3 Review(s)

"‘THE WATER OF THE RIVER DEO’ by PADMASREE MAZUMDAR is amagnificent account of the lives of Sylheti people living in North Tripura. Thereconstruction of their livelihood, their inclination to their culture and heritage,their festivals and folklore, their desire, delight and agony, the effect of emigrationand urbanization...everything is wonderfully portrayed by the novelist. The fates ofcommon folks are somehow connected to the river. The river is the silent witnessof the circus called life. The river is the divine and the demon. It is the symbol ofcontentment and the metaphor of the eternal flight of Mahakaal. Through thecharacters of the novel, we explore the plight of relationships, the propensities ofhuman-mind, the fruit of selfish pursuits, the science latent in superstition, and thebites of blind faith, politics and dowry system. We marvel at the riddles of Nature.We feel an urge to transcend the karmic cycle of pain and pleasure, dilemma anddelusion. We feel the river flowing in our heart of hearts.This novel contains reveries, moments of revelation and repercussion, horror andnostalgia. The way she describes the landscape or transports the characters intotheir worlds of imagination is spectacular. The way she uses the maxims of Khonaor the lyrics from ‘Sri Raadhikar Ovishaar’ or traditional folk songs to draw aparallel between the mythological characters and the characters of this novel isfascinating."