Kagojer Bou: The Story of Bohemian Life

One of the features of a successful novel should be its ability to fascinate the reader. The more the reader read, the more he gets interested to finish the novel. Having this ability is a successful novel.  In many cases, the readers lost their attraction gradually and he leaves the novel without reading the story at last. The reader's attraction decreases. In contrast, some novels constantly draw the reader inwards. Even so, the reader is too eager to know the end of the novel’s story that he quickly finishes reading it and starts reading it again.  And every time you read the book, the attraction of the story remains the same as before. 

One such novel I have read is ‘Kagojer Bou, written by the great writer Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay.  I have read the book at least five or six times and each time I have felt the same feelings as I got before. The book is awesome at all. Each character seems new to me. I can remember it happened in the case of another novel like this. That was ‘Aranyak’ by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. The characters of the novel are excellent. The vital character of ‘Kagojer Bou’ is 'Upal'. From beginning to end, Upal's various ups and downs of life have been described. More relevant among the other characters are Upal's friend Subinoy, Subinoy's wife Ksana, the author's aunt, Prity, sister of Ksana, Manik Saha, and Govinda who was Upal’s one-time snatching friend. There are also several other characters that have come up differently in the writer’s life.  The essence of the novel is hunger.

From the very beginning of the novel, an author is a maverick-type person. Of course, he felt more comfortable surviving Bohemian life. The main purpose of Upal is to curb hunger anyway. The importance of appetite in our way of life and what one can do for hunger is also well shown in this novel. ‘Upal’ is not only accustomed to maverick living but he is also a lazy and expressionless person.

He has not done any work in need of life but needs for hunger. The need for life means the need for money. He has joined the group of snatchers, has worked for others, has acted in love, and has fallen into the trap of acting in someone's (pretty) love. There was amazing toleration in Upal’s character.  No one's insults ever hurt him.

The novel begins with his classmate Subinoy, a scientist living in his home. Subinoy's wife, Kshana, has been accused of stealing from him often and the Upal heard this but never protest or leave the house. In this house, he used to try to make up his mind by doing small chores like shopping. The writer's life began in his paternal home.  He lived there with his aunt. The aunt who loved him very much. After the death of the author’s father, the landlord evicted them for rent. His bohemian life began then. Once he joined as a conductor of a private bus.  When the bus crashed once, he was beaten by the public and went to his village home with other stuff from the bus ‘Govinda’.  One night he had to leave with a stick and a hurricane in his hand. After that, three depredators were introduced to him. One day during the robbery on the train with them, everyone except the writer was caught and he managed to escape from there. At the same time, he introduced Manik Saha, who was in the carriage of the train, went to his village. Upal has always wanted to be tension-free in the novel.  Hunger always chased him in his whole life.  He had to do so much to satisfy hunger.   

Another reason why the story of the novel attracts the reader is that the story never seems boring.  In a novel, a few different stories of the author have been created which will feel completely new to read. For example, even though it started at Subinoy's house, then the incident of his conductor life, the incident of his assistant friend Govind's village, the incident of meeting with thieves, the life started in Manik Sahar's village, then again the incident of acting love with Subinoy's wife and finally the incident of Subinoy's sister-in-law Preeti.  When Subinoy wants to divorce his wife, he uses his friend Upal.  He asked to act in love with his wife. In return, the author receives a lot of money from Subinoy. I have already said that the author did it for money. With extraordinary skill, he has been able to seduce Subinoy’s wife. 

In the story, his conscience suggested Upal many times. His conscience also wanted to show him the way at different times. Before acting of falling in love with Kshana, the conscience appeared and wanted to convince him.  At that time his conscience came and said, 'Upalchandra, the money has made you very weak.  Listen, I say that people are poor without money, but not always. The more money one has, the poorer he is. The great truth has taught us through this conversation. At last, The character ‘Upal’ deceived by Prity as she wanted to save her elder Kshana and her family. Subinoy wanted to divorce Kshana. Prity married Upal and it was limited to paper only. But he never approached his wife even for a moment.  Prity was the wife of a paper.  That's why she gets a lot of money.  He had to go to jail to spread the money on the streets at last. The writer's journey begins behind him again.  

*The writer is an Assistant teacher at Poschim Bongram Govt primary school, Bera, Pabna.

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