The invisible colours of yearning for home

Through eight short stories, Rumana Chowdhury's Dusk in the Frog Pond and Other Stories (‎Inanna Publications, Toronto, 2021) brings to light instances of love, loss, solitude, migration and nostalgia as perceived in today's society. The tales span across borders and boundaries and are mostly set in modern, urban cities like New York, Toronto and our home country, Bangladesh.

Women play central roles in the narratives and Rummana Chowdhury paints their happiness and suffering in words as they assume the roles of mothers, daughters and wives. The characters in these stories navigate life's hardships and uncertainties and each of them share a sense of strength and weakness.

One of the common underlying themes in the stories is the concept of arranged marriage and the author uses this as a medium to introduce the idea of travelling and migration. For instance, in the second story, Mou travels to New York right after her marriage and likewise, in "Shadow Over The Henna Tree," Helen, another woman from Bangladesh, moves to Canada to stay with her husband when her daughter turns three.

However, migration does not bring bliss to these women and they struggle with a loss of identity and absence of belongingness. This makes the stories a prominent part of existing diasporic literature and we can see the characters constantly struggling with displacement and exile. In "Rodela's Invisible Colours", the eponymous protagonist struggles to settle into her old life in Toronto after a solo trip to Kolkata and longs for her carefree days in Bangladesh. "The refreshingly sweet, sultry breeze in the month of Falgun haunted her. She ached to return", Chowdhury writes. She feels abandoned and isolated in her marriage and is blown away like a flower in the wind when love knocks on her door. Yet, loneliness and despair do not leave Rodela. Her story ends with the lines, "Living without love, without being loved, would be a long, hard path, [however,] she had to live for herself for today, and for the days to come."

These strong, hopeful women still endeavour to find happiness in spite of their obstacles and the author artfully chooses to show their vulnerability alongside their fights. This human quality makes them relatable to readers. Their apparent solitude makes room for another recurrent theme in the stories—nostalgia. A strong yearning to return home is prominent among these women who have migrated abroad through arranged unions. "Nostalgia set in. There was no place in this world like Dhaka, Brishti felt like bowing her head to her beloved motherland", Chowdhury writes in "Monsoon Breeze."

Although most of the stories carry the idea of troubled nuptials, one story stands out among them all. It shares its name with the book's title and recounts the story of the Liberation War. The story begins with a playful village girl, Ruby, who is eagerly waiting for her husband. Munir works in the city. "Ruby danced as she crossed one paddy bank to another. Her feet were nimble and swift and her spirits high."

But what begins on a note of excitement and anticipation soon takes a grave turn as the peaceful village where the couple resides is torn apart by violence and conflict. War breaks out in the country; Munir joins the freedom fighters and loyally fights for his country. His world never remains the same. One night, while he is away on an operation, a group of West Pakistani soldiers invade his home and brutally torture his mother and wife. Although Ruby survives the horrific incident, she now has her own battles to fight. Ruby is reminded of the dreadful secret. She is agonised by her terrible fate just like Rodela and Ayesha, who were clasped by their own destinies just like the frog pond that is consumed by darkness at dusk.

Shejuti Pasha is an aspiring writer. Her endless love for books and coffee takes her to many places around the city. Tell her about books at shejutip127@gmail.com.