Jayabrato chatterjee - last train to innocence

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A Book Review - Jayabrato Chatterjee - "Last Train to Innocence" - his first novel.

Submitted by marshwiggle23

I want to revive this book and this writer. All I can say is he matters.

Speaking of his first novel Last Train to Innocence, he says, "It was largely autobiographical. It wasn't a novel, it was meant to be snippets of my childhood mainly for Shahana (author's note: his daughter). I wanted her to know about her grandparents and my childhood in Dehradun. When I showed these snippets to my friends Amit Chaudhuri and Shobha De they felt it has the making of a novel. So I put it together and sent it to Penguin for publishing. This won good reviews and I subsequently received the Hawthornden Fellowhip whereby I spent a month in Scotland interacting with five international writers from different parts of the world."

I walked into DC books in Trivandrum and, while my wife picked up books for two of her nieces and a nephew, I picked up a photo-romance novel second hand, fascinated by the discovery of a book in that archaic form still floating around. Then my hand went to a copy of the novel mentioned above. Second hand again. I looked at the painting, done by a Tagore, read the blurb and knew that I had to read it. It may be my hermeticism or esotericism; but I was thrilled by the fact that no one, except the internet if we personify it, seemed to have heard much of him. As I read the novel I began to marvel, a little at first but then soon a lot. He wrote carefully, image after accurate image piled on each other, to let me know of Mitali's sa(a?)l woods and his childhood, disguised thinly, and I fell for it. Partly because though it was all different I could relate to it, and partly because the world view was finally akin to mine. Mainly: he knew/knows how to write. I can say all the usual things, a rich cast of characters, sharp images, an observant eye, a nice interweaving of two plots , one in which his alter ego (?) is in school and the other about his childhood. But what I loved most was the richness of the subtle tapestry that was made up of various strands; Hindu mythology, Christianity, Bengali and Indian history, literature, art, an abiding love for Nature, and a Tagorean humanism with a delicate warp and woof that teeters on the interface between the secular and the spiritual and the liberal and the rural, sprinkled with a hundred details that I loved like the reference to "East Lynne" which my mother also had loved like Meerama and Yardley, once considered 'The' powder and soap in a colonial past, and other humorous asides tossed in like nobody's business, wryly, and finally, as the author himself says, a desisting to judge anyone which made the whole thing extremely memorable.

I have given nothing away of the story but what I'd like to say about it is that the slightly romantic halo cast over his reminiscences by the author makes it noteworthy because he makes us feel that those were indeed days worth knowing of. The obviousnes of a Mulk Raj Anand and the ponderousness of a Raja Rao are not found here. There is instead a lightness of touch that lends depth, detail after detail, and almost no false note along with it and almost no attempt to preach. I spotted only three non sequiturs ( a mistaken ref. to Baba Jung once, the vexing question of who killed Mrs French and why, and that of what happened to Minididi, the budding hero's first and unrequited love). Bugga stands out better than the famous Mulk Raj Anand shit shoveller in "The Untouchable." As I write of this novel I am glad words are only signifiers and I have given nothing away because it may just make you pick up this book. It's no longer in print. Make a hullabaloo for it. It's better than many out there that have become famous.

It's not a great novel, but it's definitely a novel that I want to consciously and willingly keep alive. Very close to being a classic.

Of course all this won't satisfy you. So for lesser mortals who haven't read the book here goes:" Chatterjee, Jayabrato Last Train to Innocence (First Edition) Delhi: Penguin Books India (1995) Paperback original first released in India. First Edition of the author's first novel. Just about fine in wrappers. Chatterjee is a noted journalist and filmmaker. Very well regarded in India when it was published. [Book #90761] " http://www.royalbooks.com/store/90761.htm

There may be one copy left. Buy it, peruse it carefully and opine. You most probably won't but at least read about him and his works.

Related link : http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2003072200400100.htm&date=2003/07/22/&prd=mp&