Bandhal: Completeness
Of
Riparian Bengal
by Mohammad Azam
Assistant Professor at University of Dhaka
Bandhal, a fiction indeed—eventful fiction—but not an indifferent
one. The novel is a well planned project to identify some important
characteristics of the public history and transformation. Tarek Khan landscaped
a vast area with its public lifestyle of the southwest of Bangladesh. This is a
high ambitious project, without doubt.
It’s a very big, deep, and necessary
history of river-based population of riparian Bengal. One side of it has a
constant and casual relation between life and water-flow; on the other hand we
see a realistic narration of what happens if the water-flow is stopped by any
means: a large lifecycle suffers tragic and terrible consequences.
In the novel, there
is an amazing totality of riparian Bengal. Many many keen contexts of
production and distribution, action and leisure, joy and pain have made that
totality blending with the water-flow and its various substances. Not only
people, almost all, with insects, birds, plant, grass, have been involved into
an organic unity due to the Bandhal (barrage). A barrage and another some
obstacles when stop the water-flow, its reaction is reflected everywhere. In
the narration by Tarek we see the comprehensiveness of destruction and
extinction. Tarek portrayed a destruction-alarm of a diversified and gorgeous
public life with the death of river, averse of nature, erosion of all aquatic
production including agriculture, severe arsenic pollution, etc.
Many people in the novel live or die personally. But
they are not isolated from the complex deal of wholeness. Huge arrangements for
that, which are widened from the production system and management, social
festivals, joy and recreation, amusements and entertainment, social power
practice, family tensions, from the colorful lifestyle to omnivorous death. Writer’s
experience about the region and its public life and environments are enviable for
any of the creative writers. The experience has been played well according to
the laws of novel.
The big size, 244 thousand words, is a outer side of
the novel. It’s enough rich in the care of heart too, where its success has
stood up.
Obviously the writer made his speech weaving a story. In the
storyline, two powerful families in two areas, side by side, control the
novel’s stream, conflict, and speed. The nature of the
production system and power structure in the region has been concentrated in
these two families. They’re center, but
their circles, neighbors and others, small and medium, individuals and groups
also flourished proudly. Action and reaction among power, low power and
powerless are busy to establish the control on production system. Their activities to be elitist in the rural areas. The developments
and collapses, nature and social
changes, daily life, etc., many things identified carefully, intimately. But the detailing never forgets the
rules of novel and its aim rather than support.
Two main
floors of the novel—aim of the whole and detailing of the parts—following each
other successfully. Many delicate samples can be found in the novel. I’m just
giving one example in here.
In the 2nd
chapter we see, a character moving
through the middle of a river by
boat. The colorful abundance of river, water, birds, trees and the joy of
journey by boat. There is a lot more. It’s not discrete with the story-speed.
The part plays a role to introduce the character too. And there is a beauty and
ability to describe. Yet the first lesson seems to be more broad than
necessary. But in the last part of the novel, the discolored and sickness of
the river, lying like a dead boa, makes us bloody against the beauty of old
age. This effect couldn’t be found only in the description of the dead river.
The size of the novel could be smaller, perhaps. Dividing
into a few parts some descriptions might be avoided which have been done for
sequence. Proliferation of emotions and sympathy has imposed some extra
dramatic approach: that part of the novel presents a easy life of Dhaka city,
actually does not look like that. There are more chances to objet like this,
probably.
But I am inspired to comment, such a necessary project
staying to the real problems, not so common in the novels of Bangladesh.
Not by loose speech, Tarek made his project possible in the
sequence of story.
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