All Those Days

The persons born in rural India in the early nineteen hundred fifties had a chance to see a TV in 1982. By that time he had completed his education and had been into a job, most likely a government job, and already married and with children. He might have not a telephone connection to his residence unless he was a high ranking government officer or a wealthy businessman. Hardly had he gone out of the country. If someone got a chance to go abroad, it was news under the caption “An Odia on Foreign Tour”. Income Tax Department had also a rule that a person who had visited a foreign country in the year or had a telephone connection, above all things, was required to file income tax return.

 

Things have changed in the last one and half decades and we may call the change ‘revolutionary’. Globalization has brought changes in the economy and society, and also in the attitude of the man. Internets, mobile phone, social networks like the facebook have shrunk the world. A person in the nine hundred eighties could not have dreamt that he could talk to his wife at home while he was traveling in a train by use of a mobile phone. Sitting in her drawing room a half educated house wife of the village could watch the culture of the African society as well as that of the developed European countries. The changes have impacted the life of the people. Economic changes and industrialization have broken down the joint family system and even affected the institution of marriage. Instead of staying together bound in a marriage till death people now started preferring to a live-in relation. The story Nila Mastrani (Nila, the teacher) was written in 1955-56. In the story, Nila, a Brahmin girl fell in love with Madan Sethy, a scheduled caste boy, and married him. After marriage she was not only socially ostracized in her own village, but also condemned in the region in nearby villages. She cannot attend the marriage of her loving brother whom she has brought up with love and care after the death of their parents. The story sahabas (Living together) is written in 2010. In the story, Subrat and Anupama, both highly educated and employed with fat salaries have decided to live together in an apartment without marriage. No one bothers, not even the man living next door.  The people have appreciated the story and accepted the fact.

The novel seisabau dina (All Those Days) captures the change. Sanatan, a teacher represents the fifties of the nineteenth century and Niranjan represents the present time. The story of Sanatan is told in form of short and inter-connected stories. The novel was first published in the puja special issue of Arpita, 2012 and now the book is published by Sudha Prakasan, Cuttack