This novel also sheds light on some of the least developed, poverty-stricken regions of Chhattisgarh and Odisha whose inhabitants struggle to make ends meet. The characters and the landscape keep changing with the winding course of the mighty river. The river plays the dual role of backdrop and central character.
Agnihotri’s eye for detail and empathy make every one of her characters come alive. And they are varied and lively, sporting every shade of gray, from sociologist Smita and engineer Debabrata, through Ranga, the unscrupulous newspaper columnist, to field officer Arup, Dhanujatra actor Shambhu Mahakud, Tularam Dhuru, the Gond village medic, Subal, the indigent poet, Ramesh Meher, the trader lacking moral principles, Jhanjha, the lucky orphan born during Cyclone Phailin, Karnakumar, the weaver struggling to make a living, and Neelkantha, the lover of another man’s wife who gets his comeuppance, as well as Banasri, the girl who has given her heart to the iconic Netaji who lived generations before her in Cuttack city and who continues to live in that state of reverie.
Agnihotri’s non-linear narratives work for the most part. She does not introduce her characters but makes the reader piece together the personalities and circumstances. Physical spaces in these stories are more than spatial settings — they foreshadow events and reflect emotional states.
While literary short fiction can often get bogged down by a singular focus on beautiful language or shocking, soul-sucking sadness – or both – Agnihotri doesn’t allow her stories to exist simply for the sake of art. Instead, she dives directly into political, economic and social issues.
Agnihotri draws inspiration for many of her stories from the have-nots of this country – the landless peasants, the migrant workers, the abandoned wives, the unemployed. Yet, she does not fall into the trap of ‘reporting’ – this is fiction that serves better to illuminate India UnShining than most ‘factual’ pieces could.
Agnihotri’s novel deals with life in Bengal from the 1960s to the end of the twentieth century, a period of violent Naxal rebellion coupled with extrajudicial police action, popular land reforms and anguish over industrial stagnation, the flight of investment and talent from the state, and the official arrival of globalization.