensely of the writer's prowess.

Exploring the institution of marriage, its perplexities, the burden of fear and guilt, the need to love, forgive and forget, this open ended novella asserts that there is no bigger enigma than the human mind.