Revisiting a Bengali classic

THEY SAY that revisiting the classics is like gaining a fresh insight into them. As I took a second look at an old favourite recently, I found this to be more than true.

Most Bengali readers would have heard of Mansur Mian-r-Ghora (The Last Ride), an award-winning film directed by the flamboyant Nabyendu Chatterjee. It is based on a book by the same name, written by noted academic, writer and artist Amarendra Sanyal, who is in Sydney currently.

Meeting him in Sydney at social engagements, I was inspired to go back to the book as well as the movie.

The story is set in the Calcutta of the 1990s. Mansur Miyan ekes out a living by plying a horse-drawn carriage on the streets of Calcutta. In earlier days, the carriage was much in demand, such as during the dazzling weddings of the well-to-do. With the passing of decades, though, Mansur finds less and less work, as modern modes of transport become readily available. His family urge him to give up the carriage and find a more suitable form of income, but Mansur cannot bring himself to do so. You see, he loves his carriage (which was given to him by an English woman upon her return to England after 1947). It has become an integral part of his life. In fact, it is a metaphor for his own life – giving it up would be akin to giving up a major part of himself.

The story, it dawned upon me, closely depicts the financial management concept of time value of money. (This is the idea that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar in the future, because the dollar received today can earn interest up until the time the future dollar is received). The carriage held high psychological value for the proponent, even though its economic value lay depleted. An inability to reconcile the two created much angst, not just within the individual, but also within his immediate family, as witnessed by the growing generation gap between father and son.

Some of Dr Sanyal’s other works include the English play The Rusted Chain based on a tragedy in a mental institution (which was picked for an international play writing competition held in Athens in 2003) and Bengali stories Bada Banti, Janaika Pani Parthini and Prathom Balabasha as well as hundreds of short stories. He has received various playwright awards as well.

Dr Sanyal’s next fiction is based on Australian life and society – apparently, it includes colourful Indian and Australian characters.

Indranil Halder