Taxi Wallah and Other Stories

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

About the Book Set against the backdrop of an utterly devastating cyclonic storm that ravaged the costal districts of Odisha in 1971, this timeless, unforgettable novel is a compassionate portrayal of a bunch of blundering Individuals in the village of Muktapur. The main action of the novel centres round the illegitimate motherhood of Ketaki and the reactions it elicits from different quarters apart from Dolagovind's evil machinations in capturing Saraswati land and his undercover hostility with his brother Gopinath. The idea of understanding the universe through adversity runs through the entire narrative. The mysteries of life and nature are unravelled through a series of mundane and metaphysical conflicts between desire and fruition, dream and endeavour, creation and devastation. The storm, In the novel, therefore, gradates into a symbol of change that promotes mental metamorphosis and peace is restored in the village after the storm. Veering away from the narrowness of societal life, the novelist successfully takes us through the pangs of rebirth to a newfound land that is premised on good will and universal brotherhood.

The Changeover (Kalantara) is an artistic outpouring of Surendra Mohanty's socio-cultural fervour and is an appropriate vehicle of his broad human vision and ardent revolutionary zeal.

About the Author Surendra Mohanty is a prolific writer in Odia language and has around fifty books to his credit, including novels, short stories, travelogues, biographies, essays and literary criticism. He is the recipient of the Central Sahitya Academy Award and the Sarala Award for his novel and biography, Nilashaila and Kulabruddha, respectively. Although he excels in all established genres, his contributions to novel and short stories are remarkable. His style is characterized by seriousness and sonority, loftiness and embellishment. The themes of his novels range from the innocence of village life to the futility and complexity of city life, from the helplessness of human beings to the sublimity and grandeur of human life, and from the miraculous dramatization of life's ordinariness to the sound Justification of the eventless drama of life. His uniqueness of theme, treatment and presentation earns him a special place in the history of Odia literature.

Foreword Surendra Mohanty was a versatile genius - journalist, freedom fighter, politician and litterateur. But his distinction lies chiefly as a litterateur. And even here his versatility manifests itself as a novelist, a short story writer, a literary critic, a historian and a biographer, though he is most prominent as a novelist and a short story writer.

Mohanty's concern is with the world of ideas, ideas born not from abstraction, but from experience and facts. Critics have traced the influence of Freud in some of his writings. Mohanty himself states that some of his writings are influenced. by James Joyce's stream of consciousness technique. In his substitution of extraordinary heroes for ordinary people in many of his writings and in his vigilant role as a writer against neo- colonialists in a post-independent nation, Mohanty anticipates the ideas of postcolonial writers, especially Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Frantz Fanon. However, his writings are not confined to any theoretical framework. The presentation of the ancient and the modern, the rich and the poor, the elite and the illiterate, the spiritual and the mundane and the amalgamation of myth. history and contemporaneity impart universality, authenticity and relevance to his theme. Mohanty's style is marked by loftiness, sonority and grandeur which are the hallmarks of his craftsmanship. His style is characterized by embellishments. He quite often speaks in a different dialect and idiom from other writers. All these lend some kind of imperviousness to the translation of his writings. Mr. Gurudev Meher has undertaken the laudable attempt of translating into English one such seemingly untranslatable Odia novel of Surendra Mohanty Kalantara. The translated work of Mr. Meher is titled The Changeover Kalantara (The Changeover) is written in the background of one devastating cyclonic storm that occurred in 1971 in Odisha. In the novel, the author is particularly sensitive to the sordid reality that surrounded the village life in post- independent societies. The degradation of human character, and disintegration of societal norms and constraints, and a consequential postulation of a cosmic cataclysm as a definitive resolution to these evils form the underlying framework of this novel. The storm that blew through the landscape, therefore, finds an analogue in the minds of men which is presented as salubrious and having the qualities of cleansing and purifying a stained soul. The illusoriness of human suffering, aggravated by the natural calamity, makes the people look for a metaphysical solution in the holy texts and scriptures. Peace is restored in the village after the storm. It is the devastation that lays the foundation of a new life, a new possibility, and fills the minds of the people with new hopes and passions.

I hope this translated work of Mr. Meher shall be widely read, appreciated and enjoyed by the readers.

**Contents and Sample Pages**