Two Novels:
A Discourse
on the Pains of Partition
Nidhu Bhusan Das
‘Dui Nagar’ and ‘Keertinasha’ are a
discourse on the pains and trauma of the partition of Bengal in 1947.The exodus
of Hindus from East Bengal, rechristened East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and
that of Muslims from West Bengal, now Bangla is the theme of both the novels by
Tanvir Mokammel, a renowned film maker and poet of Bangladesh who has recently
entered into the realm of novel writing. We know Tanvir has the knack and a
profound sense of duty to document the events and movements in the chequered
history of Bengal. He is
set to return from page to celluloid with his upcoming docu-film
‘Seemantarekha’ with the same theme.
‘Keertinasha’ reflects Tanvir’s
egalitarian approach to the subject while it is evidently elitist in ‘Dui Nagar’.’Keertinasha’
is the tale of cementing/reinforcing friendship between two neighbouring
Hindu and Muslim families against the imminent materialization of the hitherto
amorphous Pakistan, till today called an Acronym by intellectuals like Pakistan born
Canadian Tareq Fatah.
‘Dui Nagar’ begins with a
qoute from ‘A TALE OF TWO CITIES’, a fictionalized account of the Frech
Revolution based,inter alia, on Dickens’ reading of Carlyle’s ‘French Revolution’.The lengthy first
sentence of the novel, which the present novelist partially excerpts (“It was
the best of times,it was the worst of times…”), set the tone of the victorian
novel.Dickens drew his inspiration not only from Carlyle’s work but also drew
on Wilkie Collins’ ‘The Frozen Deep’
the theme of which is love- two eligible persons being in love simultaneously,with a lovely girl.Dickens’
novel,turns out to be a love story in the background of the French
Revolution,and the novelist consciously foregrounded the story of love.No such
foregrounding of love is intended and found in ‘Dui Nagar’.
In the English novel,the
yarn is spun with Dr. Manette being the link between the history and the love
story.If Lucie Manette is
innocence-incarnate,the research scholar Jayati from Kolkata is
experience-incarnate in ‘Dui Nagar’.Two
suitors seek her hand,she reciprocates the love of Charles Darnay who
has declassed himself detesting the brutality of his father and uncle and their estate.She couldn’t reciprocate
sydney Carton’s love ,but she had profound compassion and love for him,and
he ultimately,for the sake of Lucie,
saved the life of Darnay,choosing to be beheaded under the Guillotine.
Unlike ‘A TALE OF TWO
CITIES’ , ‘Dui Nagar’ is a docu-novel.The former is not a story of exodus of
refugees across the international border of two neighbouring countries as the latter is.In the ‘Tale’ we find love
transcends cruelty.Jayati is in Dhaka in
connection with her research on ‘Partition and Trauma of Women’. Which women?
Those house wives who had to leave their
dear hearth and home for an uncertain future which awaited the families of
refugees?Perhaps,it is not within the capacity of Jayati to delve into the
essence of the trauma,she being esconced in a well-to-do family and having
premarrital sexual experience twice with two boy friends,the thirst remaining
undiminished. Only the love making with Professor Raihan could satisfy her and
she asks her man of choice on the eve of departure:” Coming to Kolkata,sure?”
Raihan replies, suggestively:”Go I must.”Jayati travelled but didn’t go for
survey or field work in Bangladesh.Maybe, her thesis will be enriched with open
source data ,and discussions in the
drawing rooms and over tea and dinner in the elite circuit.A freedom fighter and married,Professor Raihan
is in the Shahbag Movement which is yet to spread across the country
effectively enough to counter the fundamentalists,its avowed goal.It apprears
to be elite inspired and remains elite-centric.The freedom fighter has evolved
into a different man,being coaxed by Jayati. He could have been a Shohrab (
‘Keertinasha’) had the author not abandoned the railroad from Kolkata to
Bongaon for the road journey between Dhaka and Barishal via Faridpur to enhance
the desire of his heroine. Raihan has been deprived of his finer feeling and
emotion reflected in his quest for a boyhood friend Aboni who is settled in
Bongaon across the border.Jayati accompanies him in his successful quest,but
friendship is not overcast by lust.Afterall,character is characterization,poor
Raihan!
Apart from this, the
research of the author himself into the phenomenon of post-partition exodus
which has gone into the making of his debut novel is praiseworthy. His thought
is felt and his erudition lends objectivity to his story, rather than being a
burden.The novelist could have,perhaps, reasonably done away with the idea of inserting a puerile research scholar in the story, or bring one
who is not sensual but sensitive to be a
character really contributing to the story.Has the author not lost the train
and derailed Raihan?
Tanvir has done the job
quite well,and with courage, in his second novel ‘Keertinasha’.
‘Keertinasha’ presents the effort of two
families-one Hindu, one Muslim – to continue as neighbours in amity. The two
families lived at a village of Bikrampur which bore the brunt of the destructive potential of the
mighty Padma. If the Padma devoured the fertile soil and edifices of Bikrampur,
partition of Bengal deprived it of its rich cultural heritage and intellectual
pride and proclivity. One may read into the text the Saudade of the poet-novelist - had there been no
partition!
Two patriarchs of the
neighbouring families- the Hindu school teacher and the Muslim peasant-
sheltered under the village banyan from rain on their way back home one night decided
to ceremonially befriend their sons of the same age. The teacher mooted the
proposal and the peasant agreed to it. The ceremony was held accordingly, and
Sohrab and Suhas were knotted in friendship.Though this was not a novelty (the
novelist said such ceremony was in vogue),the backdrop agaist which it was held
was significant,a desperate attempt to remain in amity given the communal
overtone of the Two Nations Theory which gradually found acceptance in Bengal.
The two friends remained together till the ultimate migration of the family of
the Hindu friend Suhas to India.
The novel doesn’t have
any heroine like in ‘Dui Nagar’.Sohrab,the protagonist, in his melancholy on the bank of the Padma to bid adieu to the
family,resolves to save Bikrampur from the future havoc to be wreaked by the
aggressive river.Let’s echo the loud
thought of Sohrab articulated by the novelist:” Suhas is gone.He(Sohrab) has to
fight alone against the aggression,must
protect and preserve the glorious heritage of Bikrampur of his forefathers.Will
he be able to do it? Sohrab feels a bit lonely standing on the bank of
Keertinasha Padma in the late evening of the month of Shravon.Yes,it would have
been better if Suhas stayed back.”The absence of a heroine doesn’t create any
impression that the tale lacks love.The love for Bikrampur, the pining for the
friend and the sense of his heritage together help the protagonist to be resolute.For the novelist ,the aggressive
Padma symbolizes destructive politics which the Divide and Rule Ploicy of the
British engendered driving a wedge between the two communities that lived in
amity for centuries.
Dui Nagar
Keertinasha
Author: Tanvir Mokammel
Publisher
Creative Dhaka Publications
12,Outer Circular Road
Razarbagh,Dhaka-1217
www.creativedhakalimited.com
‘Dui Nagar’ and ‘Keertinasha’ are a
discourse on the pains and trauma of the partition of Bengal in 1947.The exodus
of Hindus from East Bengal, rechristened East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and
that of Muslims from West Bengal, now Bangla is the theme of both the novels by
Tanvir Mokammel, a renowned film maker and poet of Bangladesh who has recently
entered into the realm of novel writing. We know Tanvir has the knack and a
profound sense of duty to document the events and movements in the chequered
history of 
