" Koraput and Other Stories" a collection 15 stories written in Oriya by Gourahari Das and it turned into English language by Saroj Mishra and Gopa Nayak. Indeed an able translation to have stirred the chords of the heart. The first story (eponymous) based on the backdrop of Koraput. Nature's bounty along with a set of problems like extremists and poverty ridden people encompassed in it. Gourahari Das showed his adept in telling the story and made the reader comfortable at the same time. It's all about kidnapping a woman while she traveled to Koraput to teach a lesson to a corrupted officer. Who...the kidnappers were extremists. They became successful in getting ransom and the woman got freed with no harm done. In this story we can understand how beautiful Koraput area with its high rising mountains, lush green forests and people with their problems.
The second story "Once the sky was blue" described the blues of a street vendor. How his small makeshift outlet in a busy road of Bhubaneswar was uprooted by a powerful Mall owner has portrayed and the small players have to be innovative and adoptive with changing times otherwise livelihood would become difficult. "Mirage" story tells us how a dreadful goon Panu Jena lost his valuable life by taking the words of a beautiful dame serious and prestigious. Everybody has a weakness however lethal they were. This is what the message in this one. "Compensation" story described how a flood hit area get filled people with different agonies on the time of floods. Even in that time, some people would try to cheat public money.
There were other stories all let us know about different problems of rural background and urban based also. Writer Gourhari Das showed prudence in selecting themes. He took characters from Bangladesh migrants and flashy media life and household problems and what not. English translation is also crispy and reader friendly. More of like this should come out from every state to get known to other people. Interestingly Ruskin Bond wrote a couple of appreciative words about this collection and they were truthful. This book is available with amazon.
----- Murthy Kvvs
#TBRChallenge2023
Very realistic stories, they seem to be.
ReplyDeleteVery good stories indeed.
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