It’s impossible for any connoisseur of Ritwik to be oblivious of "Cloud Capped" Nita. Not a mere breadwinner of the family, Ritwik however, allegorizes her with Uma — the ancient Mountain-goddess. She is also the consort of Shiva. And her abode is thus, Kailash. The cloud capped Nita too mythically reaches there, after she becomes burden of her selfish family. Ritwik operates this myth with various impressionistic devices — like the sniveling soundtrack, bidding adieu to the daughter, leaving her motherland:
"Let me bid you farewell now, my daughter!
You are leaving my home desolate, for your husband’s place."
Uma is "dashabhuja". Nita is also forced to the similar role by her overtly selfish family. Her incessant struggle at the cost of her own life vehemently reminds us of another icon of a different time of Bengal history ——Madhobilata, during the uproar of the Naxalite movement. Samaresh’s trilogy Uttaradhikar, Kalbela and Kalpurush focuses her in the last two novels, almost similarly like the 50s Nita in Meghe Dhaka Tara.
Both of them edify how to balance our many aspects (dasabhuja), particularly at the moment of crisis. Nita’s struggle is at the time when her family settles in a in a bustee ("slum") after being victims of Partition. Her old father is wearied of his eldest son, the eccentric Shankar, who is completely indifferent of their poverty. Dreaming of becoming a classical maestro, Shankar pushes Nita, like his other family members, into a menacing life of a best of burden. Nita leaves her studies, sacrifices her basic needs, and even pathetically endures her lover, growing immoral due to her sheer inability of promising him a possibility of marriage, due to family pressure. And all these she does out of love. She openly confesses to Shankar that she simply loves them "madly". Ultimately blind love ruins her completely and she remains a "Cloud capped star", whose worth is perhaps better realized by Banshi da, the owner of the grocery shop.
Blind love also roasts up Madhobilata. Animesh, her husband pushes her into a ceaseless turmoil, soon as she appears homeless up before him. By the time he is already a wanted anti-social. Police is always after him. The uneasiness stands as a substantial barrier between their union. Animesh realizes that. Yet he is somewhat casual about the social obligations of his fiancée. He leaves her all alone to struggle and helplessly muses on his failure to stand beside the homeless Madhobilota. The latter unwearyingly endures Animesh’s helplessness, just for the sake of canopied love. Often she consoles him with her avowal that she is self-sufficient and need not be bothered too much about her. Animesh can safely carry on with his political idealism, where Madhobilota will never intrude.
This is blind love, for which Madhobilota continues devoting herself despite anticipating a bleak future ahead. In one of their early rendezvous in the Sealdah station, she explains her newfound love that the nature of "Lota" (a Bengali word for creeper) is to cuddle. Madhobilota does exactly the same —— embracing Animesh, and impetuously falling into an erotic temptation in Bolpur. Arka is born when Animesh is in jail. With a baby in her lap, Madhobilota settles in bustee. Her remarkable personality defends her from being harassed by the bustee, normally fussy about such a vulnerable lady. And by the time, Animesh returns from jail, she is already established with the social respect of a schoolteacher. The bustee calls her Masterni (lady teacher), honors her, and even fears her for being completely different from them.
Arka grows up gradually, Madhobilota continues working like dashabhuja, counting days for Animesh’s return from jail. Even she was once imprisoned and horrendously tortured up before Animesh. The reason was to know about the secret of a naxalite worker whom Animesh knew. Madhobilota was pregnant. She pleaded with Animesh not to reveal a single word about his escaped comrade. How can after all she squash the prestige of her husband for her own weakness? But Animesh exasperates her soon after he comes out of jail. He decides not to return to his wife despite knowing about her pregnancy, while he was in jail. Ultimately he returns home, defeated by his wife’s resolution to continue life with him.
