It’s the second time I read “City of Joy” by Dominique Lapierre. First time I read it when I was a teenager. Then it was tough for me to understand every bit of the narrative, as I was getting confounded by the reality depicted in the book, or at times was taken aback by the generosity of Lapierre in using nice words to describe Kolkata in early 20th century. My observation and feelings about the writer and the book however has drastically changed over the time. My second read through the words depicted a different story. In fact it helped me digress from today’s glam and gloss and see exactly what life had been in the eastern India at that time.
The novel sets in the backdrop of post-independence, when the state is under political turmoil and under the ravages of natural disasters. It gradually gets into a tumultuous state of trials and tribulations faced by the citizens and infiltrators in the state. Famine, flood and all kinds of natural calamity that has always ravaged the state was in its intense form without proper means to get controlled on time. Bengal then, was neither a true colonial state nor a completely converted Indian capital; it was some sort of a dream city for villagers, a haven for homeless and a hapless place to be for the citizens. With increasing number of infiltrators for East Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and Bangladesh the city was completely out of its capacity to fit in more people. In this context the novel unfolds three protagonists and several related characters that envisage a long and arduous struggle for life and go through every means to magnify their eternal search for hope amidst refusals and losses.
The story weaves around the sufferings and achievements of a young Polish priest, Stephan Kovalski, the hardships endured by a rickshaw puller, Hasari Pal(the sufferer) in Calcutta(Kolkata), India and the experiences of a young, American doctor, Max Lowe. It is a story of the famer Hasari and how he evolved into the rickshaw puller to support his dying family in the village and what life brought to him in due course. Stephen is described as a priest who somewhat generates larger than life image in his benevolence and is often considered as a follower of Mother Teresa from whom he derives the pleasure of serving the poor. This inspirational character may sound futile in today’s world of fumes and races but it was one of the finest creations of the author, in lieu of his later works of opening a charitable institution in the heart of the city itself. The third main character is that of a rich American doctor who has just finished med school and wants to do something with purpose before opening up his practice catering to the wealthy.
If you consider the storyline and depiction of the incidents, interestingly you will find change in pattern from character to character. With respect our sentiments about our nation, at times the hard facts hit us but then if you consider any city from post-independence era, this is actually true to so many countries in the world. In fact instead of Kolkata this could have happened anywhere else. The location is just an idealistic depiction with respect to Lapierre’s stay in the city for quite some time. In fact it was the picture of true India; post-independence. The only cons I felt in the book is, at time sit reminded me of “Slumdog Millionaire” the movie, where the director in the haste of showing rise of a falcon, showed us the cruelty and unscrupulous Indian misery. Similarly thought Lapierre’s main characters fight for existence and shows majestic integrity and power, but somehow at times he falls short of showing the brighter side of file. Overall a must read not to get dismayed at the criticality but at the beauty of narration and power of forgiveness, charity and love for life.