Matir Teler Alo by Abhijit Sengupta [Hardcover]

The work of laying railway tracks is ongoing in Bongaigaon, Assam. An oil refinery is being built. Observing the development process for several days, I noticed the diverse lives and varied stories of the workers. Along with the life lessons from the sorrowful stream of Sarkarbabu and his family, who sought refuge from the engineer, comes the dream story of the contractor Badriprasad. His childhood memories are filled with the village zamindar house and the chained sixteen-tusked elephant beneath it. He dreams of getting married on an elephant one day, even buying an elephant. Ramagiri, dressed as a dancer, used to stir the hearts of the young workers. In some plot, the Nepali laborer Bahadur is caught stealing in the slum. The Punjabi supervisors beat him half to death and defame him for his caste.

Marathi Dayaram Sakharam Vide begs everyone for two rupees, drowning himself in the darkness of addiction outside work. The elderly watchman Das, who hides a knife in his waist, is convinced to get married by the village barber, leading to his ruin. The poor Bihari farmer Shivdhari borrows two hundred rupees to marry off his daughter, and in hopes of extra income, he also comes to Bongaigaon. By then, the loan amount increases to four hundred with interest. Before repaying the loan, news of his daughter Ramsaheli’s death comes from her in-laws' place—they killed her disguised as a witch. Amidst the hopes and despair of people, the stories of the working class are written page by page. Over the ages, the workers have illuminated the dark recesses of life with the light of kerosene lamps in various facets of the life chessboard.

This is not a novel. The expected chronological order of a diary has not been strictly maintained. Standing between the two, this book is a conscious effort to observe the view through the interwoven time and space, though the light is less.