Adharbela by Suchitra Bhattacharya [Hardcover]

Prabhasbabu, nearing sixty, has moved from his rented house to a newly built four-story flat in Beleghata. His son Ayon is in college, and his daughter-in-law Akhi is a schoolteacher, as well as an actress in a renowned theater group. Life is going well in their middle-class household. During this time, a famous Japanese company brought a mega car manufacturing project to the state, with the factory site located in their ancestral village, Rudrpur. As the government acquired land for the factory, Prabhasbabu’s land in Rudrpur was also included, and they were set to receive a good price for it. However, the farmers of Rudrpur strongly opposed the land acquisition. A fierce debate spread across the state, both for and against the project. Driven by curiosity, Prabhasbabu visited Rudrpur and encountered a farmer’s suicide and a desperate farmers' movement. The body of a young protester, Shyamali Dalu, was found at the boundary of the car factory site. Deeply moved, Prabhasbabu tore up the check he had received from the government for the land. Andharbela by Suchitra Bhattacharya resonates with the issues of contemporary times.