| From amongst a small but distinguished crowd of | | | | Rampant ethnic discrimination has robbed workers |
| novelists of Indian origin in this country, Pronoy | | | | of their jobs. When Runu finally finds Tushar after |
| Chatterjee may not be a name that stands out in | | | | a hard and complicated journey, she cannot |
| the public eye. The more famous authors like | | | | connect with his world. Dismayed that the |
| Jhumpa Lahiri, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Amitav | | | | harmony of her youth and the promise of her |
| Ghosh and others have enjoyed the limelight | | | | happiness have been shattered, Runu is left with |
| more than some of the less famous writers like | | | | only "A Living Memory". |
| Pronoy who write for the love of writing, who | | | | I had asked Pronoy, what motivated him to write |
| write to express their deepest feelings for | | | | a novel about a period that seems almost like a |
| humanity - in the little time they can extract out | | | | long lost nightmare? He answered "My initial |
| from the busy daily life of a well renowned | | | | motivation for writing this book was to have a |
| professional. But, it is the authors like Pronoy, who | | | | glimpse of my own childhood. First few chapters |
| can sometimes tell us the tales that we have | | | | illustrate the environment under which I grew up |
| lived though all our lives, the tales that bring back | | | | till age 10, in Bihar and in a sugar mill community. |
| memories of a past that we long for, bring in | | | | However, as I was writing it developed as a |
| hopes for a future that we all dream about. | | | | fiction based on facts, not necessarily happened |
| "A Living Memory" is Pronoy's second novel | | | | at the same place or to the same characters that |
| (published by Author House) where he tries to | | | | I portrayed in the book. However, the incidents |
| "capture the complexities of desire and conflict in | | | | were true, happened to somewhere and to |
| a small village in colonial India". I have not read the | | | | someone. Because I started with my childhood so |
| book as yet, but the story line (given below) has | | | | I had to chose that specific period, late 1930s |
| attracted me enough to get a copy for myself to | | | | onward. I also wanted to illustrate the the |
| read. India during the 1930s and '40s was in a | | | | incidents of Independence movements and the |
| state of turmoil. Violent revolution against British | | | | horrors of famine, flood and riots during that era." |
| rule, ethnic riots and widespread famine and | | | | I have seen many movies of this period (Ashani |
| disease on the national scene were eventually | | | | Sanket - The Distant Thunder by Satyajit Ray |
| reflected in even the most remote villages. "A | | | | comes to my mind), read several books and |
| Living Memory", retreats to that local, personal | | | | heard stories from my parents and grand-parents |
| level, revealing the intricate psychology of social | | | | and the period always intrigued me, horrified me. I |
| stigma, of love under adverse circumstances, and | | | | thought we were really blessed to have not |
| of the inescapable duality of dreams and | | | | experienced those days. But I guess the period |
| disappointments. Surrounding a sugar mill, the | | | | has also helped us to identify ourselves, to |
| village of Alipur on the Mahi River is a close-knit | | | | understand our vulnerabilities and develop as a |
| community where families live in harmony. Bloody | | | | better human being and a better nation. Pronoy's |
| revolts against British colonialism, Hindu-Muslim riots | | | | "Living Memory" will once again help us to reflect |
| that turn into massacres, and famine and | | | | upon those days and appreciate the struggles and |
| epidemics have not yet disturbed the village's | | | | pains that our earlier generation had to go through |
| tranquility. | | | | to make our lives better. |
| One day a young girl, Runu, is found missing from | | | | I look forward to read this book. On a separate |
| her home. She has been taken captive by Mr. | | | | note, I had asked Pronoy another question, |
| Bose, the most influential man in Alipur, who thinks | | | | "Pronoy-da, English is not your mother tongue, but |
| he can take whatever he wants. By coincidence | | | | still you write in English. Is it because you feel you |
| Runu is recognized by a boy named Tushar, who | | | | can express better in English or you want to |
| brings her back home, and a bond forms | | | | reach a wider readership?" And Pronoy-da |
| between them. Over time their intimacy deepens, | | | | answered, "No, it's neither one that you stated. I |
| but circumstances keep them apart. Runu's life is | | | | like to write in Bengali, but I cannot type Bengali |
| filled with uncertainty and disappointment, with | | | | and never took time to practice it. Writing a 300 |
| love and hope. Although she enters into an | | | | page book in longhand and then to keep on |
| arranged marriage, her dreams of Tushar remain. | | | | revising and rewriting is extremely tedious and I |
| Fourteen years later, her husband dies of a heart | | | | don't have that patience. Typing in English and |
| attack. Runu becomes obsessed with returning to | | | | making revisions and editing have become |
| Alipur and reuniting with Tushar. But everything | | | | technically very simple with Microsoft Words and |
| has changed. The mill has been shut down. | | | | that's the only reason I wrote in English. |