Details of Book: Gambhiri Ghara
Book: Gambhiri Ghara
Language: Oriya
Author: Dr. Sarojini Sahoo
Binding: Paperback
Publishing Date: 2006
Publisher: Time Pass, Bhubaneswar
Number of Pages: 168
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DR. SAROJINI SAHOO
The Dark Abode : A Bird's Eye View
( From Wikipedia)
The Dark Abode (ISBN 978-81-906956-2-6) is a collage presentation of south Asian feminist novelist Sarojini Sahoo ‘s novel and Americanpoet / painter Ed Baker’s 23 sketches, which deal with terrorism that people often face from micro to macro sphere. [1]
The novel begins with questioning the mere physicality of the man-woman relationship but then transports the reader into the higher planes of platonic love. The central character of the novel is Kuki, is a Hindu woman from India who falls (and then rises) in love with a Muslimartist from Pakistan . The unusualness of the socio-cultural background of these two characters is delicately portrayed by Sahoo in a sensitive and convincing manner. Readers become familiar with the two sets of roles that Kuki plays; that of a lover and that of a wife.Sahoo subtly balances these two roles and at the same time, highlights the superiority of a wife in a pragmatic world. But the novel is not merely a love story. Though love is a part of the novel, it deals with a much broader topic: the providence of a woman in India. At the same time, it also portrays a story of how a perverted man, over time, becomes a perfect man. It also delves into the relationship between the ‘state’ and the ‘individual’ and comes to the conclusion that ‘the state’ represents the moods and wishes of a ruler and hence, ‘the state’ actually becomes a form of ‘an individual.’ Additionally, it takes a broader look at terrorism and state-sponsored anarchism. [2]
Baker’s Uma is a collection of sketches of the Hindu goddess, also known for feminine power. The sketches have their genesis as images in a dream, according to Baker. Uma, to him, is symbolic of many things that give us pleasure in life. As to how these images are realized, the artist confesses he is just not sure. “I just watch and wait for something to happen...and something always does,” he says. [3]It is said in the Saimdarua Lahiri that UMA is the source of all power in the universe and because of her;Lord Shiva gets all of his powers. She is often depicted as half of Lord Shiva, the supreme god, and she also is a major symbol of female sexuality. Her name refers to her being born daughter of Himavan (Himalaya ), lord of the mountains. Beautiful, gentle, powerful consort of Shiva, mother of Ganesha ,Kartikeya),Saraswati and Lakshmi , she encompasses their powers and exudes a tranquil, serene beauty and provides a calm within. Uma is a symbol of many noble traditional (Hindu ) virtues: fertility, marital felicity, spousal devotion, asceticism and power. She refers to the symbol of early feminine power and energy. Known formally as goddess UMA , Lady of the Mountains, she shows us how to balance the many aspects of our lives. Beautiful and (benignly) powerful, she is also known as Shakti ,Parvati(consort of Shiva), Ambika,Annapurna, Bhairavi, Candi, Gauri,Durga, Jagadmata (Mother of the World),Kali , Kanyakumari, Kumari ,painter Mahadevi, and Shyama. [4]
Sarojini Sahoo is an Indian feminist and author. She usually writes her short stories and novels in Oriya and her critical essays in English. She has been enlisted among 25 exceptional women of India by ‘Kindle’ English magazine of Kolkata. .[5] In addition to being a college professor, she is currently an Associate Editor at the English magazine Indian Age. Dr. Sahoo also has a blog ‘Sense & Sensuality,’ where she discusses her ideas about sexuality , spiritualism, literature, and feminism . She has published 23 books; three in English and 20 in Oriya. .[6]
Ed Baker is active in many mediums of art from drawing to writing to sculpture. He describes himself as self-made and not belonging to any ‘schools’ in the mediums in which he works.[7] Baker essentially began his artistic endeavors in earnest in 1998. The prolific author has published eight books and countless poems published in leading publications in the medium of poetry. [8]
The novel was first published in Oriya in 2005 from Time Pass Publication, Bhubaneswar under the titleGambhiri Ghara and in 2007, it was translated in to Bengali by Dilwar Hossain and Morshed Shafiul Hossain as Mithya Gerosthali (ISBN No :984 404 287-9 ) and was published from Bangladesh by Anupam Prakashani , Dhaka . In 2008 it was published in English by Indian Age Communication, Vadodara and was translated by Mahendra Kumar Dash. In 2010, Prameela K.P. translated it in toMalayalam and Chintha Publisher of Thiruvanthapurampublished it with a title Irunda Koodaram. [9]
Print
Primary sources
§ Sahoo, Sarojini. The Dark Abode( English),Indian AGE Communication, 2008. ISBN: 978-81-906956-2-6
§ Sahoo, Sarojini. Gambhiri Ghara,Time Pass Publication, Bhubaneswar, 2005
§ Sahoo, Sarojini. Mithya Gerosthali (Bengali), Anupam Prakashani, Dhaka, Bangladesh ,2007. ISBN : 984-404-287-9
§ Sahoo, Sarojini. Irunda Koodaram( Malayalam). Chintha Publishers, 2009.
