চমৎকার ছিমছাম একটা উপন্যাস। রুথ প্রাওয়ার জাবভালা আজ আর বেঁচে নেই, তবে রেখে গেছেন বুকার পুরস্কার বিজয়ী এই বইটি, আর মার্চেন্ট-আইভরি টীমের সাথে বানানো ৮০ আর ৯০ দশকের বিখ্যাত কিছু চলচ্চিত্র। আরো কিছু বইও লিখেছিলেন, কিন্তু ঔপন্যাসিক হিসেবে তার কুশলী হাতের প্রধান টেস্টিমনি হয়ে থাকবে এই "হীট এন্ড ডাস্ট"।লেখিকার জীবনকাহিনী বিংশ শতকের ক্লাসিক গল্প। ১৯৩৯ সালে হিটলারের তাড়া খেয়ে জার্মানীর কোলোন শহর থেকে বিলেতে পালিয়ে এলো ছোট ইহুদি মেয়ে রুথ প্রাওয়ার, সপরিবারে, একদম টায়ে টায়ে, দ্বিতীয় বিশ্বযুদ্ধ শুরু হওয়ার মাত্র কিছুদিন আগে। আর কয়েকদিন দেরী হয়ে গেলেই ভবলীলা সাঙ্গ হয়ে যেতো হয়তো, আউশভিতস বা বুখেনভাল্ডের গ্যাস চুল্লিতে। রুথের বয়স তখন ১২। তারো ১২ বছর পর ভারতীয় আর্কিটেক্ট স্বামীকে নিয়ে চলে এলেন ভারতবর্ষে, ইংরেজের বিদায়-ঘন্টার নিনাদ মাত্র মিইয়ে যাচ্ছে উপমহাদেশ থেকে। তারপর শুধু লেখালেখি আর লেখালেখি - অনবরত ৫০ বছর। ভারতীয় না হয়েও ভারতকে যে হাতে-গোণা কয়েকজন শ্বেতাঙ্গ লেখক একদম ভেতর থেকে দেখেছিলেন, জানার বোঝার সিরিয়াস চেষ্টা করেছিলেন - জাবভালা আছেন সেই খাটো লিস্টে। রাজ কোয়ার্টেট খ্যাত পল স্কট আছেন আরেকজন। ব্রিটিশ রাজের শেষ দিনগুলোতে হামবড়া বোকাচোদা ইংরেজের আস্ফালন আর উল্লম্ফনের করুণ চিত্র এঁকেছেন। পায়ের তলা থেকে শীঘ্রই মাটি সরে যাওয়া এক পাতি-সভ্যতার সমাপ্তি।"হীট এন্ড ডাস্ট"-এর গল্প সোজা-সাপ্টা। ১৯২৩ সালে সতিপুর টাউনের ডেপুটি কালেক্টর ডগলাস সাহেব তার নতুন বৌ অলিভিয়া-কে বিলেত থেকে নিয়ে এলেন ভারতে। আশপাশের পুরনো ইংরেজ পরিবারদের সাথে মিলে মিশে চলে অলিভিয়া, ঘর সাজায়, পিয়ানো বাজায়। চরম বোরিং জীবন। একদিন পাশের গ্রাম খাতমের নবাব নিমন্ত্রণ পাঠালেন সবাইকে, নবাব বাড়িতে ঘটা করে দাওয়াতের আয়োজন। সেখানেই ঘটে যায় অঘটন - সুপুরুষ নবাবের নজরে পড়ে যায় তরুণী অলিভিয়া। এবং অলিভিয়ার নজরে নবাব। পরবর্তী ২০০ পৃষ্ঠা এই চোখাচোখির পরিণামের কাহিনী। অর্ধশতক পরে প্রয়াত অলিভিয়ার এক দূর সম্পর্কের নাতনী তার সন্ধানে চলে আসে ভারতে। পুরনো চিঠির জের ধরে ধরে আবিষ্কার করে সতিপুর গ্রাম আর খাতম, পাঁচ দশকে কতটুকুই বদলেছে আসলে? দারুন নৈপুণ্যে গল্পের কাঠামো সাজিয়েছেন লেখিকা - ফ্ল্যাশব্যাকে ১৯২৩ সালে অলিভিয়া-নবাব-ডগলাস-হ্যারি, নিমেষে আবার বর্তমানে, বেনামী ইংরেজ তরুণী, ইন্দর লাল, মা-জি, শ্বেতাঙ্গ সাধু চিদ... আবার ফ্ল্যাশব্যাক, আবার ফ্ল্যাশ ফরোয়ার্ড... এভাবে করেই আমরা টের পাই যে হারিয়ে যাওয়া বড় নানুর সাথে পঞ্চাশ বছরের তফাতে অথচ বিশ্বস্ত সমান্তরালে চলছে নাতনী।আজকে বইটির যত না খ্যাতি, তার চেয়ে বেশি পরিচিত সম্ভবত সিনেমাটি - শশী কাপুরের নবাব আর গ্রেটা স্কাক্কি'র অলিভিয়া সেলুলয়েডে অনন্ত জীবন দান করেছেন রুথ প্রাওয়ার জাবভালা'র উপন্যাসকে।
After finishing Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's 1975 Booker-Prize winning novel set in India during the British Raj, I will admit, I was puzzled at the degree of kudos that this most mediocre novel received. To say that the book was lackluster in its conveyance of colonialism in India is barely hitting the mark in its accuracy. And to put it on the same shelf as A Passage to India is completely laughable, thus illustrating once again that overzealous literary critics are only too eager to press forth onto the public reading material that would not warrant their time nor their effort. If one is inspired by literary prizes, like the Booker Prize that this novel received, I would caution readers to check it out from the library rather than buying the book; you can be your own critic and do yourself a minor economic service.The novel is about how social constraints can lead people to actions that are less than desirable, and the main character, Olivia, makes many undesirable choices, the paramount one of them being that she aborts the baby of the Nawab, a minor Indian prince (in the territory) whom she has befriended and unexpectedly fallen in love with, despite the fact that she is happily married to Douglas, a junior British officer and bureaucrat. In the novel, there is really no inking that the marriage is cracking up and splitting Douglas and Olivia away from each other, and it is that deliberate ambiguity that makes the work not fully fleshed