This Review appeared in the Indiapost newspaper in the US, catering to the Indian diaspora
Portrait of an artist as a boy
Portrait of an artist as a boy
Which is
the most paying profession? Engineering, IT, Commerce? The answer may change
from generation to generation but what doesn’t change is the en masse pursuit
of the paying profession whether one has aptitude for it or not. Or one has to
willy nilly bend to the father’s profession. In The Sergeant’s Son, Ashim
Choudhury paints an affectionate portrait of the childhood of a budding artist
who survives the vagaries of a lower middle class upbringing and a tyrant
father to discover his skills. Unwillingly, he is forced to join as an airman
in Indian Air Force, his father’s profession.
The novel ends with this
touching observation: “All the boy had asked for in life was a pen or a
paintbrush. Instead, thrust upon him was a rifle and a bayonet. With his heavy
leather boots he plodded along.”
What happens to Kaalu after he
joined as airman is perhaps subject for a sequel. But this novel is about his
childhood as an airman’s son inside the military camp at Kalina in Bombay and
as an adolescent in Allahabad, where his father is transferred. In this debut
novel, largely autobiographical, Ashim displays a gift for lyrical description
of childhood sights and sounds, little joys and fears and how the kids cook up
tales for each other. Despite living in a city, the four siblings grow up in
the lap of nature, playing and growing up among the trees. The crossing of a
Christian neighborhood while going to school is an adventure. Ordinary
happenings are lighted up with loving attention. Even the scene at the dry
latrine is described without inhibition.
The feeling of inferiority
never leaves the family. His father is never promoted. The reason: “In the Air
Force, as in the other forces too, one’s promotion depended less on competence
and more on the ability to keep one’s superiors in good humor,” which Kaalu’s
father was singularly incapable of.
In addition, Kaalu is deeply
conscious of his dark complexion which once led a neighboring lady to mistake
him for a servant. But there are joys in life like being encouraged to paint by
some acquaintances and winning praise for his essay in school.
The novel throws up several
interesting characters but the most compelling is Borda (meaning elder
brother). The eldest of the siblings keeps being expelled from school and is
beaten up regularly and mercilessly by the father but no beatings or failures
can shake his unconventional approach to life.
Eldest siblings are usually
serious and more responsible but this one steals his mother’s earrings, picks
even Kaalu’s pocket, cheats his way with neighbors and lives a life of luxury
with his rich friends to the admiration of his brothers and other children in
the neighborhood. He even shocks the conservative family once by bringing a
girl friend home. According to Ashim, he remained incorrigible even in later
life.
Ashim Choudhury has had a chequered career having been an airman himself, a journalist, cartoonist and a UN official. But his first love remains painting. With this novel he has shown that he can paint even with the pen.
Ashim Choudhury has had a chequered career having been an airman himself, a journalist, cartoonist and a UN official. But his first love remains painting. With this novel he has shown that he can paint even with the pen.
The book is available on www.ebay.in,
amazon.com, uread.com, flipkart.com, bookadda.com, homeshop18.com,
infibeam.com,
