The Chronicler of the Hooghly

 The Chronicler of the Hooghly 

This book is a short but a crisp read. Book has four short stories all fast paced and leave you satisfied. The stories spann through different era and the description is vivid lively and quite realistic. He amount of detailing and plot speaks for the tumultuous research and hardwork writer would have gone through. Few of the story oscillate between the present and past timelines with outmost ease and relevance, it is nearly impossible to find a flaw in the stories. 

The highlight of the stories are intricate human relations and convoluted human psyche resulting in the chaos. 

Ashtami

Ashtami is the 8th day of durga puja festival. The story is set in pre independence India and post independence India. On the auspicious day of Ashtami a boy was born, born with physical and mental disabilities but with high human values and the story end with death of the mother.  Life comes full circle in this story and beautifully narrates the life of a Bengali family settled in Delhi. 

Pandemic 

Centuries apart how two different Pandemic shaped the life of a family and it's decedent's and how they cope with the loss and challenges. It also signifies the venerability of a man when he is alone broken or careless. 

Fault lines 

This is my favourite story among the lots. Reading this reminded me of Mitch Albom's Five People You Meet in Heaven. Anjan is battling life after an unfortunate accident but bed ridden he had visions of the beautiful time he has spent with his family and wife and then these visions are interrupted by an old school friend Savio who reminds his of his miss deeds. How selfish Anjan had been for smaller victories in life and how he altered the lives of his friends and ruining a few. The story highlights the importance of karma and past catches up no matter how successful you are. 

The Chronicler of the Hooghly 

This story is based around the myth of cursed pearl necklace and how it altered the fate of Bengal kingdoms and zamindari and how it resulted in the British dominance and rule in India.  The story starts in the present era and mark tragedy sicken family and how there I'll fate was result of an old curse. The story takes us back into the Bengal zamabdari era and narrates 250 years of ordeal and how the 

It shaped the political dominance. This story is particularly well researched and it's intelligent of the writer how the entire story is based on a folklore of cursed pearl necklace.