I wanted to do so many things during this Saturday and I ended up completing this novel which I have been reading very slowly for the past 1 month now. This again doesn't feel like a translated-from-Bengali novel. Thanks to Arunava Sinha again. Nothing less than a original English novel. It has also been made to a movie Chowringhee bye Pinaki Bhushan Mukherjee....It has all the ingredients for a classic mass entertainer movie as well as a drama. It can be treated either way :).
Having Maestro Illayaraja's oldies playing in the background and indulging yourself in a novel which tells you more than one story is indeed a Saturday treat. This 400 page novel brings you the lives of Sata Bose, Karabi Guha, Connie, Marco polo, Nata hari, Byron , Sujatha and various others as seen and lived with Sankar (either in real life or in his imagination). Each story is unique in its own way and somehow the narration is so gripping that you become a part of it. You feel the pain that the characters go through, even as you feel the tiredness after standing in the counter welcoming the guests. Again without going through the story, any sane person living in any such hotel and having to see all that was seen in Shahjahan would definitely not have high hopes in life :) ... or does it apply only to people working in hotels ??? it is the same everywhere isn't.. We just don't see it.. in hotels and in other such places where you are bound to interact with so many people...u just cant shut your eyes and ears, so much as you even want to. Pathetic situation ain't?
Coming back to some of the favorite lines that captured my attention (which I read today.. otherwise in the whole novel Sata Bose actually gets most of the good lines ...)
This is one where Mr Sohrabji explains to Sankar about the cocktail party :D (its like a mini haiku)
"There are four chapters to a cocktail party.
In the first hour, its breaking the ice;
in the second, beginning to feel nice,
in the third, tongues become loose;
in the fourth, the senses feel the booze."
This one is when Sankar finds out Bose-da's feelings for Sujata-di.
"I found an explanation in Victor Hugo: 'The first symptom of love in a young man is timidity; in a girl it is boldness. The two sexes have a tendency to approach and each assumes the quality of the other.'"
Both of the above are about stuff that is intoxicating isn't. There are quite a few others but these two stood out of the rest in what I read today :D
When I read Ponniyin Selvan for the first time (It was almost more than 10 yrs ago), I believed that the characters kundhavai, nandhini, vandhiyathevan, karikalan, etc are all real. Some were indeed taken from history, but the story indeed was a fiction. But it will make you feel close to reality because of the events and also due to the writing. Some novels keep emphasizing that it is a work of fiction, because there might be some events or characters which can never be real (or so you wanna believe it that way ;) ) , but this one Chowringhee like Ponniyin Selvan is more realistic. Yes you can see people like Karabi, Sata bose, Rosie, Jimmy near you. Realistic Characters and realistic stories.
Just like life, this one too has an sad ending (with respect to the novel). May be it was just a beginning for something better...but still at that instant, my heart fell when I read the letter from Bose-da.
Literature is too good. If someone has to quote from so many other great authors how much learned must he be ? What else can I say.... times have changed... people come and go..but hotels like Shahjahan still continue to exist..
Must read novel. All credits to Mr Arunava Sinha for translating this wonderful and captive novel.
