Natures Play - Hide & Seek
Nihar Pradhan
Human life and Nature`s play are something which has fascinated us for ages, and it is continuing to do so. Human existence and nature`s changes are inherently mystical. Nature is so beautiful and we get absorbed in its serenity and lost in its purity. The sky was clear and floating clouds were tenderly playing hide and seek in the azure canvas..
The location was the mighty Himalayan ranges spread across the border of northern India across Nepal to north-east India across Bhutan. The air temperature was average in line with the local season standard, andeverything looked pretty hunky dory. There was no air of anticipation, that`s how every new visitor to the place has been bemused with and I was no exception..I didn`t expect anything theatrical in nature`s behavior.
As I was about to reconcile to the fact that this evening won`t be the occasion worth registering a space in my memory bank..I was re-allocating my memory space to other evening engagements. I was little disappointed. I had almost logged off. A whiff of cool breeze from the back pushed me into an unusual jerk and I had to look up. At that very moment, nature started indicating the signals of change very much a part of that space but not stating the quantum of change.
As it unfolded, so was my cellular senses, it got the ignition and my imagination was on fire. The clouds, not the white but the black ones started gathering from nowhere, perhaps it was hidden on the other side of Himalayan peaks, the peaks were mighty high and appeared to be touching the sky. It was like almighty`s magic hand on work with its beautiful brush and the clear sky as the canvas..every stroke created story.
It was real romance in blue sky and as they say when we are in romantic mood, everything looks colourful and so was the case. The sky was suddenly glorified with the emergence of seven strips of colours.. and it was magic moment as it got magnified with the appearance of double rainbow. The blue sky was covered with black clouds and a beautiful orifice disguised in the patches of cloud slowly created the window to project the fading sunrays onto the shadows engulfing the huge mountains range..it was magical focus.
I was lost and couldn`t discover the words that could best describe my experience though I was thoroughly engagement with the mesmerizing nature`s changing colours. I was glued and I was clicking..I didn`t want to miss a single scene of that fleeting transformation in nature`s beauty.
As it unfolded, so was my cellular senses, it got the ignition and my imagination was on fire. The clouds, not the white but the black ones started gathering from nowhere, perhaps it was hidden on the other side of Himalayan peaks, the peaks were mighty high and appeared to be touching the sky. It was like almighty`s magic hand on work with its beautiful brush and the clear sky as the canvas..every stroke created story.
Nihar Pradhan has written a fiction book title "makeup & breakup", which was launched at the Kolkata Book Fair & Delhi Book Fair this year.
"Make up & Break up" - Book Review by Dr. Bina Biswas Author & Critique in Flipkart
The stories in the book "Makeup & Breakup" are just not stories but a diorama of contemporary life. The characters, people and protagonists are all modern and coetaneous as if with a vengeance.
The author touches on subtly the problems gripping our societies, the preference given to the male children to the female, the poverty stricken class going in hunt of food, rag-picking children hazarding their lives digging even the radioactive garbage dumped outside a plastic factory; differently able children to the man-woman relationship caught up in a matter-of-fact life, from the high brow to the lowly ones.. Nihar`s art seems boundless.
His stories remind the readers of Franz Kafka, Graham Greene, O Henry, Tagore and Premchand amongst others. In the 'Mystery Continues..' Nihar is typically Kafkasque in the treatment of the visible pain and anguish of the sufferer.
In 'Storm before the Romance' the reader experiences elements of horror and fright as that in some famous Tagore`s stories.
The cure of a terminally ill patient with an assurance from the doctor in his story 'A Hope' brings that much needed relief, and then humor in its crudest form in other stories almost hurts.An array of colors, themes and ideas meld into cleverly handled narratives that surprise the readers with its variety if not with its rarity. The typical twist at the tail technique keeps the readers glued to the stories and always looking for 'what next'.
He tells his stories skilfully, ends them carefully still leaving much to the imagination of the readers.
Nihar Pradhan
Batch - 2000
Campus - IBS Hyderabad