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It requires a great deal of honesty and patience when one sits to write about his childhood. Everyone has myriad sweet and bitter experiences during childhood. We all have certain faint but impelling memories of the places where we grow up and of the people who we grow up with, but it’s not always easy to recall them and put them on paper.
The book is a collection of stories — actually not stories but the author’s childhood moments — some light and some not so light. It is about people who were a part of his growing up - his friends, neighbours and acquaintances. Exploring and expressing his varied experiences through 10 endearing sketches, the author paints a vivid picture of Calcutta in the 1970s and 80s. The set of stories is full of intense description that point towards the author’s observant nature besides capturing the essence of the city. Although some of the stories have small and insignificant themes, they create a strong impression on one’s mind. Written in a simple and lucid style, most of these stories are sure to touch the heart of the readers and they would be left longing for more and more. A subtle humour permeates the entire narrative which is by and large serious. Humour is not superfluous rather it drips from various incidents along with their description as well as treatment. The stories like "The Baul" and "Bhultu’s Dad" linger on in your mind after having touched your heart, while the stories like "Pip-Pip!", "Toodle-oo!" and "One-Man Show" bring a smile on your face even when you have kept the book aside. There are certain others like "The Bread Hunters" and "The Cyclist" which stir your feelings. Some others like "The Errand" send you back in your own childhood even if for a while. The characters in the stories are author’s friends and other people in his surroundings, be it his relatives, visitors or residents, his classmates and their parents. The stories give you the glimpses of the city life of the time, the lifestyle of the people and their social and cultural fabric. The Baul tells about bauls (wandering singers) who danced and sang in the streets. Through the baul song, the also author paints a dark picture of Calcutta of those times. "Bread Hunters" gives you an idea about how the record-breaking monsoons of 1978 threw life out of gear for days together, so much that the people had to make do with few loaves of bread that they procured after putting their lives in danger. Although sudden, abrupt and unexpected ends of a few stories may leave the readers unsatisfied, causing an uneasy feeling in their minds, overall it’s an impressive narrative that is bound to fascinate the readers. So, grab the copy and relish childhood memories.
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1/7 Bondel Road is a fine
attempt by the author to pen down his memories and bittersweet
experiences and he has greatly succeeded in that. The title is pretty
apt as it’s the address where he spent his childhood and witnessed
various incidents which form the fabric of the narrative. Even the
stories have simple, straight and suitable titles.