Battala, a Bengali novel by Sukanta Gangopadhyay, is our new audio book. The novel first appeared in the Sharadiya issue of Desh in Bengali 1423. Complete in a total reading time of about 6 hours and 48 minutes, this book may also be collected by any print-disabled listener from us. Visit our page on Audio Books for relevant information and for a list our other audio books. You may also like Safety Pin by Smaranjit Chakraborty from our audio library.
About the Novel Battala
Battala is the story of Suparna, a Bengali woman with hardly anything extraordinary to attract attention. She comes off a poor family living in a suburb near Kolkata. Her elder brother faces troubles when a chit fund company fails to return deposits of many investors who believed him as an agent and handed over their hard-earned money. Suparna saves her brother and her family by managing to eke out a sum of Rs. 20 lakh in some mysterious way. No one at home wants to know how Suparna got so much money as loan.
Suparna is married to Abhijit, the only son of a well-to-do father. Life goes on smoothly for a few days. Then a lout appears in the locality and starts blackmailing Suparna. He spreads a 10-second video clipping of an erotic scene where Suparna is clearly identified by her neighbours. She denies her involvement at first. But she succumbs in course of events.
At last Suparna, with her back to the wall, resorts to an unexpected action and the hooligan disappears for ever. She has a narrow escape, almost by a stroke of luck, or it may be a deus ex machina. Adhla, a confirmed lunatic of the neighbourhood, saves her like an angel.
Battala is the story of Adhla also who keeps looking for the actual divine stone in the midst of many stones that have gather at Battala over the years. Sukanta Gangopadhyay has skilfully exploited the local legend of Battala for a social story.