In one of the powerful fictional pieces on India’s partition, ‘Nilkantha Pakhir Khonje,’ a character called Isham Khan laughed at the two quarrelling factions as he thought, “Kaar Dyash, Ke ba dibe, ke ba nibe?” (Whose country is this? Who will give to whom and who will take?) The relevance of the above sentence written by Atin Bandyopadhyay back in the 1950s – 1960s is resonated when the author of ‘Gazing At Neighbours,’ Bishwanath Ghosh, observes in the very book, “My eyes, however, couldn’t tell the merger, rather the separation, between India and Pakistan. The land leading up to the small tree, as well as the portion beyond it, looked the same. But then, Partition is about drawing a line across sameness.”

Writing Style of the travelogue:

Partition is a painful gaping wound that still disturbs the people of the Indian Subcontinent – the three countries – India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Eminent Indian authors as well as the authors from the two other countries had written down many partition tales. Bishwanath Ghosh’s travelogue ‘Gazing At Neighbours’ can be remarked as a seamless continuation of those tales, although there’s no fictionality in it.

Being a minute observer, Mr. Ghosh has written down about his detailed travel as picturesquely possible with no intentional use of emotional adjectives which would pepper the reader’s feelings. But the opposite happens – the reader is bound to feel disconcerted while leafing through the pages.

Maybe, that’s one of the reasons of comparing the writing style of Bishwanath Ghosh with that of the eminent Bengali writer Atin Bandyopadhyay. In ‘Nilkantha Pakhir Khonje,’ too, Atin Bandyopadhyay chose to describe the characters, their respective stories as vivid and emotionless as possible, leaving a subtle, disconcerting impact on the reader. Coincidentally, Bandyopadhyay was a journalist like Ghosh.

A Summary of ‘Gazing At Neighbours: Travels along the line that partitioned India’

This book is an ode to the completion of the 70^th anniversary of India’s partition. The author had lucidly narrated the significance of the Radcliff line that partitioned India along with its geography. He had observed how contrasting the lines appeared in Punjab and Bengal. To him, the 553 Kms of Punjab’s partition line was vibrant green while the Bengal’s 4096 Kms appeared melancholic.

He started his journey from Amritsar, visited Wagah Border, Ferozepur, Hussainiwala and Dera Baba Nanak. After the Punjab part, he covered Bongaon, Jalangi, Murshidabad, Maldah, Coochbehar, Dinhata, Guwahati, Shillong, Dawki, Silchar, Karimganj, Agartala, Boxanagar and Sonamura.

While narrating his travel, he focused on the ordinary residents living in those areas, their perspectives about the partition and difficulties they had faced during and after partition. He appeared uneasy as an Indian author where he expressed how dearly liked the music of one Pakistani song being played during the Flag lowering ceremony on the Wagah Border but could share his feelings with no one. One can probably not stop one’s tears when he described the plight of a family after the Radcliff line passed right through the courtyard of the house. In one part of the book, he narrated about the occasional humanitarian outlook of the BSF personnel standing on guard over the barbed wires separating Bangladesh and India.

The treatment of the Partition as a subject in ‘Gazing At Neighbours’:

Mr. Ghosh had described the relevant history of the places he travelled along the Radcliff line with the present social and cultural texture. And he chose to conclude his description with an emphatic insight whose excerpt is provided below:

……” It is one of the greatest frauds on the people to suggest that religious affinity can unite areas which are geographically, economically, linguistically and culturally different.” …

Throughout the length of the book, he went on dishing out interesting anecdotes in his usual light hearted witty style. Though light hearted, it managed to kindle up quite a few sparks of strong emotions. There was a hint of diplomacy in his narration which is pretty obvious when one is addressing sensitive subjects like Partition.

Our Conclusion – To recommend or not to?

If you are a travel lover, if you love reading travelogues and if the incident of India’s partition disturbs you as us, we highly recommend the book ‘Gazing At Neighbours’ to you. The book is available in the Kindle app as well as the Amazon store. So please do read and share your views in the comment section below.

Click to read the book. Or buy it from Amazon.

