Aham Brahmasmi

“ Jokhon keu aamake paagol boley, taar protibaad kori aami… Jokhon tumi aamay paagol bolo – dhonno j hoy shey paaglaami. ” ‘Paagol’ shobdo-tar maane ki? Nijer ekta duniya’y thaka, jekhane shob rong, shob onubhuti-guloi churantoh? Jekhane kono kaaj kora’r aage ba pore kono kichhu bhaba’r proyojoniyota-e haariye jaay? Jekhane dishe-haara jeebon-er proti muhurte jukti-heen daabi-daowa korata-e ekmatro upaay boley monn a hoy? Jekhane nijeke chhara onno shobbai k matha’r byamo’r rogi boley monn-a hoy? Jekhane bhogobaan-er shonge kotha bola'r shaadh jaage? R paagol-er shonge ghor koratai ba kotota duhshadhhyo kaaj? Kotota bhalobasha jaay ekta paagol k? Kotohdiin porjontoh? Bhalaobasha e ki, naki sneho-koruna meshano bhalobasha’r mukhosh pora kichhu? R shetai ba chirokaal thaake ki? Shob kichhu ki mene neowa jaay? Shudhumatro paagol-er prolaap boley? Erokom-e aaro onek proshne’r jhor tole Samaresh Majumdar-er Onekei Eka . Uttor o dyay kichhu’r. Opor-opor noy, rokto-...

“ One could not really continue to write, or read about, the slow seasonal changes, the rural backwaters, gossipy courtyards, and traditional families in a world taken over by gun-running, drug-trafficking, large-scale industrialism, commercial entrepreneurship, tourism, new money, nightclubs, boutiques... Where was the Huxley, the Orwell, the Scott Fitzgerald, or even the Tom Wolfe, Jay McInerney, or Brett Easton Ellis to record this new world? Mohsin Hamid's novel Moth Smoke, set in Lahore, is one of the first pictures we have of that world. ” – Anita Desai When I read The Reluctant Fundamentalist , in whose pages I was first introduced to Mohsin Hamid, I was bowled over by the strength of the narrative, by the author’s refusal to take a moralistic stance (which would have been by far the easier option). It was therefore only natural that I was waiting to get my hands on this book. It was worth the wait. More so after feeling let down by Hosseini’s And the mountains ec...