অতীন বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়ের ‘বিদেশিনী’ : সমুদ্র-সংকটের দ্বন্দ্বকথা / ‘Bideshini’ by Atin Bandyopadhyay : A narrative of dilemma & conflict of the sea-life

Abstract

The unprecedented existential crisis that the undivided Bengal suffered along with the political upheavals and economic debacle during the forties and fifties of the twentieth century did not spare Atin Bandyopadhyay also. Against this backdrop, the litterateur chronicles his first-hand experience of his sea-voyage in his various novels. In 'Bideshini' the warmth of unwavering eternal love stands supreme over the melancholic sailor-life, carnal desire and discrimination on skin- colour.

This novel witnesses how sailors disregard discipline to tinge their otherwise monotonous life and how the perennial tension between the Black and the White goes on. Suman, the protagonist's life turns tragic as he is introduced to Varodi and Maria by his friend Henry as a Spaniard named 'Ozalio de Sumaen'. All these three are white-skinned. The budding love of Suman-Maria stops blooming when Bart William - a local Negro youth-reveals Suman's identity. Suman escapes capital punishment for impersonation by a whisker but loses Maria. However memories continue to unsettle. The narrator envisages love-lorn blonde Maria scouring Bengal for her fiance. As this love basks in luminous brilliance, the narration juxtaposes the unfulfilled relationship of Sucharu - Liza with the happy conjugal life of Samsad-Selima.