Pradyot Chatterji’s Banal Arc, Benign Sky—A Multi-Layered Exploration of Human Imperfection and Rational Dissonance
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The book I read recently truly impressed me, hence I thought I should know what really impressed me in it. So, I drafted a review, and that's how this blogpost originated. "Banal Arc, Benign Sky" authored by Pradyot Chatterji, ISBN 9789356975194, published by Ukiyoto Publishing
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Pradyot Chatterji’s Banal Arc, Benign Sky—A
Multi-Layered Exploration of Human Imperfection and Rational Dissonance
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For a work to be considered a
novel, it must be an exploratory exercise that examines the intricate dynamics
among events, ethos, and characters. While a short story can present a
straightforward narrative of events, characters, and motives, a novel demands
deeper exploration.
Pradyot Chatterjee’s Banal
Arc, Benign Sky exemplifies this multi-layered approach, regardless of
whether it fulfils its authorial intent or reaches a definitive resolution. By
the end of this immensely readable volume, I found myself asking: What was it
that I enjoyed so thoroughly over the fortnight as I became part of the
exploratory journey that Shri Chatterjee masterfully orchestrated?
The author’s objective is best
conveyed in his own words: “As a writer, he does not believe in creating
only ideal, virtuous characters worthy of emulation, nor in depicting people
holier than they are actually seen in real life. He believes it is not effete
ideals and goodness, but true courage with robust optimism that can combat the
prevailing cynicism.”
Indeed, all the characters in the
novel are flawed individuals shaped by their experiences and surroundings. They
are conceited, angry, largely unsociable, and deeply absorbed in their own
worlds—thinking, wondering, contemplating, concluding, and asserting their
perspectives on those around them. A jilted lover relentlessly chases an
unattainable dream with unwavering tenacity. A lawyer looks down upon
everything—from his clients to the judges and neighbours. A talented child
faces repeated betrayals: bullied by friends at a science exhibition, exploited
by a research guide who steals his thesis and deceived by a mother who
separates from his father only to pursue her selfish interests. He also
contends with his mother’s lover, who seeks favour in her eyes, and a so-called
spiritual guru who preys upon him. The list of betrayals continues.
These characters are not inherently
corrupt; instead, they inherit certain proclivities from their ancestors and
are shaped by the toxic environments in which they live. This environment,
steeped in hypocrisy, irrationality, and superstition, inevitably influences
their actions. A talented young man, cheated by his research guide, seeks
solace in an ashram, only to become a victim of its abbot’s predatory abuse.
The author refrains from moralising, leaving the reader to navigate the
conflicting forces at play.
Chatterjee skillfully juxtaposes
superstition with rational explanations. When a cat stops visiting a house
after the death of its head, some characters interpret it as an instance of
interspecies love and consequent despair on bereavement. However, another
character offers a practical explanation: the cat, fond of fish, simply avoids
the household because no fish is cooked during the funeral rituals. In another
instance, the author allows a myth to stand unchallenged. Jogesh, spiralling
into madness, claims that lunacy strikes in the morning. His words unfold in a
way that seems to confirm his belief, yet no rational counterpoint follows.
Ultimately, Banal Arc, Benign
Sky is an unflinching portrayal of human frailty and resilience,
challenging readers to engage with its complexities and draw their own
conclusions.
Numerous instances in the novel
reveal the conflict between rationality and irrationality, with consequential
outcomes. This, along with a cast of characters drawn from the imperfect yet
real world, enriches the novel. The author successfully integrates the burning
issues of the superstition-rationality dichotomy and flawed human nature into
his narratives.
The author does not favour
stereotypes, but where they seem inevitable, he employs them to impart momentum
to his storytelling. The principal character, Niti, is portrayed as a talented
individual with an overflowing scientific spirit who challenges Jogesh, his
mother’s boyfriend, for his blind adherence to scripture. However, he later
seeks solace in a spiritual guru’s teachings, only to discover that the guru is
a pervert. Niti is a talented scientist yet also dabbles in astrology. The
author suggests that Niti’s mental turmoil has multiple causes: his failure in
love due to his mother’s obstinacy, the double-dealing of his research guide,
Dr Rana, and the discovery of his mother Maya’s betrayal. He is depicted as a
lover of snakes, frogs, and other creatures—not as a naturalist, but as someone
protesting that humans are the worst creatures, untrustworthy and even worse
than snakes and “philosopher” cats. In a word, this is what ‘ambivalence’ looks
like. Regarding Niti, the author writes, ‘The voice that saluted God and his
faultless factory, and the one which defied the same god.’ In that sense,
all of us, whether believers or sceptics, are ambivalent, which ultimately
reflects the shape of the real world.
Reflecting on the components of the
multi-layered exploration that entertained and enthralled me, stirred my
emotions, and made me relate to my life experiences as a writer, I can say that
Shri Chatterjee has used all the literary tools in his arsenal to make Banal
Arc, Benign Sky an intellectually engaging and profoundly
thought-provoking work. His use of similes achieves effects that no adjectives
or adverbs could match. For instance, he writes, ‘The oars shattered the
moon in the water. Ribbons of molten gold swirled in the water as the boat
slowly went past the light into the darkness.’ While intensifying Maya’s
arrogance, he describes, ‘Her eyes were a peacock throne of vanity, a laser
gun of contempt.’ When Maya rejects a marriage proposal for her son,
Niti—brought by the bride’s mother herself, the bride being Niti’s beloved—the
author uses the metaphor: ‘Only a mother could ransack an entire garden of
flowers and still have her quota of wreaths and flowers.’
The author’s rich prose is also
evident in the following description of the deficient state of Sarkar, the
magician’s house: ‘His house should have been on top of a mountain where
magic, miracle, and mystery were wrought by the cloud like an endless rosary.’
To explain Jogesh’s one-sided love for Maya, the author draws a metaphor from
his familiar world of computers—familiar because the author is a metallurgical
engineer by education—and writes, ‘Some unknown hand had etched a program on
a chip and embedded it in him, and his life went on according to the program
which he could not remove or replace. But as he played out his life according
to the program, it perpetuated in him the feeling of love though nobody else
ever understood its algorithm.’ Many such high points in the narrative
consistently captivate the reader.
The novel’s scenes are manifold and
vividly depicted: a crematorium, inundated courtyards populated by snakes and
centipedes, a mishap at a bridge under construction, a rail pushcart rolling on
iron rails pushed by two people while conversing amorously, a brothel run by a
matron, the night sky revealing its grandeur to a stargazer, a Bel tree haunted
by a ferocious Brahmin ghost, a school science exhibition sabotaged by jealousy
and competitiveness, a magician’s trick unsuccessfully investigated, prostitutes
bathing under a tap—one of whom is informed by a client about the early signs
of leprosy, a night watch party killing a thief, a telegram being crafted
strategically to communicate a death without causing devastation at the
receiving end, a Muslim sadhu dispensing herbal cures for all ailments, a snake
charmer carrying cobras and Russell’s vipers for entertainment, a planchette
session disguising a sexual advance in darkness—everything, you name it, and it
is there. These richly narrated scenes contribute to a multi-layered
exploration that leaves the reader in awe, turning pages from beginning to end.
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A. N. Nanda
24-3-2025
Balasore
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Labels: Book Review
posted by The Unadorned | 7:22 AM
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