At the last Ekushey book fair, Harishankar Jaladas's (b.1955) Ramgolam brought him much fame as the writer of the 'best book'. Before that, he won the Prothom-alo best book award for his Dahankaal (2010) and came to the limelight as a successful fiction writer. We can recall that he debuted with Jalaputro only in 2008 and in 2011 came another novel, Kobsi.
The most significant point to notice is that all the four novels
produced from Harishankar's pen sketch the life of the downtrodden, some
of whom are from among fisherfolks, some from among prostitutes and
some others are the 'harijons' or 'methors'.

A well-known fact
about Harishankar is his getting a doctorate degree on the theme of
'Bangla Novels based on Riverine Life and Fishing Folks'. Along with
that he has written some more research books on the life of the fishing
community and the place of the community in the various genres of our
literature. In 2008 his debut novel came out and we discovered the
appearance of a mighty subaltern in the novel world of Bangladesh.

Jalaputro
(Sons of Water) opens with Bhubaneshwari waiting for her husband, who
went on fishing the previous night but did not return. This waiting of
Bhubaneshwari, a woman of only nineteen and the mother of a child named
Gangapada, never ends. When the novel ends, we find her waiting for the
oncoming baby of Gangapada in the womb of Sumitra. Since his boyhood,
Gangapada has experienced the severity of the fishing folks in the
matter of access to education. Bhubaneshwari has always cherished a
desire to make education accessible to her son Gangapada just as her son
equally cherished a desire to educate his oncoming babe. With the light
of a little education, Gangapada tries to unite the people of his
community against the conspiracies of people of the well-off community.
Seeing his efforts, his mother fears for him. Gangapada only tells her,
'Mother, please don't be afraid. The fishermen are very helpless. No one
is there to show them the right way. As they love me, I have to do
something for them in return'. They live in an area alienated from
gentlemen's society, in the north Patenga. They have no access to
education, but have access to all the evil elements of life. Out of the
ignoble life they live comes a rebellious son named Gangapada, who
realises only too well that only education and unity can only bring
about a change in their accursed life. And consequently, Gangapada makes
his people aware of the tricks made by Shashibhushon and Sukkur. In the
face of all enmity even from people of his own profession, Gangapada
tries to fight and at last is killed.

Gangapada can be seen in juxtaposition to the protagonist Haripada of Dahankaal.
Ganga meets death but Haripada endures. Both of them rise from the same
societal conditions, and as a result the first and larger part of Dahankaal seems to be an improved edition of Jalaputro
itself. The differences that are prominent between these two novels lie
in the last past of the second novel where we find the story of Dahankaal delving into the time of the Liberation War.

Haridas,
the eldest son of Radhanath and Boshumoti, will be an educated man when
he grows to adulthood. That is the dream of his parents. The dream
arises from the incident of Radhanath's father's death at sea, a
happening which makes him determined to educate his own son. With a plot
similar to that of Jalaputro, Dahankaal proceeds and with the
passage of time it takes on a different story to express life and
society and the struggle of people who survive on fishing. But the
second novel takes in many more facets and thus becomes a better
literary endeavour.

Haridas of Dahankaal also leads his
people against the military occupation forces and that event has added
an additional value to the novel, though the sub-plot has not been
delineated that successfully in the book. Every reader must admit that Dahankaal
has many excellent characters to remember. The most noticeable one is
Adabsir alias Chittaranjan Dey, who sparked Radhanath's desire in the
matter of educating his son Haridas. There have been many hurdles on his
way, but Haripada does not retreat and at last we find him crossing the
door of secondary school, which is somewhat inconceivable to the
outcastes of his society. Other characters, such as Harabanshi or Khu-u
Buijja, are also worth mentioning.

In the delineation of a
fisherman's life, Harishankar Jaladas is compared with the noted
novelist Adwaita Mallabarman (1914-51), author of Titas Ekti Nadir Naam (A River Called Titash, 1956). But even after all these, the novels Jalaputro and Dahankaal
fail to reach the zenith that was the expectation from a meritorious
novelist like Harishankar Jaladas. Along with that we must admit that in
respect of successful plot and rendering of a story, Kosbi is an
excellent outburst. The rebellious attitude of the protagonist for
betterment has been very extraordinarily delineated in Kosbi followed by Ramgolam.

The story of Kosbi
evolves out of the life of prostitution, ranging from individual to
general points of view. It centres on a woman named Devjani, before whom
Padmabati was the most celebrated whore in the Patenga Sahebpalli. It
could be noted that small touches of historical tints have added novelty
to the sorrowful story that tells of the emergence of a 'jelepolli' (a
village inhabited by fishing folks) and its decline into harlotry. But
the greatest success of the novel is in the significant use of all
sub-plots to contribute to the main plot of the story.

Kosbi
sketches the daily life of the streetwalkers as well. It delves into
the bygone story of Devjani too . . .the tearful story of how this
much-loved and cared for daughter in ordinary Bengali life village turns
into a bawd. But she does not retreat. Rather she takes revenge.

How
elevating it is to read that Koilash, an SSC-passed son of Mohini, has
come forth to educate the children of the prostitutes. Mohini, also a
leading figure in the prostitution area, educates her son at a Christian
school and thus her son emerges as a saviour for the children of the
red light area. He cannot survive because of Kalu, but he shows a sort
of way to the women of the locality. They demand their rights. They
revolt.

It is true that the savour of Kosbi dies, but the savour of Ramgolam does not die. Ram survives even after staying for fourteen years behind bars.

When
we read of subaltern life in Bangla literature, the names of writers
that come forth include those of Satyen Sen (1907-1981), Gunamaya Manna
(1925-2010), Mahashweta Devi (b. 1926) and Avijit Sen (b. 1945).
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) and Saratchandra Chatterji (1876-1938)
wrote about them. Jagadish Gupta (1886-1957), Tarashankar Bandapadhyay
(1898-1971), Manik Bandhapadhyaya (1908-1956) are the other stalwarts of
Bangla literature who sketched the life of outcastes with necessary
sincerity. Bidrohi Koiborto (1969), Chotti Munda O Tar Teer (1980), Rohu Chandaler Haar (1985), Mute (1992) are the very few instances that have enriched the genre with rich creations.

We
know the Ulgulan was the indomitable spirit of the Santal people, as is
Ramgolam, or Koilas or Haridas or Gangapada of Harishankar are
spirited. Among them Gangapada and Koilas have been killed but Haridas
and Ramgolam are alive even after much hardship. And thus the
spokesperson of the downtrodden community Harishankar kindles the
optimism that shines in his protagonists and that has his readers shine
as well.

Subrata Kumar Das is the author of www.bangladeshinovels.com