An interview

INTRODUCTION:-

·         ANAMI ROY is an upcoming writer with profound literary skill. His novel “ABANI AKHONO BECHE ACHE” (ABANI IS STILL ALIVE) has already stirred the reader society. This is first outing. But it is well understood that he is not an intruder in the world of literature. Critics are upbeat to say that this novel is a new milestone of Bengali Literature. It is an hair splitting analysis of the philosophy of life in compliance with modern trend of the society and how we are pressurized both psychologically and physically to combat the upcoming vices of the society, absolutely absorbed in total consumerism. Abani is not ready to accept the deteriorating trend of the society as it spoils the moral and ethical values of all human being. But he is to some extent undone to accommodate these because of circumstantial pressure. He wants to rebel, but as a rebellion he is going to be lost somewhere else. Sometimes he feels that he is alone in the battle of life because of not finding any positive glimpse of hope and sometimes he is the icon character to protest standing in a burning deck. Amidst climax and anticlimax this novel is a superb reflector of the mind of today’s youth. There stands no sense of hesitation or ambiguity in his placement, on the contrary he is very much firm in his dialectical argument.

·         PRATUYSH DASSHAMA is a vibrant critic in the literature segment of an esteemed Bengali Daily “AGAMI DINER BARTA” (MESSAGE OF THE DAYS TO COME). As a critic he has already attained requisite fame and interested personalities eagerly wait for his criticism because he does never allow the writer to bypass while replying his sharp questions. He knows how to take out the real truth from the writer’s mind.

[It is now almost 10’o clock sharp in the morning. Sitting on an old fashioned wooden armchair Anami Roy is absorbed in reading an English Novel. The cover page of the book is torn. Naturally the book is unidentified. Tea in a cup is getting cold. So many books are found heaping up on a small wooden cot. He is looking quite indifferent to outside noise. Suddenly there is a knocking at the closed door. Who is now again? Don’t I have any time to read unconcerned? He is to some extent vexed. Yet he stands up and opens the door.]

Anami: -      Who are you, please?

Pratuysh: -   I am Pratuysh Dassharma, coming from “AGAMI DINER BARTA”.

Anami: -      (Standing at the threshold of the door). Is it? How can I help you?

Pratuysh: -   I have come here to have a close discussion with you on “ABANI AKHONO BECHE ACHE”, recently published novel of yours. I am really impressed with the novel and the character of ABANI is portrayed with a marked difference.

 Anami: -     That may be. Please be requested not to plead me for an interview. I am a man of very low profile. I always want to remain behind the curtain. I don’t want to come into the lime light. This is my principle. I want to remain alive with the pride of unidentified star.

 Pratuysh: - No. no. I don’t come here to seek an interview of yours. My objective is to have a gossip with you. I would like to discover that man who has already created a violent storm in my mind. Well, please tell me if you are not interested to have a close interaction with a personality thinking alike. Is it anything wrong?

 Anami: -     You are really importunate. Do come in, please. Once more I am reminding you, I will withdraw myself if I ever feel that you are trying to take an interview of mine strategically.

 Pratuysh: -  Question does not arise. It’s a gentleman’s agreement. I don’t compel anybody to break his principle on request.

 Anami: -     Well tell me what your quest is? But time is very limited.

 Pratuysh: -  Abani is an ordinary measured character. There is nothing specialty in him. What is the recipe of yours to turn him so lively in the novel with all versatilities? Is it your imagination or a character in real existence? How have you converted Abani as a distinguished character, very much close to our mind? I find Abani in every phase of our life.

 Anami: -     I don’t know wherefrom to start. Abani is a representative character with all values of life holding aloft. He never wants to be a defeated soldier in the battle of life. Life prompts him to fight without any discontinuation. Naturally he fights against poverty, social decadence and exploitation. He is characterized as a relentless fighter.

