By V Mohanan
In his book ‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’, Milan Kundera, the Czechoslovakia-born French writer says: “Metaphors are dangerous. Metaphors are not to be trifled with.” Yet, paradoxically, they are an inescapable part of our daily lives.
Ramu Upadhaya, who works in the Autonomous Council of NC Hills in Haflong, loves to use metaphors a lot in his fictions. His first book, A Landless Alien, though he calls it a fiction, was an essay, penned down through metaphors, about the socio-political problems of the autonomous district in particular and the North East in general.
His second book Trial and Errors is no different but it deals with high-level corruption in the officialdom not only with metaphors but also with stories within stories.
In his latest book, Upadhaya highlights, using metaphors, the duplicitous spending from the public exchequer. It points an accusing finger at the persons who are the movers and shakers of the make-believe state called Telldeary. It expressively talks about bribery and transgressions at different levels of government establishments such as the education system. It tries to reveal the truth about not to bow down to the system blindly.
It circuitously identifies some parts of contemporary India, subtly meaning some hierarchies of the northeastern region whose activities reflect their utter unawareness about the indirect impact of their actions that affect themselves in any democratic society.
The book uncovers the spade of irregular activities by entertaining tales within tales and stories, and defines with the delicacy of hitches that we contract to deal with as citizens today, even though it is set times ago. In the matter of use of public money, according to the book, it gives a hint of the commission by the psychologically imbalanced persons, and the weakly recommend psychological training for all the public servants of Telldeary.
The aim of the specific training is to help them understand the meaning of the term government of the people, for the people and by the people and give up their unethical practices.
Burner and Brawn are the two main characters in the fiction. They undertake the mission of digging dirt, from the days walking on foot to travelling by plane. Their trip starts from the age of dao (machete) to AK-47, let alone those days of the typewriter in use until the birth of the digital computer.
The book speaks against the unrestricted use of guns, faintly quizzing the human logic behind sanction of arms. Thanks to the absence of limitation of arms supply, the guiltless people, including children, are getting massacred.
Upadhaya’s novel rests as if it were heaving a sigh of respite on the account of evils in the contemporary world when placed alongside the contemplative suggestion. Its other climaxes are exposure of how to develop an autonomous region. Overall, it is a cleverly regaled story on bribery, development and misconducts albeit explained through metaphors and stories within stories.
(The author is a Guwahati-based journalist)
Book: Trial and Errors; Author: Ramu Upadhaya; Publisher: Notionpress; Pages: 225;
Price: Rs 235