#Book Review: Illicit by Dibyendu Palit

Translated by Arunava Sinha

I have always enjoyed reading translations by Arunava Sinha and this was one of the reason for me to pick up this book. But, it was an utter disappointment.

Dibyendu Palit's Illicit, translated to English by Arunava Sinha, was originally published in 1989 as Aboidho. 

The plot spans just three days and is a slice of the protagonists' illicit life. Jeena, an attractive young housewife is bored of her 'wooden relationship' with much older husband, Ashim. Partha, her neighbour, is married, a father of two, and equally bored in his marital life. We are introduced to them in the high point of their illicit relationship when the two are planning a secret sojourn to Puri. Quelling her self-doubts and pangs of guilt, Jeena takes the bold step to be with Partha.

In the next three days that Jeena spends with Partha, she discovers that all is not as it seems. Partha's lust takes an aggressive turn and Jeena feels violated. Beguiled by shame, self pity and doubt, she decides to head back home and put to an end everything illicit. Undergoing the intense emotional crisis and coming to the end of the story, the readers will expect an unconventional end, but somewhere the thread gets lost. You land up reading another clichéd love story, tormented and torn apart between the pangs of infidelity and clashes of conscience.

Throughout there are detailed account of Jeena’s emotional crisis yet other characters remain vague. The plot is very wobbly and predictive. I slowly lost interest. The book jacket refers to Partha as Mukherjee while he is Majumdar throughout the story. In Pg106, second last para Jenna is referred to as Gina.  

This would definitely not be in my list of good reads.

Genre : Fiction

Publisher – Penguin

#Book Review: Panty by Sangeeta Bandhopadhyay Translated by Arunava Sinha

I saw a lot of eyes staring at the book cover at the book shop and our society is such that people find such graphics titillating and pass stereotypical judgement. But I cared less and had reposed all my faith on my favourite translator Arunava Sinha. For me picking up this book was opening up the windows of my soul and gearing up my mind for something unexpected.

“Panty” by Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay is a collection of two novellas – Hypnosis and Panty and each of them is about unrequited love, longing and sexual desire. The two novellas kept me thinking for a long time after I finished the book. It was a feeling of disappointment after I finished reading them as I wanted to journey to go on. It was a feeling of bitter-sweet melancholy with a silver lining of hope. 

That   cannot explain it but I will try – the feeling of melancholy, of utter hopelessness and yet so much hope and positivity lined with it. That is how good books mesmerizes you.

Hypnosis is about a woman trying to delve into her past through the process of hypnosis, to confront her doomed love affair with a well-known musician. In Panty, we meet a woman who has moved into a guest house and finds a panty there – it is soft and silky in leopard-skin print. She thinks the woman who wore it must have possessed a wild sexual nature. A feeling of companionship enveloper her; the sexual lives of the two women begin to mingle and blur.

Sangeeta’s voice is courageous. It is distinctive and organic. It was extremely honest, daring and unflagging. It comes from a place which is transparent. The book is a page turner, but it also makes you stop and think about life in general and also bigger things like- falling in love, lusting for one’s body, love unconsumed. The book is beyond all differences and is only about raw, unadulterated experience.

 Arunava Sinha’s translation only makes it possible for readers in English to experience this rich and almost lush piece of Bengali literature.“Panty” is a book which should be read without fear of being judged or being ridiculed. It is most beautiful and a candid work of Indian literature.

Genre - Fiction

Publisher – Penguin