Aniruddha Bose
Life is a voyage flaunting its colours in a multitude cavalcade of veiled façades.
In the year 2006, Aniruddha Bose sustained a fracture of tibia, which confined him in a wheel chair for 6 months. Continuing his hectic practice, even in wheel chair, his social life came to a halt, as he was quarantined from his other vibrant activities.
To make the best of his solitary internment, he resorted to his forlorn hobby, to explore the bygone facet of his ingenuity, which he cherished in his adolescence, fortified by his literature-loving engineer father and literary mother, until the coercions of his professional career, jostled it to the archive.
He penned his debut Bengali novel ANWESHAN in 2006, which was released by Dey’s Publishing on 25th August 2007. The novel was an overnight success, hosting his innovative creative self-expression in an outright diverse arena. The sales figures of his debut novel soared high. It stimulated his incognito ingenuity urging him to further cosset the passion, concurrent to his busy professional pursuits.
His second Bengali novel NISHABDE, released on 18th December 2008, like the previous one, not only turned out to be a best-seller, representing Bengal at the London Book Fair, but also received eclectic acclaim at an independent survey report ‘A Survey among visitors to the Kolkata Book Fair and exhibiting publishers, 2009’
Destiny had set ajar a new vista of artistic creativity, amidst the levied calamity. He split his agenda between his busy profession and literary quests, both running concurrently.
He has written several books in Bengali and English and still inscribing more in both the lingoes.
A. Bengali Novels
His first book ANWESHAN created a sensation to the style, presentation, theme, and philosophy in Bengali Literature. He was successful in depicting the crisis of modern Indian society. This enthralling novel illustrates basic human behaviour and trudges to the mysterious world of spirituality. He lucidly depicts human alienation amidst a world anticipating new developments every day. Through an array of inter-personal relationships, he takes the reader from elusive fleeting interactions to the opus of the soul, based on the ‘Venn Diagram Theory’ of mathematics. Universality is the greater theme of his creation. Here he reveals the concept of ‘home’ in a different light and quite explicitly relates the pitfalls of human relationship and explores its wholeness outside the social paradigms. Sometimes sexually explicit, the author tries to ooze out the mature human rejoinder in a competitive environ. The human behaviour portrayed in varied facets takes the reader on an inward journey to the alien maze of the psyche and soul, from illusion to the truth.
His second novel NISHABDE reflected another philosophy. It is a tale of a mosaic of conflicting paradigms - our intra-personal paradigms, which dictate our expected behaviour in a structured social network; our inter-personal paradigms which governs our relationship with dyads, triads and groups think we belong; social paradigms which judge or intend to judge the members of the society; our religious paradigms which keep a very strong leash on our id, ego and superego and our spiritual exemplars which try to keep a fine equilibrium between the aforesaid assemblies of paradigms.
His third lyrical novel DEKHA was again a reflection of highlighting the east through the vision of young British lady of Indian origin, coming to visit India. In this novel he reconnoitres the vital queries of our lives, which occurs in the strata of our emotions or sleeps in its frozen darkness. Occasionally it creates a tsunami in our droning life quivering our very presence. It brings forth the reality of affection of parents raising its importance from mere animalistic biological occurrence to the truth of its warmth. Can motherhood be attained? What is life? And moreover, what will we do with our life? Many a times, these elementary questions, engulf our awareness. We ostensibly live our lives happily with not much cataclysm. These philosophical questions hardly play any significant role. Only a few can occasionally hear the plea of the wilderness. If one does hear such a call, to him the daily chores become trivial. His endeavour is focussed to seeking an answer. These lucky few devise the mind for a fresh start where the progeny can cultivate a better harvest. Here he takes the reader on a guided tour of the East showing the rich culture and traditions veiled in ostensive poverty. He brings forth the cry of human soul that lurks behind the glittering façade of wealth and luxury of the West. This enthralled the readers with its unique theme and hit the bestseller charts.