Soon as Animesh returns home, Madhobilota goes out to bring Arka from school. She returns with her son, carrying a kerosene tin and a bag of bazaar. From thence onward her unyielding struggle grows from more to more. Animesh is completely shattered by the frustration of the naxalite movement. He is reduced to an inactive handicapped, who cannot even stand on his own legs. With his "dashabhuja" wife managing both "home and the world", Animesh develops a complexity. He whines that his wife relishes a sadistic pleasure in her painful labour, feels contended hearing others pitying on her sweat. The fuss grows stronger in North Bengal where the family hastens to stand beside Animesh’s dying father. And even there she retains her usual role of dashabhuja and finally returns to her bustee once again torn apart.
Animesh impulsively decides to stay back, almost carried away by the helplessness of his stepmother and his ageing aunt. But what about his own wife and their son? How can he be so indifferent to his wife when she has always wanted him beside her? How could he refuse to meet his pregnant wife every time she visited the jail after her severe assult? How could he forget her after he appears out of jail, despite knowing about Madhobilota’s pregnancy? Is it selfishness or the complexity that has always unease Animesh to be with his wife? Is he an escapist?
Whatever he may be, it is true that Animesh has always been the source of his wife’s perennial trouble. And Madhobilota has always accepted it as a part of life since she has an unconditional love for Animesh. In Kalbela Samaresh shows how she sacrifices even a simple cake for her husband and their son. An affluent school teacher offers her a cake. Madhobilota tactfully slips down the cake into her bag for her family; having just a bit of it as a show off, up before the teachers. The episode alludes to her denying even minimal food for the sake of her family. And that ultimately ruins her health. Towards the end of the trilogy, she succumbs to perilous ulcer and admitted to hospital. Even there, she mumbles Animesh’s name soon as she regains consciousness after her fatal operation. Animesh rushes into the R.G. Kar hospital coming all the way from North Bengal. He is stunned hearing about his wife’s frequent starvation for the sake of their family. Amazing indeed!
Ultimately Madhobilota survives. Unlike Nita, she doesn’t melt in her own mythical abode of Kailash. Instead, she stands up beside her son, encouraging him for his dream society. Arka is the Bengali word for sun. Madhobilota waits for the new sunrise in Iswarpukur- the bustee where they live. Even the readers await her cinematic version to be swathed in her magnificence of a veritable dashabhuja icon as well as a potent male fantasy of an ideal woman.
"Let me bid you farewell now, my daughter!
You are leaving my home desolate, for your husband’s place."
Uma is "dashabhuja". Nita is also forced to the similar role by her overtly selfish family. Her incessant struggle at the cost of her own life vehemently reminds us of another icon of a different time of Bengal history ——Madhobilata, during the uproar of the Naxalite movement. Samaresh’s trilogy Uttaradhikar, Kalbela and Kalpurush focuses her in the last two novels, almost similarly like the 50s Nita in Meghe Dhaka Tara.
Both of them edify how to balance our many aspects (dasabhuja), particularly at the moment of crisis. Nita’s struggle is at the time when her family settles in a in a bustee ("slum") after being victims of Partition. Her old father is wearied of his eldest son, the eccentric Shankar, who is completely indifferent of their poverty. Dreaming of becoming a classical maestro, Shankar pushes Nita, like his other family members, into a menacing life of a best of burden. Nita leaves her studies, sacrifices her basic needs, and even pathetically endures her lover, growing immoral due to her sheer inability of promising him a possibility of marriage, due to family pressure. And all these she does out of love. She openly confesses to Shankar that she simply loves them "madly". Ultimately blind love ruins her completely and she remains a "Cloud capped star", whose worth is perhaps better realized by Banshi da, the owner of the grocery shop.
Blind love also roasts up Madhobilata. Animesh, her husband pushes her into a ceaseless turmoil, soon as she appears homeless up before him. By the time he is already a wanted anti-social. Police is always after him. The uneasiness stands as a substantial barrier between their union. Animesh realizes that. Yet he is somewhat casual about the social obligations of his fiancée. He leaves her all alone to struggle and helplessly muses on his failure to stand beside the homeless Madhobilota. The latter unwearyingly endures Animesh’s helplessness, just for the sake of canopied love. Often she consoles him with her avowal that she is self-sufficient and need not be bothered too much about her. Animesh can safely carry on with his political idealism, where Madhobilota will never intrude.
