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75 years & a history of poverty, progress, violence & displacement

BOOK REVIEW: The golden sparrow in Nilanjan Choudhury's new book is a raconteur par excellence

It’s been 75 years since India awoke to life and freedom at the stroke of midnight. The journey over the decades had been difficult and the task of rebuilding the nation was arduous. As great leaders took crucial decisions to breathe life into the country’s fledgling economy, a section of the population became victims of power and greed. But history often overlooks the indelible scars of development. Hence, a shapeshifting spirit decides to change the narration.

It is not by choice but by punishment that Prem Chandra Guha, a yaksha in Nilanjan P. Choudhury’s new book Song of The Golden Sparrow: A Novel History of Free India, starts chronicling the stories that unfold every time a metaphorical hurricane hits the country. Though initially petrified by the thought of being exiled in India for 100 years, Prem Chandra gradually charts his course of history in the guise of a sparrow and begins his journey from Betla, a tribal-dominated area in present Jharkhand.

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The ‘historian’ finds his subjects in 10-year-old Manhoos (the cursed) and his Santhal friend Mary, who has the ability to communicate with the animal kingdom. Through these two, Prem Chandra tells the history of modern India that is not all about achievements but also about inequality, poverty, the state’s high-handedness, greed and bigotry. While Manhoos manages to break out of the drudgery, Mary, along with her family, becomes the victim of the government’s insatiable quest for minerals.

The history of the Santhals, and that of other tribes, in mineral-rich Jharkhand (erstwhile united Bihar state) is that of struggle against the onslaught of outsiders, the dreaded dikus, who have been exploiting them for decades and destroying their forests. However, not many history books tell the story of this loss but choose to focus on the pyramids of development built on the sacrifices of numerous tribals.

Mankind never learns from history because the “human mind is a malleable thing”, writes Choudhury. The indigenous population comprising “85-90% of the total population of Jharkhand have been the worst hit by the large-scale exploitation of the natural resources of the region”, Mathew Areeparampil wrote in one of the essays titled ‘Displacement due to Mining in Jharkhand’. A similar struggle has been seen in parts of Odisha where the tribals fought against the state’s blind rejection of their rights to forests and forest produce.

As Manhoos transforms into Manu Singh, Prem Chandra’s story shifts from Betla to erstwhile Calcutta, the city of joy and famine and an unprecedented influx of the homeless from Bangladesh during Partition and the East Pakistan struggle. As the yaksha tells Manu’s story, the former also chronicles the contemporary events — the disturbing unemployment rate in the country, the ‘Congressis’, the exasperation of the middle and low-income groups after two decades of independence, despondency and chaos.

The abysmal state of affairs would lead to resentment among the public across the country, including in West Bengal. The eastern state would witness the growth of Naxalism that started as a peasant uprising in a village called Naxalbari in North Bengal and spread like wildfire in urban Calcutta.

As the fire of revolution spreads in Calcutta, Manu too feels the heat. But that is only a prelude to his meteoric rise that continues with the changing political fabric of the country and liberalisation.

With pivotal policy changes in 1991, India would finally find her chutzpah. The scars of a 200-year-old colonial rule were fading and India was progressing. Or was it? It would take less than a decade for the countrymen to realise the hollow promises of their leaders and see through the progress that was ersatz. India would come face to face with another enemy as a large section of bigots would render constitutionally established secularism farcical. The rise of Ram bhakts, the demolition of Babri masjid and the subsequent communal riots and the Godhra violence would unsettle every liberal citizen of the country.

The historian in Prem Chandra finds these developments revolting, especially after Manu becomes the victim of mindless violence.

The secular fabric of the country still remains under threat as the zealots continue to flex their muscles at every nook and corner of an India that once promised her citizens the right to live with dignity. It is pointless to hope that the stories of arson, lynching and rape will make it to the pages of history textbooks. Prem Chandra, however, will have all records.

The retelling of history by Prem Chandra remains incomplete as the sparrow has much to witness in the coming years. “The alchemy of time and love has turned the land of my exile into my homeland,” he says. So far, the little bird has never attempted to write his version of history by omitting the crucial chapters though that might be the trend in the country at present.

Choudhury, an IT professional, tells an honest story of India’s journey from 1947 till the present time by proficiently blending humour and mythology in Song of The Golden Sparrow, his fourth book. He tells the story of both India and Bharat, once known as ‘sone ki chidiya’ (the golden bird) for its prosperity, and the destitute who can never be history. He effortlessly weaves his stories through decades and does not leave behind the images of fatal fanaticism that the country is witnessing now. Choudhury’s Prem Chandra is a raconteur par excellence.

But Song of The Golden Sparrow is not all about hopelessness. It is also about the change that Manu and Mary dream of. It is this dream that can unfetter India’s true spirit and Prem Chandra cannot wait to experience it in the next 25 years.

~ Team Meghalaya Monitor

Book: Song of The Golden Sparrow: A Novel History of Free India; Author: Nilanjan P. Choudhury; Publisher: Speaking Tiger; Pages: 310; Price: Rs 499

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