Swarger Sheshprante by Tilottama Majumdar [Hardcover]

Surrounded by a lush green landscape, the sky heavy with rain seems to touch the tops of towering shirish trees. For most of the year, the forests and tea gardens spread at the base of the hills are dominated by the monsoon. Fields and roads are flooded. Streams rush with wild currents. Even small ditches and drains become as swift as rivers, carrying away cows, calves, and even drunken, intoxicated people. Yet, despite the heavy rain, there's no respite from work. The strong tribal men, like Bukhla, head out to work with taro leaves covering their heads. Rini and Jhini, the two sisters from the Bengali landlord's house, are delighted to see him.

The life in the tea gardens, inhabited by a diverse mix of Bengalis, Nepalis, tribal people like the Madhesiya, Rabha, Koch, Mech, and Garo, appears as simple and charming as the surrounding nature. Under the starry sky of this wonderful land, Paltu and Jhini, two children, silently exchange their innocent love. With deep sadness, they observe the world of adults—a world painted with love and lovelessness, jealousy, lies, betrayal, suspicion, and selfishness. Yet, amid all this, like a pure drop of water, they create their own little paradise.

To their grandmother Sarojini, the poet, the tribal women are untouchable, but young Jhini shares and eats the leftovers of a guava with the tribal boy Kaluwa. Rini falls in love with Dhobalu, the egg seller's son, and gradually fades into the horizon. The mythical Donbi tree and the timeless ghosts spread throughout the novel like metaphors, intertwining the world of nature and the children's realm.

This novel portrays the complex world of adults as seen through the eyes of children, painted with the tender strokes of a child's heart.