By: Nayanjyoti Baruah
“The House with a Thousand Stories” by Aruni Kashyap, is one of the most compelling novels in the twenty-first century. It’s a tragic story. Being an Assamese, writing in English in such an euphonious way is stupendous and magical at the same time. This novel has many more important issues to discuss from a post-independent, post-modernist point of view. Readers would assume that it is a semi-autobiographical novel from the point of view of Pablo, seventeen years old, becoming a mature guy who is going to be loved by a twenty-one-year-old lady, Anamika will be the heroine of it.
We can divide the novel or the plot of the novel into two different parts. The first one deals with the most horrific, vicious decades of the later part of the twentieth century and the initial years of the 21st century ie 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, and the last one deals with the Family Saga or center around the family melodrama from where we will be going to get numerous information.
We cannot go with the flow of the first part and avoid the later one. Both the parts go hand in hand till the end of the story which will be explored by our hero, Pablo, who is an educated, intelligent, keen, smart, up-to-date, and a true polyglot, who decides to visit his Moina Pehi’s (paternal) wedding after so many years. Since Pablo is a modern boy living in Guwahati, fluent in English, and his name also implies that he’s something western. We’ll be exploring his western characteristics throughout the novel. When he wants to go to his relative’s house, but his mother, at first, didn’t allow him to go, because she knows the circumstances, but finally starts his journey to Hatimura Village, Mayong, on the way he comes to know that the so-called ULFA or SULFA dominating the Assam from upper to lower. To quote Pablo, “All the papers written about the ULFA, didn’t write about SULFA. How they roamed around carrying guns. How they married whomever they wanted to……..(pg. 11. The House with a Thousand Stories). There is evidence where he finds people are killed on the roads, in their houses without any agitation. In this part, we are going to see the severe side of the puppets of the government or the military who raped many indigenous girls either solo or in groups. The terror of them not only physically affected people but also their names or the sound of their boots was enough to go crazy. This is also seen in the characters like Mamoni who had been raped by four military men when she had gone to wash about those white Pokoria River. To quote Pablo, “She wouldn’t stop, she kept screaming like a lunatic until she fainted. I saw the whites of her eyes; the irises of her eyes had disappeared. She was still sitting. I saw the pale yellow trail of urine sliding down on the country yard…….(pg. 112. The House with a Thousand Stories), and the groom’s brother who may have joined the ULFA, for what Moina pehi and all were in very suffocating whether to marry or not, though that marriage was very essential for Moina pehi and for her mother whose last wish was this to see her younger daughter’s married life before her death. Also, she herself wanted to get rid of her “servant” life.
As an eyewitness, Aruni Kashyap depicts the socio-political propaganda of the 80s and 90s how the government letting these things happen before their eyes and how the ULFA, SULFA utilized their power and also how the army mercilessly raped those innocent girls at their own safe place; house. As a reader, we must say that though India got independence from Britain and Indians have freedom or rights, it’s possible only in the paper, not in real life. The life of Assamese or other caste people in Assam in post-independence was/is as same as South Africans.
Next, if we review a little bit of the Family Saga of Pablo’s Uncle and Aunt or Oholya and all, we can really justify the title of the book “The House with a Thousand Stories” because each and everyone has their own untold stories to tell. The more we go deeper into relatives’ stories, the more we proceed towards a new address, a new identity. At first, the main leading person of that house who catches the eyes of the reader is Oholya jethai of Pablo, who is presented as a very talkative person having a high pitch sound in her voice who dominated all in her house and she also represents the tall lady of the village. Though at the inaugural level, she is depicted as a bold character, but as her character drives ahead, she becomes a less important or rather a calm, kind of torpid who doesn’t like to come out of her room. Because her identity is revealed before Pablo or readers. Since she is a round character, Pablo has a convolution drawing a conclusion of her character what kind of a person she is since she always scolds others for not doing correct things. But when Pablo is heard from Prosanto da, who also has an unexpected story to listen to (which I’ll be discussing later), at first she also liked the romance. She had fallen in love with a doctor with whom she had a love affair, even though they got engaged. But since he was from an aristocratic family, his family didn’t accept her and he also rejected her at her own place. Oholya Jethai is such a person, she threw out the engagement ring to him and shut the door in front of his face. And that is the ring which has been discovered by her brother before the day of Moina pehi’s marriage when they dig up the earth for the tent. And from that moment on, her anger is suppressed by her past story.
Education plays an important role as a character. It would say it is the true friend of Prosanto, Pablo and Anamika. Because these are the main characters whose point of view varies from time to time from the rest. Because of education, Prosanto accepted a divorcee as his wife, not seeing her as a witch or ‘jokhini’. Because of education, Pablo has knowledge about anything. His behavior is commendable. Even Anamika is an educated girl. She has completed her bachelor’s degree and wants some relaxation in her life. That’s why she comes to Moina Pehi’s wedding marriage. Her views are also modern. Though she is four years older than Pablo, she still has a secret sexual relationship with Pablo. Because she knows age is just a number. Attractions, love matter.
One of the most important things that we should have discussed already is the ‘superstition’. All the family members except Pablo, are superstitious. This is an important topic the author has tried to draw. Since the author himself is from Assam, and he also belongs to that era, it’s very easy for him to write about it blindly. Anyone could or would write on it, page after page without thinking of it much. Though more or less, it still exists in our society, but it was prevalent at that time. It was at its peak. Though the British demolished it, after they had gone it’s practiced physically and verbally. The entry of owls is important. After they hear the sound of the owls, everyone in the house becomes scared. They analogue it with the messenger of death, or it has the connotation of a bad sign, something would happen. At first, they think about their mother who is about to die, since her son Prosanto da left her for Onulupa and her younger daughter’s marriage is not happening. They think that it is the sign of her death, and if she dies, Moina Pehi won’t get married for a year. Another sign appears in the shape of a divorcee. The divorcee, who would be the wife of Prosanto da, becomes the victim of it. Somewhere in the middle of the story, the two sisters of Prosanto discuss among them that if Prosanto da would be ready to marry a woman who is not a woman but a witch. Though Pablo doesn’t stand with them, his views on an unattractive woman are not good. But Prosanto da accepts the inner beauty of the widow which he might have seen. He is a true lover in the novel.
The illicit love relationship between Pablo and Anamika is interesting. At first, they are strangers who gradually improve their relationship, secretly. Pablo at first assumes her as a ghost, whose virgin body attracts Pablo to her. Though there are age differences, their desire couldn’t prevent them from falling in immoral love. To sum up, we could say that Pablo is partly an autobiographical representation of the author himself. Since we know, Pablo is smart, intellectual, a keen observer, polyglot which we have seen in the author himself. Aruni Kashyap himself speaks many languages. He is also a keen, intellectual person since he is an assistant professor at Georgia University, a poet and a novelist. Just like Pablo is from Guwahati, Aruni Kashyap is himself from Guwahati. Just like Pablo is very modern from the various perspectives, Aruni Kashyap’s perspectives are very modern, which we have also seen in the novel when he described the love relationship in a better frank way, which may not be depicted by the English writers of the West. And also since Pablo’s relatives were in Mayong, our writer’s relatives are also there. “The Sea, the Sea” novel would fail to show readers a clear description of love, but Aruni Kashyap’s novel does.
As a reader, everyone has their own way of reading a book. I know I’ve left out many relevant issues, which I believe that the other readers would do very carefully. If I have the power, I would consider this book as an “Artistically successful” piece. Though the story is very simple, he drags it very cleverly, which is a good characteristic of a writer. (The writer is a poet and student of Gauhati University)