Zool concludes the changdeo tetralagy- a sprawling narrative of the moral life of past- Independence society across Maharashtra. Here Changdeo Patil habituates himself in a university town and tourist centre, teaching in an institution run by upper caste Brahmins. The place vibrant with life and people seems to hatch manifold conflicts typical of India’s plurality- casteist, religious, regional and so on. The spread of education has forged a new class of revolting subalterns impatiently clamouring for immediate social justice as compensation for generations of discrimination and disadvantage. The novel unfolds the microcosm of the commercialized education in India. Changdeo’s engagement with the viewpoints of his colleagues and students belonging to diverse communities at cross-purposes reveals a past- colonial dilemma- whether modernity is a form or a feature in the hoary civilisation. Perhaps one has to sacrifice the purity of living as an inevitable price in deference to our pluralism. The great strain weights heavily on his consciousness. After all how much of life is expendable. On this enigmatic note the novel and the tetralogy end. Reading it is an experience of overwhelming revelations.
Bhalchandra Nemade ushered in a new epoch in Marathi with his debut novel Kosla in 1963. He is also a major critic who insists on moral commitment and on Desiness in literature. His publications include Dekhni, Bidhar, Hool, Jarila, Zool, Hindu, Teeka Svayamvara, Nativism: Desivad, tukaram Solo Bhashane, Nivadak Mulakhati. He is a recipient of several awards and Honours including Sahitya Akademi Award, Padma Shri and Jnanpith Award.
Santosh Bhoomkar is a well-known translator. He is the author of from Dust to Snow, Phillip Larkin: A study in Radical Pessimism and has translated the Outcaste from Marathi into English. He has translated poems from Marathi to English and vice versa.
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