In 1947, thousands of people, from different nook and corner, have cut their roots and crossed the newly created zero line. Millions of people have crossed the border line from the other side as well. There are many tragic stories hidden behind this transition. Mahatab Hossain, a promising fiction writer among the contemporaries, has written such a poignant story in his new novel ‘Satchollisher Train’. The story is so realistic that it can touch your heart.
During the British period all railway connections to Assam and North Bengal were through the eastern part of Bengal. Parbatipur railway junction is well known as the railway connection was established from Katihar in Bihar to Parbatipur in 1883.
Mahatab Hossain says, Muslims of Bihar took a train from Katihar to leave India and started taking refugee in Syedpur and surrounding districts via Parbatipur, which was in the then newly born Pakistan.
The author says that a family affected by the 1947 riots boarded a midnight train, the surviving woman of that family wants to return to her native land after many years. Incidentally, a young man living in Gulshan of Dhaka came forward. The story of the novel has taken many turns. At the crossroads of modernity, a piece of forty-seven flames can be seen through this book, which will give you a space of new thought and new dimension as well.
Mahatab Hossain thinks that readers can easily get into some difficult topics just by turning the page. It would not be difficult to understand, because he stressed on fluency in writing.
The 112-page novel is available at Pavilion No. 10 of Anindya Prakash at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair. Price Tk 225, the novel is available on all online platforms including rockmari.com, bookfairy.com.
