Yet another intriguing novel from Jhumpa Lahiri.
The book recounts the lives of two brothers in Calcutta who were born during the time India had got independence. Subhash and Udhayan were born 15 months apart. They studied in the same class and shared the same room in their house. Udhayan was more brave but Subhash was more reserve.
During the middle of the 1960s, there was uprising among the peasants in the Naxalbari area against the owners of the land claiming for the percentage of crops they had produced. This Naxalbari incident triggered
more protests in the other parts of West Bengal also. Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal, prominent figures in the agitation against Capitalism formed a new party CPI(ML). They influenced the students in the West Bengal Universities and made them to join in their cause.
Udhayan was influenced to join this party. But Subhash was skeptical about the party's positive outcome. During this time, Subhash went to Unites States to pursue his doctorate. Things got worsened in the West Bengal where many students got involved in the agitation. The movement started too intense.
Udhayan got a job in lecturing. He fell in love with a bookish girl, Gauri. Both got married without their families' consents. Finally they moved to Udhayan's home after his parents halfheartedly accepted Gauri. Udhayan was living a dual life then. Although he was in the lecturing job he was also a active member in the Naxal agitation. He didnt let Subhash know about this secret.
Oneday, police came to Udhayan's home in search of him. But he went to the Lowland, where they usually cross to go to the fields for playing football during their childhood, and drowned inside the water to escape from the police. But the police took his family to that place and asked to show up otherwise they would start eliminate his family members one by one. He came up from the water and they took him inside the jeep. The police asked his family to go to the house. They took him to the place near the lowland and asked him to walk with the hands raised up. Then they shot him and took him with them. All these happenings were watched by his father, mother and Gauri from the top terrace of their house. They didn't return Udhayan's body. He just vanished .
Subhash got a telegram from his parents about Udahyan's death and he left to Calcutta. These incidents were narrated to him by Gauri. Gauri was pregnant at that time and Subhash wanted to marry Gauri and want to become the father of Udhayan's child.They got married against their families wishes. Finally, Subhash took Gauri to USA and started to live there.
Initially, Gauri was reluctant in sleeping with Subhash in the same bed. Subhash thought that it might be due to the pregnancy and she would be OK once she delivered the child. After Bela was born, they started to live like a husband and wife. But Gauri was always lost in something and she couldnot concentrate on Bela. But on the other hand, Subhash loved Bela more than Gauri and spent most of his time with her.
When Subhash and Bela went to Calcutta after his father's death, Gauri left them and went to California without informing Subhash or Bela. They didn't try to find her. Bela became a introvert after her mother deserted her. When Bela completed her high school education, she wanted to go to a job where she would till the land and do the farming. She became interested in changing the lives of the poor. Subhash thought that this attribute must be inherited from Udhayan. She became a nomad and occasionally came to home to see his father. She got pregnant and wanted to raise the child without its father.
The final part of the story was nostalgic where Gauri was confronted by Bela when she came to their house and her repentance for being indirectly involved in the killing of a policeman for which her husband, Udhayan was executed. How an agitation or movement change the lives of people! How one incident change your attitude towards life and ultimately change the course of your life!
