Book Review

'Baune' : The underbelly of life

'Baune' is the third collection of B.S.Bir's short stories. Like his earlier collections, these stories also contain meaningful insight into life and if what we see are the dark secrets of life then so be it. All the stories are sensitive portrayals of the ironies of life and the reader would be richer for it.

Literature is the mirror of life. But this can not remain passive when it looks at the social conditions bordering on moral chaos and lack of balance. To present the reality alone is not to the aim of literary creation but the writer moves beyond it while trying to wish life all the best.

'Baune' the third volume of short stories by B.S Bir appears to be a milestone of his literary voyage. His previous volume of stories ' Pauna Admi' reflected his creative and at the same time appeared to be pregnant with possibilities of higher achievement, of which the present volume bears a testimony. In these stories, Bir has employed the weapon of irony and satire at a large scale and the victim of his satire is our contemporary society. Short story ' Baune' appears to be the epicenter of his art of satirization, which also happens to be the concluding story of this volume. In this story, he brings out the smallness which marks the five-star and glittering culture of contemporary life in which we have given a go-bye to all the values of life an even to those who value it. Gyan Peeth Awardee Kalidasa and his wife leave the party unrecognized and unhonoured and this becomes the high point of the story as well as the central thrust of this volume.

Looking at the variety of characters and situations, one becomes aware of the huge store of experiences which becomes the backdrops in Bir's creative effort. Bir's creative eye can locate extraordinary truths even in ordinary situations. His stories, 'Chhutti', 'Pul', Shah-Sawar', 'Partapi', 'Darna' and Akharili Pandtani' deal with the corporate world of which he himself forms a part. 'Partapi Da Partap' satirizes the dalits using surnames belonging to 'Jatts' with their names. Story ' Akhrili Panditani' depicts with great subtlety the mindset of officers belonging to lower castes who had to suffer injustice in their early life. The hero of this story is a P.C.S officers who gives jobs only to pandits and every women frome pandit family who comes into contact with him becomes the victim of his lust. But all the evil of his mind forces us to re-think when in the end it becomes clear that when he was five years old, a Brahmin had raped his mother before his eyes, when she had gone to sweep the house. After learning this fact, the hero of this story appears to be pathetic character, a tragic figure rather than a villain who got back, though in a wrong way on society. Story 'Shah Swar' presents the unsavory truth of contemporary life. If a man can enjoy women outside the wedlock, why not his wife? 'Chutti' and 'Namard' also belong to this category whereas short story 'Pul' presents the tragedy of feminism, which, in the name of women's lib, brings the family at the brink of disaster. 'Ahalaya Mook Kyon Hai', is the story of a woman who suffered rape and the cold behavior of Prof. Kulshristha, her husband, becomes and object of deep questioning. What was her fault for which she was being punished? And who was Prof. Kulshristha ro punish her? Questions like this start brewing in the mind. 'Bedaawa' is a very sensitive story which brings into focus the mental anguish of Punjabi Sikhs who have to cut off their hair in order to settle in foreign countries. The story 'Senior Citizen' depicts the sad condition of old couples whom their own sons and daughter exploit when they take them to foreign countries.

It can be said that in this volume of short stories, a concerted attempt has been made to enter into a dialogue with grim realities of contemporary life. Sexual relations have been discussed in a loud voice perhaps that is the reality of loife today. With this volume, Bir has taken a long leap into the world of creative writing and tried the gap between the reader and the reality in which he appears to be quite successful.

Dr. J.S Anand