Translated from Bengali by Kathakali Jana

A tell-tale saga of the city of Kolkata through the lens of a old Mastaan of the city.

The Ruffian unbuttons the city’s history and lore lurking in its long overlooked underbelly. Master raconteur Swapnamay adopts the voice of an old rogue, slumping through his last days  as he recollects his life’s journey cutting through the decades of revolution and conflict, of peace and people with and without power.

Seen through the lenses of an old Kolkata ruffian, this story is a memoir, an earnest testimony  of unheard voices of— strange lovers, wimpy leaders street loonies, abandoned children, unloved women and lost colonies all residing in the one timeless city of Kolkata.

An urge to make sense of the grand design that holds it all,  Conversations between Monotosh and Nata da, the central voice of the novella is, in reality an unforgettable dialogue between changing times, between lives and neighborhoods and people of an ever changing city that keep running into each other for centuries. A city is but a strange constellation of elements out in the open and stories lurking underneath – Nata da’s days of glory may be over but he knows – “I got two wings that you can’t see. I fly all the time… I fly to Chaltabagan, Alipur Central Jail, and instead of silencing the jailer with a ‘Shut up you sonofabitch!’ I go to the gardener for a little chat.”

Seen through the lenses of an old ruffian, this story is a memoir, an earnest testimony of unheard voices of strange lovers, wimpy leaders, street loonies, abandoned children, unloved women, and the lost colonies all islanding in the one timeless city of Kolkata.