Broken Nest: Revisiting The Tale Of Charulata, On Satayajit Ray's Birth Anniversary

This selection of Tagore’s stories exemplifies his remarkable ability to enter the complexities of human relationships. Within seemingly simple plots, Tagore portrays with unusual compassion and lyricism the predicament of Bengali women in traditional contexts, moving from the loneliness of an intelligent, beautiful woman neglected by her husband in his acclaimed novella ‘Broken Nest’ to the powerlessness of a young girl whose prized possession is taken away in ‘Notebook’, from the casual abandonment of an orphan in ‘Postmaster’ to a girl robbed of her childhood in ‘The Ghat’s Tale’.

Powerful in their simplicity and astuteness, the novella and three short stories included in this collection—translated by acclaimed poet and fiction writer Sharmistha Mohanty—are some of the Nobel Laureate’s finest prose works. To mark Satayajit Ray's Birth Anniversary (May 2), we revisit the tale of Broken Nest, the basis for the noted 1964 film Charulata, by Ray.

Here's an excerpt from Broken Nes

Bhupati did not need to work. He had enough money and the country was hot. But he was born under stars that made him a man who must work. This is why he had to start an English language newspaper. After that he did not have to lament the endlessness of time on his hands.

Ever since childhood he had liked writing and giving speeches in English. Even when there was no need, he would write letters to English language newspapers, and even if he had nothing to express he would always say a word or two at formal gatherings.

To get a wealthy man like Bhupati into their group, political leaders would praise him profusely, and so Bhupati's idea of his own abilities in English had become well-nourished and full.

In the end his lawyer brother-in-law Umapati, defeated in his attempts to set up a practice, told him, 'Bhupati, start anEnglish language newspaper. You have such exceptional...' etc.

Bhupati became enthusiastic. To have a letter published in another's paper could not really be a matter of pride; in his own, an independent pen could freely run its course. He made his brother-in-law an assistant, and at a rather young age he ascended the editor's chair.

At a young age the intoxication of editorship and politics is very strong. There were also enough people to spur Bhupati on.

In this way, while he was engrossed in the paper, his child wife Charulata slowly stepped into her youth. The newspaper editor did not become fully aware of this significant piece of news. The Indian government's border policies were changing rapidly and breaking all barriers of restraint. This was the object of Bhupati's attention.

In the wealthy house Charu had no work to do. Like a flower that never turns to fruit, and so, outside any necessity, remains in bloom, was Charu's life, and to remain in bloom the only work of her endeavourless, endless, days and nights. She lacked nothing.

Taking advantage of such circumstances, the wife indulges her husband excessively, marital life loses all restraint and goes from timely to untimely, from proper to improper. Charulata did not have any such opportunity. To penetrate the screen of the newspaper and claim her husband became extremely difficult for her.

When a relative brought his attention to his young wife and reproached him, Bhupati, for once, took notice of the situation and said, 'That is true, Charu should have a companion, the poor thing has absolutely nothing to do!

He told his brother-in-law, 'Why don't you bring your wife here-without a woman her age in this house, Charu must be finding it very lonely.

It was the lack of another woman's company that was the cause of Charu's sorrow, this is what the editor understood. He arranged to have his brother-in-law's wife, Mandakini, brought to the house, and was relieved.

The time when a husband and wife, in the first glow of the birth of love, appear to each other in incomparable beauty and as forever new, that time, that golden radiance of a marital dawn, passed by, unawares, unknown to both of them. Without tasting newness, both became old, familiar and habituated to each other.

Excerpted with Permission from Broken Nest and Other Stories, by Rabindranath Tagore, translated by Sharmistha Mohanty, published by Ekada- Westland.