This is blind love, for which Madhobilota continues devoting herself despite anticipating a bleak future ahead. In one of their early rendezvous in the Sealdah station, she explains her newfound love that the nature of "Lota" (a Bengali word for creeper) is to cuddle. Madhobilota does exactly the same —— embracing Animesh, and impetuously falling into an erotic temptation in Bolpur. Arka is born when Animesh is in jail. With a baby in her lap, Madhobilota settles in bustee. Her remarkable personality defends her from being harassed by the bustee, normally fussy about such a vulnerable lady. And by the time, Animesh returns from jail, she is already established with the social respect of a schoolteacher. The bustee calls her Masterni (lady teacher), honors her, and even fears her for being completely different from them.
Arka grows up gradually, Madhobilota continues working like dashabhuja, counting days for Animesh’s return from jail. Even she was once imprisoned and horrendously tortured up before Animesh. The reason was to know about the secret of a naxalite worker whom Animesh knew. Madhobilota was pregnant. She pleaded with Animesh not to reveal a single word about his escaped comrade. How can after all she squash the prestige of her husband for her own weakness? But Animesh exasperates her soon after he comes out of jail. He decides not to return to his wife despite knowing about her pregnancy, while he was in jail. Ultimately he returns home, defeated by his wife’s resolution to continue life with him.
Soon as Animesh returns home, Madhobilota goes out to bring Arka from school. She returns with her son, carrying a kerosene tin and a bag of bazaar. From thence onward her unyielding struggle grows from more to more. Animesh is completely shattered by the frustration of the naxalite movement. He is reduced to an inactive handicapped, who cannot even stand on his own legs. With his "dashabhuja" wife managing both "home and the world", Animesh develops a complexity. He whines that his wife relishes a sadistic pleasure in her painful labour, feels contended hearing others pitying on her sweat. The fuss grows stronger in North Bengal where the family hastens to stand beside Animesh’s dying father. And even there she retains her usual role of dashabhuja and finally returns to her bustee once again torn apart.
Animesh impulsively decides to stay back, almost carried away by the helplessness of his stepmother and his ageing aunt. But what about his own wife and their son? How can he be so indifferent to his wife when she has always wanted him beside her? How could he refuse to meet his pregnant wife every time she visited the jail after her severe assult? How could he forget her after he appears out of jail, despite knowing about Madhobilota’s pregnancy? Is it selfishness or the complexity that has always unease Animesh to be with his wife? Is he an escapist?
Whatever he may be, it is true that Animesh has always been the source of his wife’s perennial trouble. And Madhobilota has always accepted it as a part of life since she has an unconditional love for Animesh. In Kalbela Samaresh shows how she sacrifices even a simple cake for her husband and their son. An affluent school teacher offers her a cake. Madhobilota tactfully slips down the cake into her bag for her family; having just a bit of it as a show off, up before the teachers. The episode alludes to her denying even minimal food for the sake of her family. And that ultimately ruins her health. Towards the end of the trilogy, she succumbs to perilous ulcer and admitted to hospital. Even there, she mumbles Animesh’s name soon as she regains consciousness after her fatal operation. Animesh rushes into the R.G. Kar hospital coming all the way from North Bengal. He is stunned hearing about his wife’s frequent starvation for the sake of their family. Amazing indeed!
Ultimately Madhobilota survives. Unlike Nita, she doesn’t melt in her own mythical abode of Kailash. Instead, she stands up beside her son, encouraging him for his dream society. Arka is the Bengali word for sun. Madhobilota waits for the new sunrise in Iswarpukur- the bustee where they live. Even the readers await her cinematic version to be swathed in her magnificence of a veritable dashabhuja icon as well as a potent male fantasy of an ideal woman.
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