Review: Sanjibani Sudha by Sanjeeb Chattopadhay

Sanjibani Sudha by Sanjeeb Chattopadhay

In life, the viewpoint differs in as many ways perhaps, as they are people, and also people that have been there. In this entire permutation and combination of views, there always needs to be a 'break'; break from a conventional outlook into something which is more real, critical, has the right filling of humor and sarcasm, or even some moral science in some cases. This is exactly what Sanjeeb Chattopadhay's Bengali masterpiece 'Sanjibani Sudha' does, and does it in the way characteristic of the writer. The fine art of writing about something, making it tangible, entertaining in the right bits, criticizing it without including toxicity in narration, is the work of a seasoned writer, and Sanjeeb babu does it perfectly.

   Setting the theme of the book

The coming together and then separation, melancholy, love, marriage, family system, daly lifestyles and everything there can be in life, has an appearance in this book, but in ways seldom witnessed in common literature. Perhaps each of these issues have been dealt with individually in greater depth, but very seldom has each point been driven home, with intellectual finesse characteristic of Sanjeeb Chattopadhay. A package deal for everything in life, the stereotypical fight between modern life and yesteryears' cultural identity looked through the spectacles of humor, how women are being looked at and go about their business, everything seems to be in the firing line of the author when discussing. However, the slightly bitter or rather sour experience, was going through the chapter where he discusses women; commentary seemed a bit out of place, simply because all through the commentary on various issues, refinement shone through, which seemed to be missing in this one. However, this is more subjective than anything.

     Describing the book

The other way to look at Sanjibani Sudha is rather a compilation of chapters, each of which describes how we as individuals describe our world, and try to enforce our importance, but how life itself turns out, including the various twists and turns. 

This hardback read has a paper cover, which is removable, but a bit of transparent tape or common glue could fix it, and help the reader take this book for longer reading sessions. The Quick 3-page ( 2 1/2 pages almost) chapters and different topics in each, make it really handy as a daily read as well. Would definitely leave the reader with a smile.