Secondary sources
§ —. Vinjan Kairali:Malayalam Journal, September 2008 issue
§ —. Shamakal:Bangladeshi News paper, 10 October 2008 issue
§ —. Amritlok:Behgali Little Magazine ,January 2009 issue
Online
§ Red Room
§ Sketch Book
§ Thanal Online
§ The Dark Abode
§ Zone Magazine
§ Pratham Alo
§ The Daily Star
§ Oriya Nari
1. ^ accessed 15 April 2010
2. ^ [1] - Accessed 15 April 2010
3. ^ [2]. Accessed 15 April 2010
4. ^ [3] - Accessed 15 April 2010
5. ^ Orissa Diary. Accessed 15 April 2010
6. ^ [4]. Accessed 15 April 2010
7. ^ [5]. - Accessed 15 April 2010
8. ^ [6]. Accessed 15 April 2010
9. ^ [7]. Accessed 15 April 2010
§ Sarojini Sahoo
§ List of feminists
§ List of feminist literature
§ Online Download of The Dark Abode
§ Sahoo’s home Page
§ Sawnet Bio
§ Oriya Nari
§ Orissa Diary
THE DARK ABODE :AN INDIAN NOVEL OF SAROJINI SAHOO
Date of Review:
10/10/2008
Published Work:
The Dark Abode
Reviewer:
Ms.Selina Hossain , famous fiction writer of Bangladesh
Source:
Shamokal, a Bangladeshi daily ,10th October 2008 issue.
Review Excerpt:
Sarojini Sahoo is a remarkable writer of Oriya language. She is known as one of the first ranking feminist writers of India. Known mainly as a fiction writer, she usually writes in Odiya. But on feminist issues she regularly writes essays. She has authored five novels and seven collections of short stories. Translation of her short stories in English, titled Sarojini Sahoo: Short Stories, has been published from Kolkata. She has received quite a few awards like Orissa Sahitya Akademi award, Bhubaneshwar Book fair award, Prajatantra award and few more. Quite a few of her short stories have been translated in Bangla and published from Bangladesh. Sarojini has already been known to readers of Bangladesh.
Sarojini Sahoo’s feminist outlook is quite sharp. She raises the issues differently in her different writings. And such issues are introduced in her creative writings without sullying the art of literature.
The story of ‘The Dark Abode’ seems at the beginning to be a tale of strong love affair which the writer has contrived using the latest technology. The loved one is an Indian who has her husband and child. Her lover is a Pakistani. He too has wife and children. So it is a case of illicit love affair. The lovers have not seen each other. The bridge of communication between them is e-mail.
But this does not suffice to tell the full tale. Different complexity of life as in the novel, tell us of the loneliness of life. The suppressed desire, even while living in a family, sometimes creates a knotty problem in our life. The hero and heroine wished to quench their thirst. Drinking the water they come back to their respective circles for there is no way else than to return. For a human being perpetually revolves round the circle. The two characters in the novel, after many blows and counter blows, decide that they would wait. In this world full of conflict man is always companionless, lonely. In a rarefied courtyard after the festival night he realizes that he is very lonely. Safique the hero, when send email to his lover, Kuki to wait, she thinks, ‘She would wait for his love until her hairs grew grey, until her skin gets slackened. She would sit till her eye sight would fade. She would wait for Safique for an eternity.’
Leaving the family aside, the clash between the individual and the State has become prominent in this novel. The course of life of two different citizens of two States does not give any other solution than waiting. How the State obstructs and suppresses the individual freedom has been shown in the version of Safique, the painter. When he writes letter to Kuki in pseudonym, she understands that ‘It is a ploy to hide his identity from the Military Junta.’ Kuki wrote to Safique, ‘Don’t think that there is any less exercise to cook up history in our India. Here the history changes its narrative with the change of rulers. It becomes difficult to ascertain who is the hero, who the villain. The historical facts read by the father are changed when it is the turn of the son to read it. Can you tell when the history of man will be available to man written impartiality?’ The writer does not rest without telling the tale of the individuals, the State, political tit bits, the behaviour of the military and misrule of the State in her novel. The inner conflict gives the heroine much trouble. Different aspects of the crisis of a woman’s life has been described in this novel. The woman fights with herself.
