POPIYA TORAR SADHU
Genre : Novel
Publisher : Cambridge India, Guwahati
Year : 1998
synopsis
POPIYA TORAR SADHU (Tale of a meteor), Jeuti was one of those village girls who had read a lot of books and dreamt of being famous as a writer and journalist. She was very active and took part in all social functions in her village, and cherished a hope that she would one day meet any one of celebrated writers whose books she read eagerly. Her dream of being a prominent journalist near future was result of her deep respect for Aparna, a lady journalist of repute, who hailed from the same village. Aparna was her ideal journalist and her idol too.
While Jeuti was dreaming, her idol was at the pinnacle of her glory, and jeuti was in touch with Aparna through letters. Jeuti read everything that Aparna wrote. She also read another writer, Subimal phukan , the editor of a daily and also a celebrity in literary arena, and was bent on meeting him some day.
The chance came. One day, Subimal phukan came to her village to attend a function. The principal of her college introduced her to MR. Phukan. She had a brief talk with the maker of her dream, MR. Phukan, and he invited her to come to him whenever she visited Guwahati. She accepted the invitation politely and was looking forward to her visiting Guwahati at an early date.
Jeuti had to pass a sleepless night and morning wrote a letter to Aparna, informing her of her meeting with MR.Phukan. Aparna was shocked. She felt that jeuti was slowly entering a forbidden field infested with pests, namely, the so- called intellectuals and writers. Aparna felt a strong urge in her to stop jeuti from coming to Guwahati, and meddle with the intellectuals, paticulary MR. Phukan but she desisted from doing so. Nothing could resist jeuti from coming to Guwahati. She was full of hope and dreamt of a bright future.
But the things are not what they seem. She met MR. Subimal Phukan in his newspaper office and, within a short time, she came to know that ‘there are more thing in heaven and earth then you can dream of ‘.Mr. Phukan praised jueti for her poems. Jeuti visited the newspaper office of Mr. Phukan very frequently and , in course of time, she was engaged by Mr.Phukan in investigative reporting for his paper. Thus jeuti was trapped and her pains knew no bounds when she fell victim to Mr.Phukan ‘ s lust. Soon a group of writers and journalists encircled her like howling dogs of whom Mr Phukan was the leader.
The story is full of dramatic situation and climax. A lot of characters appear in the scenes, both male and female. The entire story revolves round jeuti, the poor, bewitching village beauty who ran after a mirage. Her dream was not fulfilled. Lust, revenge, conspiracy and cruelty snatched away her life. Ultimately, she went to her village home only to bid farewell to the world. Jeuti committed suicide and thus ended the story of a honest and simple girl who looked at the stars of literary word with respect, with unlimited expectations.
Unusually controversial, this novel is an incisive satire on its own right. It breaks the tradition of Assamese novel and analyses the vices and virtues of present society. It is a tale that transcends all barriers of space and time.
- Presently, the novel has been translated into Bengali by the author and published by Gotidhara of Bangladesh.
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