Pather Panchali - Bibhuthi Bhushan Bandopadhyay

Complete Bliss....This book completely took me away from my present state to my childhood.I enjoyed every bit of the writing...I can say this is the best book,I have read recently...Wanna tell you some thing funny..I was always thinking that it must be the story of Draupadi (Panchali)..lol...Really ...Now I came to know the meaning..In Bengali,'Pather' means 'a way' or 'a road' and 'Panchali' means 'Bengali folk song'...So it is ""Song of the little road..""..The Author is Bibhuthi Bhushan Bandopadhyay...I loved the cover page of the book with a cute face of Durga from Satyajit Ray's movie..

Copy right A Homemaker's Utopia

The story revolves around a poor Brahmin family in Bengal...Harihara Roy and Sarbajaya are a couple living in a small village,Nischindhipur,They have two kids,Durga and Apu...The whole story based on these kids..As they can't afford schooling,they try to learn every little thing from nature.They search wild berries,flowers and leaves..They play with stones and flowers..Durga loves wandering here and there in the woods stealing mangoes,custard apples and coconuts from the neighbour's gardens..She loves and cares for her brother Apu..They run miles away to see the Rail road and Train..Train is a magical thing for them..Their tiny pleasures and beautiful enthusiasm were narrated splendidly.The family leaves to Kashi (Varanasi) after the death of Durga..Their lives turn more miserable after the death of Harihara Roy in Kashi..Sarbajaya and Apu try to cope with the circumstances and typical living in Kashi,which is so unfamilier to them.....But then they remember their tiny village and feel like it is calling them back..

The lives of Apu and Durga made me recollect so many memories associated with my childhood..It is all about how the village kids enjoy every bit in their little lives..Their struggles,wishes,hopes and disappointments and all..There are some beautiful parts which can not go out of my mind.The way little Apu sleeps on the floor when he was an infant,The picnik organized by Durga and cooking in the middle of the forest and the kids running in the fields to see the train atleast once in their life time etc are wonderfully described....These kids are very innocent like flowers....How beautiful it is to learn from the nature !!! Really this concept astonished me.The natural beauty of the village got captured in my mind..On the whole the book is like a silent lake,hiding so many stories in it.

I got the Telugu version of the book from HBT....here is the link...
http://hyderabadbooktrust.blogspot.in/