Mystical human-animal symbiosis

By
Randeep Wadehra

Luck by Dhruba Hazarika. Penguin. Pages: 156. Price: Rs. 199/-

I never nurs’d a dear gazelle,
To glad me with its soft black eye
But when it came to know me well,
And love me, it was sure to die!

While reading the very first story – The Hunt – in this collection one could not help recalling the above lines from Thomas Moore’s romantic poem Lulla Rookh. The Hunt is about killing a pregnant doe that upsets its hunters. The ending is a bit contrived in that hard-nosed hunters seldom get remorseful over killing their quarry, pregnant or not. Anyway, the depiction of empathy between humans and animals/birds in other stories appears natural enough.
Luck is a pigeon’s name, but is also a metaphor for the protagonist’s changing fortunes. Basically a loner, he prefers the company of assorted pets – dogs, pigeons, sparrows etc. But none stays in his house for long. However, when he buys a pair of pigeons, one of them – named Luck – not only stays with him but also becomes progenitor of a whole flock. The relationship between the man and the bird dons almost mystical overtones. Luck, true to his name, survives two encounters with death. Eventually, he vanishes leaving behind memories that the narrator cherishes. Soul Egret is another story that highlights similar man-bird equation.

Chicken Fever is about a young magistrate’s liking for the hen and chicken he rears in his poultry coup. This becomes manifest when, on a police raid against insurgents, he saves a hen from turning into a cop’s food. He also saves a girl’s life in the same raid. This story is layered in that Hazarika has managed to seamlessly weave in the ordinary looking magistrate’s conflicting feelings vis-à-vis his beautiful wife. Another story with insurgency as its backdrop is The Gunrunner of Jorabat. Its beauty lies in the manner in which Hazarika executes the twist in the tale’s tail.

Ghostie is a touching story of a dog that, with unusual forbearance, puts up with the cruelty inflicted by three young boys; and yet remains their “shadow” till the end. In fact, the story reminds one of the Bulgarian novelist Elias Canetti’s words, “Whenever you observe an animal closely, you feel as if a human being sitting inside were making fun of you.”

My favourite in this anthology is The Asylum. Hazarika deploys his impressive talent for story-telling in underscoring the beast within the human heart while keeping the suspense intact till the end.

Hazarika uses sparse language to conjure up vivid images and riveting narratives.

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