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by: Suvo Moitro
Publisher: Gemini Books, 2002
Reviewed by: Eugene Sykes ”Harish was twisting and twitching on his bed in agony and pain when Salma tiptoed in the room…Moaning. Froth seeping out of his mouth… the poison worked. She did not take a chance. Plunged the hatchet repeatedly into the still quivering body… it turned and fell on the floor…curling and twisting in a pool of tepid blood and then it was motionless. She paused. No sound came from the next room. Salma watchful...ready with her bloodstained hatchet! No… there the elderly couple had already succumbed to the dose of poison…tossed out and lay crumbled by the edge of the bed. The bodies were still warm… She stabbed into their bodies to be sure… blood spilled out… She looked around for the last time … and then sauntered out of the room dropping the kitchen knife on the floor. Under a shroud of apprehensive somber she softly walked out of the door, the home for the last time and hit the road…appeased to castigate at her… A satanic smile flashed across her quivering lips, as the ghastly vista of strewn corpses across the pool of tepid blood blazed back… ‘I did it mom… I did it…’ she murmured and looked up… the stuffy stifling sky gleaming with deplorable radiance of the evening metropolis cast a sordid veil; beyond which was the twinkling tiny star, her mom Hasina, watch her daughter avenging the heinous act…” Based on the prevalent social custom, society and religion in the latter half of twentieth century, Boundless Bondage, is an excellent work of fiction by Suvo Moitro. Set within and across international boundaries from a small town in Bengal to Birmingham to Montreal to Drummondsville to Los Angeles to New York and Calcutta, the novel strikes an emotional chord with its readers till the very end. Boundless Bondage is about a woman who is the victim of post independence communal riot in India, which had ravaged her family and home. She falls in love with her childhood mate only to be separated later, when destiny strikes again. She goes to England, USA and Canada in quest of her love, but in the end entrusts her sweet heart ... The story line is quite emotive and will keenly arouse the reader´s interests. The author´s choice of words and power of narration bring the characters alive and readers will be able to identify with them. The book with its self-explicit and descriptive style will win appreciation of readers all over. I would be happy to recommend this commendable work of Mr. Suvo Moitro and congratulate him for his endeavor.
The story begins in a small eastern town in the then undivided India at the time of liberation of countries in the region and revolves around Salma, a Muslim girl, and Amit a Hindu boy, close and intimate childhood friends. They get detached at that historic juncture which was stained with bloodshed and human massacre ultimately separating countries, families and friends… The traumatic events that follow overwhelm her mundane life, shaping her character and fate. Salma continues to fight painful memories of her past and searches desperately for that tenuous link to her love… across continents and cultures…from Bengal to Birmingham, London to New York. Boundless Bondage goes beyond a story of unrequited love and impresses as a well crafted saga of one woman’s inexorable search for fulfillment in an antagonistic world… |
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