Banajyotsnay Sabuj Andhakare by Buddhadeb Guha [Hardcover]

Buddhadeb Guha has been going on hunting trips since he was ten years old. His debut in Bengali literature was through his stories about the jungle. The forest is the primary backdrop of many of his popular stories and novels. However, just as, for the sake of ornamentation, impurities must be mixed with pure gold, some elements of imagination have naturally been added to these works. For the first time, Buddhadeb Guha has presented a work that is entirely pure. This composition is also centered around the forest, yet every setting is authentic, and every character is real. The forests of Assam, Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha, which have repeatedly appeared in his various creations, form the exquisite backdrop for his hunting life, intertwining with memories and experiences in Banajyotsnay, In the Green Darkness.

The memories of his hunting life inevitably include the story of his hunter father, who introduced Buddhadeb Guha to hunting with love and encouragement, and opened up the horizon for a deeper connection with the country, its land, and its people. The work also recalls his friends from various stages of life and from different social backgrounds. The vibrant procession of these people is depicted in intimate brilliance, including figures such as Dr. Kiran Basu, elder brother of Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, the Kodarma-based Yughal Prasad, the elephant expert from Gauripur, Assam, Kumar Prakritishchandra Barua, Income Tax officer Colonel Edward Johnson, the professional hunter of the Dandakaranya Project, Ramchandra Dandasen of Kalahandi, Odisha, and many European managers of tea gardens in Duars. Also included are figures such as Abu Chattar of Dhubri, Assam - who was sentenced to death for killing many relatives in one day; Mohammad Nazim, the gun dealer from Hazaribagh, whose character inspired Madhukari’s Sabir Miyan; Gopal Sen, Subrata Chatterjee, Kaduwa, and many others. Through these memories of kings, nobility, Europeans, and even the poorest people, this remarkable book uncovers an eternal, pure truth of India.

Though this is a memoir of his hunting life, hunting itself becomes just an occasion. The real aim is to describe the rare companionship of some extraordinary people in the inner sanctum of nature, in the "mind-boggling" language. It is the quality of this description that makes this book thoroughly enjoyable and engaging.