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The Interloper (Chandal Jibon Trilogy – Book 3)
Publisher:
Eka
| Author:
Manoranjan Byapari | V. Ramaswamy (Translator)
| Language:
English
| Format:
Paperback
Publisher:
Eka
Author:
Manoranjan Byapari | V. Ramaswamy (Translator)
Language:
English
Format:
Paperback
₹389
Save: 35%
In stock
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In stock
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ISBN:
Page Extent:
358
‘ONE HAS TO BE ALIVE TO DIE. I’VE BEEN DEAD FOR AGES. TELL ME, WHO CAN LIVE AS I HAVE ALL THESE YEARS? NO ONE. ONLY A GHOST CAN SURVIVE SUCH A LIFE. IF THERE IS A LIFE AFTER THIS GHOSTLY EXISTENCE, IF I AM BORN AS A MAN THIS TIME, I TOO SHALL ASPIRE TO ALL THAT IS WORTH ASPIRING TO IN A LIFE.’
A youth walks into the Jadavpur railway station. Very soon, the denizens there-liquor vendors, rickshaw drivers, squatters, beggars, ragpickers, pickpockets-recognise him as Jibon, the daring young man who had done them many a good turn. And those who were certain he had perished in a deadly bomb blast in the city’s red-light area are astounded.
His memory lost, this Jibon finds himself a stranger to his own self. But he quickly learns to play the role of a man whose past allegiance to the Naxalites was marked by bloodshed.
This is the Calcutta of the early 1970s, a time when a man with a stone prowls the streets after midnight, crushing the heads of homeless folk. It is a city where upper-caste refugees from the Bengal across the border have become affluent, even as their low-caste, poor compatriots have lost everything. Women are swindled and brutalised with alarming frequency here; orphans are kidnapped from public places and trafficked. The Congress party rules the roost, the ultra-reds have been finished, and the reds struggle to survive.
Jadavpur’s Jibon knows he’s an unnecessary creature in this ‘Saare Jahan se Achcha’ country. He is stuck in a relentless cycle of destitution, oppression and hatred. And yet, his veins throb with an inexplicable will to move forward.
Masterfully translated by V. Ramaswamy, The Interloper is a fitting finale to Manoranjan Byapari’s path-breaking trilogy of autobiographical novels.
Description
‘ONE HAS TO BE ALIVE TO DIE. I’VE BEEN DEAD FOR AGES. TELL ME, WHO CAN LIVE AS I HAVE ALL THESE YEARS? NO ONE. ONLY A GHOST CAN SURVIVE SUCH A LIFE. IF THERE IS A LIFE AFTER THIS GHOSTLY EXISTENCE, IF I AM BORN AS A MAN THIS TIME, I TOO SHALL ASPIRE TO ALL THAT IS WORTH ASPIRING TO IN A LIFE.’
A youth walks into the Jadavpur railway station. Very soon, the denizens there-liquor vendors, rickshaw drivers, squatters, beggars, ragpickers, pickpockets-recognise him as Jibon, the daring young man who had done them many a good turn. And those who were certain he had perished in a deadly bomb blast in the city’s red-light area are astounded.
His memory lost, this Jibon finds himself a stranger to his own self. But he quickly learns to play the role of a man whose past allegiance to the Naxalites was marked by bloodshed.
This is the Calcutta of the early 1970s, a time when a man with a stone prowls the streets after midnight, crushing the heads of homeless folk. It is a city where upper-caste refugees from the Bengal across the border have become affluent, even as their low-caste, poor compatriots have lost everything. Women are swindled and brutalised with alarming frequency here; orphans are kidnapped from public places and trafficked. The Congress party rules the roost, the ultra-reds have been finished, and the reds struggle to survive.
Jadavpur’s Jibon knows he’s an unnecessary creature in this ‘Saare Jahan se Achcha’ country. He is stuck in a relentless cycle of destitution, oppression and hatred. And yet, his veins throb with an inexplicable will to move forward.
Masterfully translated by V. Ramaswamy, The Interloper is a fitting finale to Manoranjan Byapari’s path-breaking trilogy of autobiographical novels.
About Author
Manoranjan Byapari writes in Bengali. Some of his important works include Chhera Chhera Jibon, Ittibrite Chandal Jibon and the Chandal Jibon trilogy. He taught himself to read and write at the age of twenty-four when he was in prison. He has worked as a rickshaw-puller, a sweeper and a porter. Until 2018, he was working as a cook at the Hellen Keller Institute for the Deaf and Blind in West Bengal.
In 2018, the English translation of his memoir, Ittibrite Chandal Jibon (Interrogating My Chandal Life), received the Hindu Prize for non-fiction. In 2019, he was awarded the Gateway Lit Fest Writer of the Year Prize. Also, the English translation of his novel Batashe Baruder Gandha (There’s Gunpowder in the Air) was shortlisted for the JCB Prize 2019, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019, the Crossword Prize 2019 and the Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Prize 2020. The English translation of his novel Chhera Chhera Jibon (Imaan) was shortlisted for the JCB Prize 2022. He also received the Shakti Bhatt Prize this year for his body of work. In 2021, Byapari became a member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly.
V. Ramaswamy is a literary translator of voices from the margins. His previous translations include The Golden Gandhi Statue from America: Early Stories, Wild Animals Prohibited: Stories, Anti-stories and This Could Have Become Ramayan Chamar’s Tale: Two Anti-Novels (shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award, 2019), all by the anti-establishment Bengali writer, Subimal Misra. He was awarded the inaugural Literature Across Frontiers-Charles Wallace India Trust Fellowship at Aberystwyth University to translate the Chandal Jibon novels.
In 2018, the English translation of his memoir, Ittibrite Chandal Jibon (Interrogating My Chandal Life), received the Hindu Prize for non-fiction. In 2019, he was awarded the Gateway Lit Fest Writer of the Year Prize. Also, the English translation of his novel Batashe Baruder Gandha (There’s Gunpowder in the Air) was shortlisted for the JCB Prize 2019, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019, the Crossword Prize 2019 and the Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Prize 2020. The English translation of his novel Chhera Chhera Jibon (Imaan) was shortlisted for the JCB Prize 2022. He also received the Shakti Bhatt Prize this year for his body of work. In 2021, Byapari became a member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly.
V. Ramaswamy is a literary translator of voices from the margins. His previous translations include The Golden Gandhi Statue from America: Early Stories, Wild Animals Prohibited: Stories, Anti-stories and This Could Have Become Ramayan Chamar’s Tale: Two Anti-Novels (shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award, 2019), all by the anti-establishment Bengali writer, Subimal Misra. He was awarded the inaugural Literature Across Frontiers-Charles Wallace India Trust Fellowship at Aberystwyth University to translate the Chandal Jibon novels.
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