He decided to move onward by breaking the genre. Presentation and style of his previous books to introduce unique scientific and philosophical concepts in the mundane literary environ. He is testing his literary skills with diverse forms and themes. In his words “If I cling to my earlier creation, I am dead”
In his fourth novel CHAKRA, a psychological murder thriller, he tried to break the typical norms, with an innovative concept. His knowledge of medical science and philosophy, redefines murder in a new philosophy. Breaking away from the usual formula for a whodunit, he explores the genre, in an entirely novel way. The plot traverses all across contemporary India, introducing a wide range of characters as the drama unfolds, and there is a subtle social commentary cleverly hidden within the pages. The glamorous world of films and modelling, the rarefied environs of the medical establishment, fast-paced city life and traditional rusticity, celebrities and high profile god men, money and muscle, bureaucrats and politicians, new age entrepreneurs and old fashioned police work blend to constitute an exciting storyline. Red herrings are a plenty, and after many unexpected twists and turns, the pieces all come together at the end in a thrilling finale. Well researched and intelligently written in a racy style, the reader's attention is held until the last page, as the deduction links the chain of events in a neat circle, so completing the CHAKRA. This has also hit the charts as bestseller.
His next novel TOMAKE, based on applying physics and mathematical concepts is a sweet lyrical love story literature in an unfathomed form, which also joined the best-seller wagon. What is love? And what is truth? Is love a play of hormones and neurotransmitters? And is truth a perception of what is apparent, rather than absolute? Can a moment of pure love exist for all eternity? He has lovingly dealt with these concepts in his novella “TOMAKE”. A dialogue between a man and a woman is chronicled in a series of intensely lyrical “love letters”. That is commonplace enough. What is remarkable is the realisation that it all ‘happens’ in a moment of time. One is left wondering - was that all just imagination? But something seems to bother the reader, till the realisation occurs, almost like an epiphany, that truth and love cannot be qualified or quantified by only the linearity of time, but by the absoluteness of it.
His next novel CANVASE is another experimental venture. Initially starting off with seven short stories of several dissimilar females in diverse location, he inter-weaves them to the confluence of a single character, which portrays the different facets of a female in tune with colours of the rainbow. He takes the reader on a deeper inner journey, beyond the prismatic spectrum, into the mystique shades of invisible ultra-violet or infra-red rays, where dwells the real truth of human realisation.
The end of the cultural milieu of Bengal had commenced with the waning of the golden era. A few years into the 21st Century, it was apparent, with mediocrities in control, it had reached its ultimate fiasco. The veil of darkness was progressively engulfing the cultural environ, with nothing else to offer, except nostalgias of the past. Did the golden era have all the flairs that are missing today? Surely not. If that were so, why this calamity? The query haunts us all. Some are aware of the jinx, others arent. Sfulinga is a saga of the reality leading to the debacle. As it is a fiction, characters are fictitious, but the facts aren’t. The author, as a visionary, takes the reader, through the winding alleys of the concealed truth, to paint a new canvas for the imminent future. Amidst the annihilation, lies the seeds of rebirth, like a phoenix, akin to Prometheus of today, who can still enlighten an ailing humanity.
B. English Novels
Four of his Bengali novels namely ANWESHAN are restructured in English by Anwesa Sengupta and him as QUEST, DEKHA as THE VISION rendered by Purnasree Nag and CHAKRA as FULCRUM and TOMAKE as THE MOMENT both by Partha Pratim Roy.
QUEST is a small expression, with an insightful depth. It literally means search. The greatest enigma is, who is searching? Is it the eternal human crave or one of us? It depicts our hunger to decode the meaning of love, life and existence. His short novella examines the answer to this conundrum. Revolving round the affluent and upper middle class milieu of the urbanized society, the characters of this novel are all pawns in the game of life. Tossing up and down through their profits and losses, triumphs and fiascos, love and hatred, desire and denial, they all pass through this enigma of life. The truth they discover is life is nothing but a Venn Diagram an array of intersecting circles of relations, which includes its slices, but never its whole. We erroneously believe in relationships. We have an elusive image of our existence. Only a few can comprehend that our life is a part of a greater nullity. The ultimate truth is that we live alone in our ‘home’ in solitude and die there.
