Jalchabi by Suchitra Bhattacharya [Hardcover]

The admission season has started at the college. The office room is crowded with students and their guardians. Somnath turned his head and saw a girl arguing with the leaders of the college union, her neck bulging as she shouted, "Why pay a donation? Is this extortion?" Somnath is a professor at this college. Seeing him, the girl agreed to back down. This was a very normal thing. But Somnath made a mistake. He was never someone to get involved in trouble. His nature was to keep everyone happy. Whether at home or outside, the slightest conflict made his nerves go numb. Yet, the man who avoided every kind of trouble spoke up on behalf of the girl, requesting the union a little. He got his hands burned by the fire. Somnath lived in a peaceful dream-like family with his wife Mridula, daughter Mitul, and married daughter Tutul. His life had been spent in a tunnel of fear, yet his daughter Mitul got a job in a remote, insignificant school in a village. Somnath didn’t want his daughter to take that job, but Mitul accepted the challenge. Moreover, she boldly said to him, "What’s the fear, Dad? Whose fear?" Somnath couldn’t understand where Mitul got such courage from. He had always been submerged in a secret current of fear hidden behind his sense of morality. Suddenly, it emerged. One day, Somnath slapped a rebellious student leader, Abhijit, across the face. This incident stirred up the entire college. The principal ordered that Abhijit must apologize in writing to Somnath for causing the trouble. For the first time, Somnath refused. He stood firm without compromising. Somnath emerged from his sheltered life like a snail coming out of its shell. But on what inner strength? What was his support?