My Kind Of Girl
I have read this book yesterday which is written by Buddhadeva Bose in Bengali in the1950’s which is translated into English later. Actually thanks to Goutham for lending me this book. I remember the day when we bought this book after little breakdowns and hiccups, finally got this book. We found this jewel just for 30 bucks in a clearance sale.
Ohh…coming to the book, it is a fictional one. The story unfolds on a winter night at Tundla, a small railway station between four middle aged people who are entirely strangers. Among these four people one is a contractor, one is a bureaucrat, one is Doctor, and the last one is Writer. Due to train derailment all the scheduled trains get cancelled until next day morning. So these four people were supposed to spend the whole night in a small waiting room of that railway station, where there are no proper facilities to sleep. They can’t even go outside due to biting cold weather.
As the time moves hardly, one young couple opens the door of the waiting room and watches all around and leaves the waiting room without entering as there is no privacy for them. These middle-aged men who are dumbstruck till then starts conversation about the young couple and their reasons for leaving the room. This conversation moves on to their tender ages and their feelings for their Special times of Life. All the four people share their part of stories to the remaining to kill the night which is creeping slowly.
The contractor tells the story of his friend Makanlal and his girl Malati. The bureaucrat says about his girl Paakhi. The Doctor says about his girl Bina and the Writer says about his girl Antara alias Taura.Of all the four, it is only the doctor who marries his first love and makes it Eternal. Remaining the three have special places in their heart for their first love and end up with memorable moments.
Each story is different from the other yet very special. Each story touches your heart with it’s unique flavor. The author has narrated the story in a simple and lucid manner in a heart touching way and penned some beautiful dialogues. To quote a few
Come hither, O work! You’re the savior for the hapless soul who has nothing else in his life.
Learning formulae of chemistry may take so much of effort, but the basic formulae of life were there to be learnt on their own.
After the girl kisses the boy dialogue goes this way….My eyes closed. My breath stopped , I felt the foretaste of death
You may think modern when it comes to education, but you remain traditional when it comes to marriage.
The author perfectly portrays four different personalities of girls and situations in Bengal during the time of second world war. Do read the book, who knows it may take you to your Special moments of Life too..To sum up this with one of the author’s quote
“ In life ultimately memory remains. Nothing else.”