I was surprised to know that it was a novel written by the great poet of all times, Rabindranath Tagore. I admired him as one of the finest poets who wrote in English. I had a glimpse of his mammoth talent in his book `Geetanjali’. A poem named `A unknown bird singing’ impressed me the most. When I saw `Gora’ I was bubbling with temptation to read it in a single sitting, though it was some four hundred plus pages book!
In the beginning itself, you would experience the magic of Tagore`s narration style. He doesn`t hurry anywhere, he doesn`t nudge you to reach conclusions. While you read his lines, you slowly forget that you are reading a book, you feel that you are witnessing a phenomenon. You get so much involved in the story that you will forget to bother about time and your surroundings. His prose reflects the tranquility and peace in the personality of the author.
After reading this massive novel for a period of twenty two days, I felt like I am embraced by a silent flame of peace. The characters of the novel, Poresh Babu, Anandamayi impressed me the most. Even the main character of the novel Gora, Gourmohan Babu appealed me through his will power, dynamic personality, personal charisma. I guess this character somewhat resemble to Swami Vivekananda.
Gourmohan and Binoy are intemate friends. Gora has an aggressive personality. He has sounding opinions on all the issues. His dynamic personality would force anyone to bow before him. He, sometimes appears to be arrogant and extravert. Benoy, on the contrary is very sensitive, light hearted. Even though he was forced by Gora to develop his own way of thinking, he prefers to follow Gora. He always tries to please Gora.
When they are introduced to Poresh Babu`s Brahmo family, the two orthodox hindu boy`s life takes a different path. Benoy, who was brought up by his uncle lacked the affection of a woman. He finds it in Poresh Babu`s house. He easily gets acquitted with their family. Gradually, his affection towards Lolitha, one of the daughters of poresh babu, turns to be more serious. Lolitha also nudges their relation to deeper meanings. She tries to get Benoy out of the influence of Gora. She helps him to develop his own views.
Meanwhile, Gora goes to jail for fighting with a policeman for the sake of an innocent. During this period, the relation between Benoy and Lolitha ripens to the maximum. Since Benoy was hindu and Lolitha was the daughter of a Brahmo family, society takes pleasure in creating every problem for their marriage. Even though Benoy was educated and hardly had any belief in the customs and rituals of hindu community, he refuses to get initiated to Brahmo samaj. Strangely, Lolitha supports his stand. The tension created by their relation occupies major part of the story. It indicates the structure of society in Bengal at that time.
After Gora had been released from jail, he comes to know about the seriousness of the relation between Benoy and Lolitha. He tries to convince Benoy not to bow down for the cause of a girl. But sooner he realizes the glory of` Bharatvarsh’ and the role of women in it through Sucharitha, other daughter of Poresh Babu. Amidst severe dismissals from his intellectual being, he allows himself to get carried away by Sucharitha.
Finally Anandamayi , Gora`s mother arranges marriage of Benoy and Lolitha in spite of strong opposition from the society. Gora comes to know one of the disastrous truth about his birth. He realizes that Anandamayi was not his mother. He comes to know that he was not at all a hindu, but was the son of a Irish Saheb. This shatters all his will power, conviction, philosophy. At the end Gora decides to follw the path preferred by his heart.
I have many things to say why I admire this book. I this novel we can get a clear vision of great person like Tagore. His perceptions about religion, rebelling against religious bonds and creating supplements for it . His understanding about the society, about the people of the our country. He prefers to mention that not belonging to any community or section is the noble thing one can do.
The concept of Bharatvarsh which was revealed through Gora in the novel made me to think a lot. Many things started to resound in my mind. We cannot reform the country by blaming and condemning the ignorance of its people, its poverty . To bring about any small reform, we have to love the country wholly. We should become common among the common people of the country. We have to tolerate their ignorance, their beliefs, their traditions.
Filed under: ಬಿಡಿ ಲೇಖನ , benoy, Gora, lolitha, rabindranath Tagore, sucharitha
