Parshati  (English, Paperback, Soumyanetra)

"Parshati" is an exploration into the emotional vicissitudes of a modern Indian woman. The novel, named after the protagonist, Parshati, navigates the alleys and corners of the psyche of a modern woman who has recently lost her mother and is estranged from one she has deeply been in love with. The novel spans a year of Parshati’s life, where she writes in her diary, what she otherwise would have told her mother, who had been her closest friend, had she been alive. The novel is bilingual - written in English interspersed with Bengali - giving it a more authentic tone and real-life feel, because that’s how most modern Indian women, generally converse. She speaks with her mother (hypothetically) mostly in Bengali (her mother tongue), and in English with Dr Dashorathi (who is her unacknowledged lover and not a native Bengali). On one hand, the novel has vivid depictions of the unbearable physical pain Parshati’s mother underwent when she was admitted in ICU and put on ventilation before she passed away, and the associated psychological trauma and suffering that Parshati had to undergo. On the other hand, it subtly portrays the deepest affection and love that she felt for Dr Dashorathi, without ever being able to express herself, encumbered in her various roles in life. The name ‘Parshati’ is another name of Draupadi, and true to its meaning, the novel is an honest reflection of the various circumstances that affect the life of a modern woman. Honesty, but not necessarily virtuosity, imagination, but not fabrication - are traits that lend this debut novel, a character of its own.