I can’t express what ensued! It’s an honour to read “Sir” Rabindranath Tagore.
The author – Great son of Indian soil, only a few gather such rRajeev_Vermact. He is an asset.
The book. Set in 1908, following the partition of Bengal, Ghare Baire was written in Bengali in 1916 & later translated to English by Surendra Nath Tagore. It was adapted into a film by the same name by Satyajit Ray & showcased at Cannes Film Festival.
Plot. Bimala, a less attractive girl, is married to a zamindaar Nikhil, a liberal & westernised man. Unconventional, that he is, wants Bimala to step out of the zenana into the world outside, but Bimala take pleasure in obedience towards family values & duty towards Nikhil. One day, Sandip, a revolutionary, holds a rally in Rajah’s (Nikhil) estates & Bimala is taken by storm. She attends to what he professes for the Swadeshi movement & is fascinated by his infecting zeal & fierce expressions.
Sandip makes Nikhil’s estates his office & tempts Bimala to be a part of his movement. Bimala joins Sandip triggering off a blooming romance within her heart. She finds in Sandip what she had been looking for in the man of her life-aggression, passion & virility.
Nikhil, aware what’s happening under his sphere, ignores Bara Rani & Masterji’s call to direct Sandip out of his estates. Their marriage is up for a bargain. He wanted Bimala “to return on her own accord or not at all.” Sandip, the corrupt politician, coaxes Bimala to arrange Rs 6000 for the cause. Bimala manages to bring him the loot, because she is happy making Sandip happy. But soon her infatuation settles & the dark face of Sandip is unveiled to her.
Will Bimala find true love in the man of her life? What will happen to the burglary (Rs 6000 in 1908 means probably Rs 6 lakhs in 2012)? Is Sandip a true revolutionary? What happens to Bimala, Nikhil, Sandip & Amulya towads the end?
The ill effects of Swadeshi. In the school books Swadeshi is about people burning foreign articles up bonfires. It announces their denial of the colonial regime.
But the novel talks about its ill effects. British goods were cheap & good in quality, making it affordable for poor people. The Indian goods (cloths & articles) were expensive & still can’t match the quality. Nikhil was pro poor & did not impose Swadeshi in his territory. He refused to set up weaving looms to favour the cause, unlike other zamindaars. The poor & the Muslim traders, who would earn their livelihood by selling foreign goods & buy that for utility, were tormented by Hindu landlords & revolutionaries. This erupted as unrest among them & the communal riots kicked off, much to the foresightedness of Nikhil. The communal riots were in the favour of the British Policy of ‘Divide and Rule”, and Swadeshi did just that. In the novel, Tagore speaks his mind through Nikhil.
Another drawback was young boys being pulled out from school & colleges for the movement. Nikhil was against interrupting their education for Swadeshi. Later, Bimala, an active participant too repents drawing innocent youth into this rage.
Swadeshi or nationalism is not the theme of the novel. The main theme is love in unusual background. Love between Nikhil & Bimala is pious, between Sandip & Bimala is illusive.
Bimala is depicted as “Mother Earth” in the novel. To allure Bimala, Sandip sings praises (deceitful) for her & adorns her with words like “deity”, which would devour up the demon called British rule & give her charisma to the army of men to fight against the colonial odds. Bimala for Nikhil represents “India” who he wants to come out of house in the outer world (set her free of British rule). This forms the back bone of the novel.
Narration is poetical throughout. An intricate & multi layered prose, it stuns your faculties. One has to fathom it through a microscope as the characters are representational & multifaceted in this elaborate drama. It’s not straightforward but every word is worth the sweat.
The three protagonists give their first person account. All three characters are painstakingly developed. There are various contrasting shades of their nude emotions & subsequent reactions, the reader is charmed with each passing sentence.
The various flaming conversations between Nikhil, Sandip & Bimala are reflection of their clashing ideologies, interest & philosophies. In the course of these dialogues, reader will connect to varied traits of these characters & identify with them, including Bara Rani & Amulya. The divinity of these sublime characters is majestic.
Certain other episodes leave you stimulated “literally”. Like, Bimala hearing out Sandip in a rally, Bimala recognizing Sandip’s motives, Bimala sending Amulya to Calcutta, Nikhil getting nostalgic about childhood fun with Bara Rani etc.
Tagore draws a lot of inspiration from nature, where the characters describe the moon, dark night, the Ganges, sea, clouds etc to illuminate the strife within. The inspiration from Gita indicates the spiritual connect.
This book is a flawless piece of work, straight from the heart. Embark on this journey of agonizing ecstasy.
PS: @ Anita Desai!! “boarding house flirtation”….well!!!
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Anshuman Maini