Review: Adarsha Hindu Hotel By Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhay

Adarsha Hindu Hotel by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhay

There was once a time, when eating at eateries was very different from today; the codes of service and management were strongly different from current dispensation. This holds true for the characters too, even though racism was also more clearly present in everyday life. Politics at work place existed even then; mismanagement and employee favoritism was known. Humane people were perhaps more common. These are some of the overarches that comes strongly when delving into the world of Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhay's Adarsha Hindu Hotel, set in the city of Ranaghat in pre-partition Bengal. The book is obviously about more things, but these remain some of the broader underlings of this Bengali novel. 

Sideview of Bibhutibushan Bandopadhay

Hazari, the central character and antagonist in the book,happens to be a expert cook who works at an eatery besides the Ranaghat railway station, where travellers keep coming, for either their lunch or dinner, or even for their occasional snack. From there the settings revolve around the various villages, where Hazari has a connection with it's people, mainly through familial, or social connections. These connections are often more emotionally open, genuine, but steeped in social norms of the time. Within this quaint town of Bengal, is everything that one gets to see in modern times; happiness, love, genuine affection, jealousy, mismanagement, sadness, but wrapped in a more humane package. Even economics was comparatively fascinating in those times; the words 'paise' (poysha in bengali) and units below a Rupee had economic weightage, which is seldom even known in today's times. A person's salary of about Rs 7 apart from lodging and a meal, was a common thing for a large category of workers. Rs 150 a month was a highly paid compensation (which Hazari manages towards the end on his assignment with a Bombay based hotel). The list will be longer, and more fascinating, but it does penetrate the set standards of norms today, in a rather poignant manner.

Some of the other books written by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhay

In this tale of life set during the pre-partition days, when society was very different, by some accounts, one might be faced with several questions, based on where one comes from, when it is about the background; why was the documentation of Hazari's struggle to get a new job after he lost his old one, stretched as far? Why did he not stand up stronger, at certain points of time, especially when he was being harassed and subjected to mental torture by Padma-jhee? But then, set in a very different timezone in the past, it manages to construct the fabric of the story concerned.Hence, to able to appreciate the book, one just need to neutralise overarching demands a bit.