out and believable. The only hint that the marriage is not as solid as it appears is that Olivia wants a baby and Douglas holds off. But that is speculation, at best. And if that is indeed the case and thus the causal effect for Olivia's later actions, it puts an extreme negative spotlight on her. Understanding the social constraints of a specific milieu or period is one thing but compounding that with a British aristocratic sauce is just highly not credible, no matter what literary devices and creative liberty are executed upon the story as a whole. It does not make the plot a success. In fact, it barely rises to that bar. The reasoning given for Olivia's predicament almost borders as an experience on the Magic Carpet Ride after an LSD trip, for being in love with India is a dangerous thing for the European mindset. People let their cares down and in one fell swoop nonstop unwanted pregnancies occur, for it correlates to the woman's desire to experience love, lust and motherhood. But, naturally, due to socioeconomic constraints, the latter is never followed through with. Heat and Dust is extremely one-sided, and a worldview of options is not available, much less pondered.Heat and Dust is primarily two stories that are interwoven to create one novel. The first story, as indicated, revolves around Olivia, a bored British officer's wife who longs for motherhood and is somewhat coming to grips with the exotic locations of her husband's assigned posts, for where ever he is assigned, she too is there. She has a conventional view of herself, and in turn, expects a kind of orthodoxy for the whole of her life. Considering the times that she is living in, that is a facet of her life that is truthful. Unfortunately, it is the only truthful element to the whole book. Olivia is not a particularly bright woman with any sense of foresight and intuitiveness. She is absolutely a stunted character, who, like her dim-witted husband, can not see the forest through the trees. Their limitations and or flaws just do not seem credible. Or perhaps it is the fault of the magic of India? Give me a break! The second part of the novel, though minor, deals with a female relation of Douglas's who also visits India and in turn winds up in a similar position that Olivia was herself once in. There is an emotional connection that the relation feels for Olivia, especially when she reads old letters and journals belonging to the Scarlet Lettered mythical woman. The letters and journals are used almost as survival how-to guides for getting along in India - definitely a warped view of things. Yet, they are somehow sisters or feminists-in-arms. Though the relation is more emancipated than Olivia ever was, she too is a flat and distantly written character; she almost gets her rocks off by Olivia's experience, which (I am only assuming) she deems as compelling and empowering. Yet, there no true elaboration as to why she feels the way that she does. I can only surmise that she is viewing Olivia and her actions from a historical context, that women like Olivia just don't do what she did. In the whole picture, it really was not all that great and admirable. Religiously, Olivia could be compared to the Eve of the Old Testament and the cousin who keeps her baby could be considered Mary in the New Testament. But that would be a huge stretch based solely upon interpretation.For me, what I did not like overall about Heat and Dust is that women often have to be placed in the worst case scenarios and have to make truly horrific actions against themselves in order to be deemed heroines for future generations. It is such a predictable and overused plot in fiction nowadays. The work was just bland and the plot was ridiculous. While the writing was technically good, the book overall belonged in the bucket of Booker-Prize bummers.
