Satgaar Haoatantira by Parimal Bhattacharya [Paperback]

Satgaon-er Haoatantira : A Novel On the fish-shaped land between the rivers Hugli and Saraswati stood the ancient port city of Satgaon. For centuries, Arab, Chinese and European merchants have sailed in here, propelled by the mawsim winds. The Portuguese, the Dutch, the Danes and the French have set up trading posts. Here, upon this rich cosmopolitan landscape, a clan of Kanauji Brahmins had set up a home around a temple dedicated to Lord Ram. A girl from this clan marries a young archeologist, an East Bengalirefugee, who comes to Satgaon on a project. Bappaditya, their son, is the novel's hero. Since childhood, Bappa has been regularly coming with his motherto this magical land, riding a fairly-tale light railway train, a land where a church steeple caterwauls on windy days and women exchange sonic messages with their kin by taking a dip in the river, where Vedic scholars are turned into toads by the curse of an ogress who dwells in a well, and a young Parisian poet finds his flower of evil, where a Turkish warrior finds peace and stays back, and learns Sanskrit to write an ode to the Ganga, where members of the clan return after death, and even a firangi’s soul returns, reincarnated as a Javanese cockatoo. A new law threatens to eject Bappaditya from this fabulous enclave of memories. Can an affidavit woven with the illusory strands of history, myth and memories save him? A magnificent novel spanning seven hundred years, nine generations of a family, and including 49 main characters— among whom there is a cockatoo, a horse and a Harley Davidson motorbike.