 Pratuysh: -  Yes, struggle is the real essence of life. Amidst Himalayan struggles in tandem Abani is not found mentally exhausted or fatigued, on the contrary he gets in-exhaustive fuel to refill his indomitable spirit. What’s the mystery behind it?

 Anami: -     look, Abani is under firm conviction life bobs up and down in the turbulent ocean. It is struggle in series that beautifies a life. He believes; a life without varieties of rhythm does not have any charm. Charmless as well as insipid life is boredom to us. So we see Abani in mass rallies against Social Ills. Economic Disparities, Moral Deterioration, Down Going Human Values, Exploitation and deprivation and so on. He is the burning torchlight in every phase of such erupting situation. He does not know how to compromise with any immoral that spoils the spirit and essence of life. Naturally he opts for road to know the life.

 Pratuysh: -  There are so many crises in Abani’s personal life. His father is paralyzed. Mother is the patient of chronic asthma. His only sister is unmarried. She is in desperate search of a life partner who can give her a permanent address. Yet Abani is to some extent with these issues. Is it not the dereliction of responsibilities? How can you explain it?

 Anami: -     Excuse me; you are perhaps little bit mistaken to analyze Abani. He nurses her ailing mother remaining sleepless nights after nights, he is caring to his paralyzed father and equally sympathetic to her sister. It is well exposed in the run of the novel. He is very much concerned with these problems. But at the cost of these he does not want to forget his social responsibilities. He is a dedicated and committed soldier fighting against social ills. Yes, Abani is the character of different thought.   

 Pratuysh: -  Does Abani believe in particular ism? I mean to say that does he rely upon communism. Is it so or he is freelance social worker? How do you define it? I would like to have a free and frank discussion from your end. Please don’t keep anything veiled.

 Anami: -     Look, I hate hide and sick policy. Despite abject poverty I fight for truth. Truly speaking I am seeker of truth in life. I did never want to mortgage the truth of my life and in future it would never be. Abani is just like me so far as the boldness of character is concerned. Yes, Abani unhesitatingly relies upon the philosophy of communism. It is the best philosophy of life that can touch the heart of anyone. It teaches us to stand by a man in crisis. It is the duty of every human being to give a shadow companion to a crisis victim man with an exposure of reasons behind the crisis. Communism preaches us how to tide over social crises out of economic disparities. Many of our elite personalities are under the impression that communism is now outdated phenomenon. Those intellectuals are trying to theorize that. My Abani is the standing protest against those prostitutions which are trying to toy with the basic truth of that philosophy.

Pratuysh: -   At the concluding stage of the novel your Abani is struggling with death in the bed of the hospital. He has been brutally stabbed by the miscreants in charge of organizing a mass rally against gang-rape, now a very common feature of the day. You have not completed the novel with a definite conclusion. What is the reason behind it?

Anami: -      Abani is struggling with death, but he is yet to succumb. Time and age will not allow Abani to have a premature death. It is the call of time to keep Abani alive for a new struggle to start. His sister is sitting beside Abani’s bed in the hospital. Tears are raining down from her eyes. She is sobbing with a chocked voice,” Brother, I want to live with prestige. I don’t want to be sold as a commodity. I don’t want to be raped. Get come round soon. You are the forerunner of new age. You are the Prometheus. Is it not a message to us? So my Abani will remain alive so long exploitation, deprivation and frustration continue in full fury. Abani is not a fake communist. He does not want to enjoy both the prestige of the left and privilege of the right together. Anyway I am now tired of talking with you. Please excuse me. One thing more, you are tricky enough. You have completed your interview. 

Pratuysh: -   I am giving you the word of honour that it will never see the light of the day so long you are alive. But I am sure of one thing that your Abani can never die. He is immortal for the cause of the society. Reader society will be eagerly waiting for your write-ups where truth never compromises with injustice and immortality. I came to understand that exception is the other face of life. Well, I am going for the day itself. But I will come again because I want to face the truth of life time and again.