Sahitya Akademi Award–winning author Alka Saraogi, explores these questions in Register me as Kulbhushan: could reinvention of name help reclaim identity in a new nation? Set in the historic city of Calcutta (now Kolkata), the novel captures the period when survival often demanded reinvention of identity. At this time when identity means only an official proof, reinvention of name without any particular record runs the risk of identity. It is one man’s determination to be officially recognized that becomes a moving reflection on identity as something shaped by borders and bureaucracy.
It is a novel on the trauma of partition, a deeply observed epic of exile and the fundamental human desire to belong. The protagonist moves through alien space with grace and humility as a refugee. The idea of forgetting the immediate past worked in his favor for sailing through the daily ordeal of existence. Erasing time gone bye worked as a means of surviving trauma. By punching the button of forgetting - a technique he learnt from his childhood friend - he could survive the suffocating streets and the drudgery of the family.
Register me as Kulbhushan is the story of a refugee, who through self-awareness helps reader capture a nuanced portrayal of the fractures in society. With that being the case, one wonders if there was truly any place that a refugee could call home. Be it the partition of Punjab or Bengal, scars of communal violence have made permanent place in painful memories. Partition is more than the reallocation of a nation-state territory but a displacement of people from homeland and history. It is a mental phenomenon that has serious implications on the refugee.
Eight months may seem a long time since Kulbhushan came from Kushtia, but wasn’t sure where he was supposed to rest his long legs each night. The travel through the inhospitable dense forests of Dandakaranya added to his learnings. Ever since he alighted at Sealdah, refugees were sleeping on the floor with dirty sheets spread out underneath their legs. On his way through the crowd, he was assaulted by the stench of unwashed bodies, piles of refuse and a roaring heaving clamor everywhere he looked. It was quite a common sight all through.
The novel gives multiple eyes to see the world. Within the main story there are many small stories, much it may seem like a monologue or an autobiography. But it could easily be called a part war story or a communal fiasco. The novel’s major Muslim character, Mohammad Islam, is long blamed by Kulbhushan as the person whose threat letter that caused his exile. Embedded in the novel is the story of displaced from their country due to race and caste. Register me as Kulbhushan is a meditation on lie and truth and beauty and ugliness prevailing in a society.
Alka Saraogi has evolved an engaging narrative style that integrates fact with fiction. The characters carry stories within stories. John Vater, who is splendid with his translation, thinks that the novel is passed on as anecdotes of personal experiences. It eventually turns out to be tale of the misery of a refugee who searches for real identity within double identity of existence in a region that has historically been one.
by Alka Saraogi
Translated by John Vater
Penguin, New Delhi
Extent: 445 pages. Price: Rs. 599.