Kuki’s householder, ‘Aniket disrespectfully addresses her as tui, as and when he is angry. Forgetting the right or wrong he uses slang and abuses her, ‘You hussy, neither does she sleep nor allows others to sleep. She moves round the house like a ghost.’
Along side such abuses Kuki’s confessions are there – ‘yes, she loves Aniket. Without him Kuki's existence is incomplete. Still she waits for Aniket, maintaining his family. The children have not yet learned to walk on their feet. Two more Scenes are yet to be acted in her life. Aniket please come back. You are not Safique to break the card-house; you are Aniket, you should come back.’
This inner conflict is of a family, of a society, of the time. The love of the heroine for her husband, her illicit love for another with promises to wait for him, all these tell us that the name of this novel is ‘The Dark Abode’. The woman is there to drag on this false housewifery. The area which is marked exclusively as belonging to her, the housewife under the patriarchal system, is too easily intruded by many relationships, many attachments. The lady, by using technology and analyzing human behaviour, understands that that area is not exclusively hers. There dwells many maladjustments, many falsehoods.
Not following the traditional paths but by using many incidents, happenings in the contemporary world, Sarojini Sahoo has defined the world of woman in her novel under review. She has shown how the lives of men and women are so disjoined that there remains no place for deep sympathy and steady love.
(The Review of the Book is in Bengali , published in Shamokal a Bengali daily of Bangladesh and reviewed by Ms. Selina Hossain (saquib@agni.com ), the famous writer of Bangladesh and translated by Aju Mukhopadhyay,(ajum24@yahoo.co.in,ajum24@gmail.com ) who lives in Pondichery, India )
Link to Full Review:
http://www.shamokal.com/details.php?nid=98291
The Dark Abode: An Indian Novel of Sarojini Sahoo
Date of Review:
11/01/2008Published Work:
Reviewer:
Source:
Writers in the Sky.com
Review Excerpt:
The Dark Abode (ISBN : 978-81-906956-2-6) is the English version of an Indian novel Gambhiri Ghara, written in Oriya (an Indian language by eminent Indian writer Sarojini Sahoo), one of the first ranking feminist writers of India, whose outlook is quite sharp. She raises the issues differently in each of her writings. And such issues are introduced in her creative writings without sullying the art of literature.
It is a story of an extra marital affair between two lovers who belong to two enemy countries, India and Pakistan. The lovers have not seen each other. The bridge of communication between them is e-mail. The hero is a perverted artist who enjoyed fifty-two affair in his life while having two wives in Pakistan. He tries to be a perfect man after falling in love with the protagonist, Kuki. Post-colonial situation of Indian sub-continent enhanced the hostility between Hindus and Muslims. But the people have the same group myths that the political authorities always try to rebuff. How the political authorities obstruct and suppress the individual freedom is shown in the version of Safique, the painter, when he writes a letter to Kuki in pseudonym. She understands that it is a ploy to hide his identity from the Military Junta.
Different complexity of life as in the novel, tells us the terrible situation a woman has to face in her conjugal life. It also depicts terrorism from the family level to the international level. The Delhi and London bomb blasts also have an influential role in the lives of two lovers, which make them think that their war is not personal; but it is the clash between the individual and the State.
Picasso’s sketch, La cocu magnific, has also played a crucial role in this novel to represent a female in love. The woman is there to continue this false housewifery. The area marked exclusively as belonging to her, the housewife under the patriarchal system, is too easily intruded by many relationships and attachments. Kuki, the female protagonist, understands that the area is not exclusively hers. There dwells much maladjustment, many falsehoods. Still she was not in a position to leave her family in any way.
The novel is a collage presentation of an Asian female writer's novel and an American poet painter's sketches. Ed Baker has contributed 23 nude sketches to the 23 chapters of the novel to represent female sexuality. The novel is published by Indian AGE Communication, Vadodara, Gujarat, India
It is available in paperback format having a list price 301 INR or $10.85 US
Link to Full Review:
Writers In the Sky November '08
Title: Sensible Sensuality 