The post Gazing At Neighbours – Travels along the line that partitioned India: Book Review appeared first on KolkataFusion.

The background of ‘Horikhela’:

Rabindranath Tagore read James Todd’s ‘The annals and antiquities of Rajasthan’ and decided to write a few dramatic ballads on the events described in the book. The result was ‘Katha,’ an anthology of ballads based on Sikh kings and Rajput kings, written during 1899. In ‘The annals and antiquities of Rajasthan,’ the event that inspired ‘Horikhela’ was dated 1646 A.D.

In that year, Kesar Khan and Dokar Khan, two Pathan rulers, conquered Kota from the Rajput King Bhongasi or Bhunaag. The king and his queen Rani Roopmati, with their subjects, went away to Kaitun or Kaitunpur. Rani Roopmati was known for her enchanting beauty and there was no doubt that her beauty attracted Kesar Khan. How the queen called Kesar Khan to play Holi with her and got him subdued is the ballad’s essence described beautifully by Rabindranath Tagore.

The Summary of ‘Horikhela’:

On a pleasant spring evening, the queen of Kota sent a letter to Kesar Khan from Kaitun. The letter read, “Are you satisfied after taking over Kota? Would you please come to Kaitun with your soldiers? All the Rajputanis here, including myself, are looking forward to play Holi with you.”

Kesar Khan, already besotted with the queen’s gesture, prepared himself to meet her. The soldiers and Kesar Khan went to Kaitun, dressed in their best colourful attires. The queen and her women heartily welcomed the Pathan soldiers and their king with large plates of gulal (abir, faag) and pichkaris loaded with coloured waters. As they started splashing the colours all over, they danced merrily.

Buy Rabindranath Tagore’s Katha O Kahini, online.

After observing the dancing Rajputanis, a doubt started building over Kesar Khan’s mind. He felt that the women were not actually women. Seeing him perplexed, the queen, Rani Roopmati, came ahead with a huge bell-metal plate that carried a huge heap of gulaal. Before Kesar Khan looked up to her, she threw the plate on him. Kesar Khan turned blind as a result.

In the meantime, all the Rajputanis tore open their dresses and brandished the swords. They revealed themselves as the Rajput soldiers who were dressed up as queen’s women. They valiantly fought until the entire Pathan troupe was killed along with Kesar Khan. The Pathan soldiers came but never went back.

Recommended Read: Review on Rabindranath Tagore’s short story ‘Streer Patra’

Literary Style and Treatment

Since Holi is an Indian theme, the writing style was that of an Indian writer choosing to write on Basanta, the king of all seasons, the spring. The blooming mango trees, the cuckoo’s songs, the humming of the bumblebees, the sweet southern breeze and the spring flowers are wonderfully described as the natural setting.

Holi, being a festival of colours, the poet had brought in descriptions like red sun, shining day, coloured fog along with the vivid descriptions of the colourful ambience of Kaitun on the event of Holi. On reading the poem, anyone would be able to relate to the occasion on which people made merry and splashed colour on each other as a gesture of love, humanity and fraternity.

But, to us, Holi, also mythologically stands for the victory of good over evil. Therefore, as an Indian writer, Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore probably could not ignore putting in a plot of revenge and fighting for what seemed right to the queen to win back Kota, her lost kingdom.

The treatment of the ballad was dramatic. The drama built slowly over the stanzas that described the change of flute’s tune from Raag Multani to Iman Bhupali to Darbari Kanara. The Darbari Kanara’s melody floated over as the war went on till the victory was achieved.

The ballad ended with a poignant description of the Pathan troupe that never went back and stayed amidst the cuckoo’s incessant songs and the south breeze that blew throughout the spring.  At the end, even for a fraction of a second, the readers would feel sorry for the fate of the Pathan soldiers. It was apparently wrong to invite them for Holi’s merriment and kill them in return….but there goes the saying, “All is fair in love and war!”

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The post ‘Horikhela’ – Indian Writer, Rabindranath Tagore’s poem on spring and Holi: A review appeared first on KolkataFusion.