BOOKMARK

A
runi Kashyaps frst novel
was written while the au-
thor was still a college stu-
dent and accepted for publication
by the same publisher who had pub-
lished Arundhati Roys celebrated
frst novelan indication, perhaps,
of things to come. Both novels also
centered on childhood angst and
had an ominous atmosphere of im-
pending gloom.
An Assamese would readily feel
at ease with the novelstarting
with the cover that has a mekhela
sador motif on it to references to
Zubeen Garg, sewali fower leaves,
Down Town hospital, mortons,
senisompa bananas, popular Assa-
mese idiomsto whole sentences in
Assamese. This is not an outsiders
story written from a distance, it is
a closely lived-in tale of vivid ex-
periences. Narrated by Pablo, a 17-
year-old town boy, The House with
a Thousand Stories is the poignant
story of the Bishoyas of Mayong.
Pablo lives with his family in a posh
locality of Guwahati and knows
how to speak in phai phai English.
His extended paternal family in the
village has a wedding plannedhis
aunt Moinas.
Despite his mothers concerns,
Pablo manages to convince his
parents and leaves for the village
with his cousin, Mridul. The an-
cestral house is literally one with a
thousand layered stories and as the
wedding preparations progress, the
stories tumble out one by one. The
characters ring true-to-life, and
the most interesting, of course, is
Oholya-jethai with her command-
ing presence and a secret past; then
there is Mridul, the good-looking
youngster the girls in the village
pine for; the nervous bride Moina;
the mild Onima-borma; the head-
of-the-family Mukut-khura, Pablos
love-interest Anamika; the gossip-
loving Anil-da; and the rebel Pro-
santo-khura who is bent on mar-
rying a divorced colleague. Only
Anamikas character at times slips
into a mere image of her body as
what she thinks and feels becomes
secondary.
The readers initial comfort with
the novels familiar setting is soon
replaced with a sense of vague dis-
comfort when the Nepali Bihu danc-
er, Manju, passionately emphasizes
that deep down she is an Assamese
as Mridul refuses to play the dhool
for her because he couldnt imagine
a Nepali girl as the Bihu troupes
main dancer. In modern Assam,
arent such attestations demanded
every day?
In this novel, the personal is po-
litical. Thus myths, hearsay, gossip
assume signifcance in the charged
political situation of 2002 to chal-
lenge the dominant political nar-
rative. The secret killings of rebel
ULFA leaders by the government,
the dadagiri of the SULFAs or sur-
rendered ULFAs, the peoples ul-
timate disillusionment with the
ULFAs armed rebellion, and the ex-
cesses of the Indian Army have been
portrayed as never before. But make
no mistake; there is no eroticization
of violence here, rather it speaks
of the resilience of Assams rural
population and their ability to sing
songs in the shadow of guns.
The House with a Thousand Sto-
ries is a familys intimate history, a
novel about growing up, about fnd-
ing love, and ultimately about iden-
tity and independence. Read it for
an unforgettable experience.
The House with a
Thousand Stories
{Viking (Penguin) 2013}
The House with a Thousand Stories has gar-
nered rave reviews for its frst-time author.
Nasreen Habib reviews the moving novel
set in rural Assam.