There are few books you read which touch your heart. Certainly, The Rainbow Days is one of them. I started reading the book with skepticism and uncertainty that what 376 pages would offer and that too from a debutant author. But after reading only 2 chapters the pages kept haunting me to finish it. I was so much glued to Papu’s life and Bairampur village that after finishing the book I felt empty. Oh what a book!
I want to congratulate author Prabir Kumar Datta for attempting to write such a bold story in the background of an interesting and untold phase of rural Bengal post independence. Through Papu’s journey one can relive the life in a rural village in Bengal between 1967 and 1972.
As we have been facing daily corruption and feudalism at all level, its been easier to identify with Mohan Roy(Beel Babu) in today’s context. There are lots of Beel Babu and his followers around us but unfortunately like in 1960s Bengal we hardly find anyone like Papu’s father Nabin Babu these days. An idealist ex-revolutionary man who sacrificed power to come to village to teach in local school and ends up fighting menace of local ex-zaminder’s autocracy. This is also a story of a strong man with high moral values who fights against all odds to provide a better life for his wife and children following a difficult but right path.
The story has been narrated by Papu, an innocent teenager who is torn between a mother who is struggling hard to bring food to the table with her little earnings and a father who would never compromise to gain a single favour. Author Prabir Kumar Datta has successfully managed the readers to relate with the era by describing the situations with minute details. The pain, agony, heartbreak, laughter, friendship, love, helplessness and tragedy – all become a part of your own while you read this story - a story that will keep you hooked until you read the last page and then feel numb.
The era which had no electricity, there were no phones or TVs, where entertainment means not going to watch movie in multiplexes or playing video games or even seating with friends in coffee shop… the era where Papu Somu Atiyar Ranju gets excited when a famous drama company comes to the village for performance. This book indeed will leave you wondering about the simplicity of life.
The Rainbow Days is an inspirational book which motivates one to live a life without fear. It inspires one to continue fight against corruption and anti-social elements. It teaches you to live a life without compromise and uphold values over apprehension. It encourages one to break free from the social menace.