What do You think about Heat And Dust (1999)?
1975"Heat and Dust" and Gossip From The Forest by Thomas Keneally were the only two books shortlisted in 1975 and there was some debate about whether the latter was really a novel at all (as there was with Schindler's Ark).Ruth Prawer Jhabvala had been living in India for about twenty years when she wrote this book and she captures its mesmerising effect on outsiders and its heat and dust very well. The author makes an attempt to show how attitudes have changed between the two time periods, in the West and the East, and how India itself has changed in that time, for better and for worse. This works quite well and she shows a fine cultural sensitivity.The book tells the story of two women who visit India fifty years apart and the effect it has on them. Very often, when a book uses two stories in different time frames, one story is much stronger than the other. This is not the case here, both stories have equal strength, but unfortunately I felt both were equally weak. Neither woman's actions are sufficiently explained to feel reasonable or consistent.(view spoiler)[Why does Olivia decide to have an abortion? Presumably because it could be the Nawab's child, but then why have the abortion and then run away to him, when she could have done that with the baby?Why does the Begum help her arrange it?Does the Nawab know? What does he think about it? Would he have accepted her afterwards?What does Douglas think about it?Why does Olivia stop writing to her sister?Why does the narrator have sex with Chid? She does not find him attractive or like him.Why does she have sex with Inder Lal?Why does she decide to have an abortion and why does she change her mind? (hide spoiler)]
—Val
It was very engaging to begin with. She set the scene beautifully and moved effortlessly between the story of the narrator and her step-grandmother. The description of a poor little town in colonial India and its evolution into a squalid modern day small town is also quite vivid, although a bit depressing. Some of the character descriptions are quite good, but some seem a bit stereotypical, like the British boy who has become a 'sadhu'. However, one has to be fair given that she is obviously writing from a westerner's perspective and perhaps we are oblivious to some of the things they might observe. All in all Olivia's ennui, Douglas' sincerity, the Nawab's charisma.. they all blend together beautifully and Heat and Dust is an apt title for the novel, with all its scenes that play out on the barren landscape, especially all the limousine trips across the terrain from the British quarters to the Nawab's palace. What I found lacking to some extent was that the sultriness of the setting didn't lend itself to the relationship between Olivia and the Nawab, but perhaps it was never meant to. In the end, the book left me wanting to know more about what went on in Olivia's mind, especially in the end. It may well have been the intention to just leave us to our imaginations. I didn't think about this book much when I finished it, but now, a week has passed and a scene will idly flash by in my mind, as if from a movie and I realise it's from the book. So it did leave more of an impression than I had thought.
—Neetineeti
In your teens and 20s you are impatient to leave your roots and fly away to explore a whole new world, the charm of new, and in your 30s or 40s you think of going deeper and deeper to dig your roots, the hidden treasures, the legacy, the pas, the charm of old, even if it lies in Heat and Dust.This is what this book stands for, when a young woman, goes back to India to explore her family's ties and the underlying gossips or truth for that matter. She is different and she chooses a different life and journey for her. The choice to go digging into the old scandal when a British officers wife ran away with an Indian prince. The charm of a scandal, probably love or just plain simple boredom.Why do we do this? Why do we leave the comforts and security of home to explore the world or why we dig deeper rather than just grow and expand ourselves. Is it regressive or progressive. The question is why do we experiment or cherish. The basic nature of all human beings, this is what makes us different. We don't learn from our mistakes, we don't leave the past alone, we redo and relive assuming it will be different this time. Overall Heat and Dust is a simple well written story. It could be a story of any strange foreigner yousee roaming around the ruins of India exploring the Indian heritage or probably their own history thru the British regime of the past. History, heritage, heirlooms the only possessions, rest belongs to others. To read more Book Reviews and about Books, visit my Blog: Storywala
—Neha
