Oprom do cet’ tin…? What is my identity…?
Joidhon Soren lies, limp and listless, on a railway hospital bed. It is one of the big hospitals of the industrial town of Mahuapara, so his condition is clearly serious. He is delirious and mutters incoherently. His eyes are fixed on the ceiling with an unblinking stare and he fails to recognize anyone in the room, not even his son or the mother of his son. He mutters only one word repeatedly, “Kailash!”
Kailash is the name of Joidhon’s close friend and drinking buddy, a friend with whom he has spent many an evening at the local handi-bhati. […]
The person most affected by this turn of events is Munna, who is in his fifteenth year. These days, he has been preparing for the Matriculation Examination. He is the brightest student in his class and his teachers remark about him, “Surely, this boy will leave his mark on the world someday!” He has managed to defeat and outscore all the diku students in the school test, but today he is facing defeat in the test of life. No one guesses his inner turmoil, as he struggles to break loose from the tentacles that bind him. He is filled with uncertainty and wonders where life will lead him. […]
Translated from Santali by Ivy Imogene Hansdak
The original story in Santali “Oprom do Cet’ Tin…?” was first published in Jug Sirijol: Monthly Literary & Cultural Journal in Santali, March 2012, pp. 12-15.
Source: Oprom do cet’ tin…? What is my identity…? | Fokus INDIA
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Date Visited: Sat Jan 12 2013 18:30:36 GMT+0100 (CET)
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