Manabjameen: Untilled Earth

Set in the troubled last quarter of the twentieth century, Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay's Manabjameen is an expansive saga that charts the course of many lives that move in counterpoint, such that even solitude is moored in the others shadow. Amidst the panoply of characters the careers of three sets of people stand out in high relief. In each of these three sets the happiness or unhappiness of one or two, is ineluctably enmeshed with and consequent upon a third. Srinath and Trisha's marriage has already fallen apart. Srinath's elder brother, Mallinath had bequeathed his property to Trisha, overlooking Srinath. As Trisha takes over the reins of the rural estate Srinath retires to an outhouse, exiling himself in his own home. Consumed by resentment he takes to gambling and womanizing and his descent down the primrose path is steady. Rumors are rife about Trisha's liaison with Mallinath and her eldest ones likeness to Mallinath is unmistakable. Srinaths brother-in-law, Pritam is battling a disease that is gnawing away at him bit by bit; he tries to summon his willpower against the ebb of life. His wife, Bilu is dutiful but distant. Over their tired lives hovers the bright and breezy Arun, Bilu's college friend. Pritam moves from Kolkata to his childhood home in Siliguri, where his mother looks after him. Bilu comes to pay him a visit, she wants to take him back. One morning the household awakens to find Pritam gone. Srinaths and Bilu's brother Deepnath, languishes as a factotum to Mr. Bose, a top executive in a middling company. Mr and Mrs. Bose are ill matched. Deepnath and Monideepa i.e. Mrs. Bose come close, only to draw apart. Deepnath rises in life and goes to America to seek a new life or to solemnize the life he has lost. The reader learns from Monideepa that Snigdhadeb, a left leader she had once idolized, had gone to America and sold his soul.