In his novel THE VISION he explores the fundamental questions of our lives, which either rises in the strata of our emotions or sleeps in the frozen darkness of our deepest emotions. Sometimes it raises a tsunami in our stanch monotonous life shaking up our very existence. Who or what is “I”, “Dad” or filial affection? What is the real colour of affection for our children? Who is a mom? Can motherhood be attained? Or is it just an animalistic biological event. What is life? And moreover, what will I do with my life? Many a times, these basic questions, engulf our consciousness. We ostensibly live our lives happily with not much cataclysm. These philosophical questions hardly play any significant role. Only a few can occasionally hear the plea of the wilderness. If one does hear such a call, to him the daily chores of life become trivial. His endeavour then is solely restricted to seeking an answer to these questions. These lucky few prepare the mind for a new start where the progeny can cultivate a better harvest. In the lyrical novel THE VISION, he explores the answers to these questions through the eyes and minds of an array of characters. Here he takes the reader on a guided tour of the East showing the rich culture and traditions behind the apparent poverty. He brings forth the cry of human soul that lurks behind the glittering façade of wealth and luxury of the West. Then through the eyes of the main character, Srabasti the intellectual reader understands the real philosophy. Looking at this philosophy is THE VISION.
His English International Thriller PURSUIT is different from its genre, seeking the truth of life. It has everything a thriller possess - multiple mysterious murders; beautiful sirens; handsome hunks; powerful men who can change the world; a staggering international conspiracy; highly complex international geo-economics and politics; the just dose of sex and so on. However, what make it stand out in the crowd are its philosophy, the humanitarian angle and the universal message of peace and harmony. There are twists in the tale that suddenly come down on the reader as bolts from the blue. That is expected in a top class thriller. What this book additionally possesses is the touch of universal melancholy that affects every thinking man and woman. Greedy international big shots conspire to conquer the world, and spill the blood of the innocent and guilty alike. Small-time characters are trapped in this web engulfed by the events beyond their control and grasp. Amidst this chaos, there remains a blind Buddhist monk in an isolated monastery in the high Himalayas, who think about these chaotic currents. He sits in his isolated shrine, watching and analysing the events in the world, like the Nimrod. The protagonist of the story, a highly intelligent young lady who is fortunate enough to get teachings from the contrasting two worlds, the modern western as well as the timeless philosophy of Hinduism and Buddhism, gets caught in the web and flows along the current. Besides searching the reasons of the murders, she also searches for the reason of her existence, or rather the existence and the meaning of the life in its entirety. Does she reach her destination? The story culminates in a startling revelation of the truth.
In his next crime thriller FULCRUM he redefined the concept of the investigative murder thriller. Veering away from the beaten path Aniruddha has weaved a tale of intrigue and suspense spanning across the country. This is neither a story of the typical detective and the murderer as we would love to believe, nor does it have the mind games of a Sherlock Holmes or a Hercule Poirot. It is a story of normal flesh and blood human beings doing police work, as one would come across in everyday life - real, well within the realm of possibilities. The myriad of characters that come into play in this drama show frailties of the mind as to leave the reader stupefied. This is a story hard to put down due to its pace as the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle get placed in their correct places with the turn of each page and ends in a striking finale.
THE MOMENT is the story of another world. How do we understand the concept of time? This novel has brought out a supernatural message from time's internal cave. It is nothing new for two persons to be attracted to each other. This novel sees this oft-played game from an entirely new perspective. Is love and desire the same? Can these two be put in the same paradigm of understanding? Or is there a thin line, which delineates them apart and yet, so close? Each of us accepts our own perception of the truth. Some would say love is abstract, while desire is concrete. Is it so? Desire could also be abstract. Why do we love someone? Can it be explained by the theories of chemistry? Science has given a clinical definition. The key lies in certain hormones and neurotransmitters in the brain. Is life science the best alternative to our understanding of this? If that were so, the beauty of love gets lost in the ravages of misconceptions. The two protagonists in this story are searching for that elusive answer, while finding themselves in a supernatural cusp of time. It is that cusp which is known in science as Vertical Time. Or in our philosophy as ‘Turiya’ postulated in the Upanishads. This is where time stands still and veers away from the well-known path of horizontal movement. In the light and darkness of the maze, we know as past and present, they seem to throw the two characters in this novel into their own subconscious, and titillate them to play the game of love in surreal time. Where does this game end? Will it end, where time gets lost in the realm of the supernatural? Or will it ultimately find it’s calling in their minds and in their memories?
BENGALI NOVELS
1. ANWESHAN (Dey’s Publishing)
2. NISHABDE
3. DEKHA
4. CHAKRA
5. TOMAKE
6. CANVASE
7. SFULINGA
ENGLISH NOVELS
1. THE VISION
2. PURSUIT
3. FULCRUM
4. QUEST
5. THE MOMENT
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