Palta Haoya by Smaranjit Chakrabarty

The novel takes place over the course of fourteen months in the lives of a group of young people. The backdrop is a city—urban, fast-paced, filled with high-rises, traffic, shopping malls, and asphalt roads—yet within this modern landscape, there is a sense of lost fragrance, the warmth of friends' hands, the sound of street musicians, and the ordinary lives of countless people.

The central characters of the novel are Reep and Tithi, who work at a software firm; Puspal, the athlete; Rai, the ambitious one; Puloo, the melancholic; Shakya, who cannot go abroad; and the introspective Monika, or the boy Bato who works in the Mukherjee household. While each character is distinct, they seem to be united in their shared experience of being trapped, of feeling helpless in the face of life's struggles. As the seasons change, so do their lives. One person's survival becomes increasingly intertwined with another's.

Reep's loneliness begins to intertwine with Tithi's life, while Puspal's running transcends the track and enters the realm of personal relationships. For a brief moment, Bato is able to forget his poverty, while Monika’s mobile phone rings with an old poem at midnight. In the relationship between her parents, Puloo senses a deep emptiness. Despite all the fractures, each character feels an unknown pull, a shift within themselves. They sense a new breeze, a countercurrent that urges them to rise and move forward.

Throughout the story, these young lives are intertwined with the rhythms of Kolkata—the sun, rain, and dust—which are as much a part of their journey as their personal struggles.