Kee Ar Hobe Ekti Doshe! — [What Happens for a Single Fault!] —  is a stovel, a combination of story and novel in the same fiction, composed by M Miraz H. Breaking the traditional structure of Rabindranath Tagore’s short story, the author attempts to begin a new trend in Bangla literature indeed.

The cover page of the book contains the thematic pictures of two stories, titled ‘Bhar to Oilo’ and ‘Kee Ar Hobe Ekti Doshe!’ They instigate the curiosity among the readers for the series of stories which are directly or indirectly related to human life. The book is also entitled by one of these stories. Here lies the significance of the cover image.

The book begins with ‘Roktodaaner Punno’ [Virtue of Blood Donation] - a really humanitarian approach of the author. It’s a story of an ideal but typical young man named Tanmoy, who from his teenage grows up with a vision to help the distress in future and subsequently fulfils it in his university life like an ideal man. However, his realization is that donating blood is not a mercy to sick people; rather it is a duty as a student of public university which, in fact, is run by the donation of mass people of the country.

‘Bhar to Oilo’ [There’s Weight] is about a simple wage-earner Sentu’s life struggle. Feminism is manifested in his wife’s suggestion which ultimately leads to the humanization of the cruel-hearted Abbas.

 ‘Kee Ar Hobe Ekti Doshe!’ [What Happens for a Single Fault!] is about a slave Madon who, due to just a single fault, destroys not only a royal family but also two empires. Hence, the story teaches us moral lesson.

‘Oti Lobhe Tanti Nosto’ [Grasp All, Lose All] depicts a ‘story-within-story’. It seems to initiate another new trend in literature.

‘Daktarer Bodole Lash’ [Corpse instead of Doctor] deals with a tragic reality of life-leading in society.

In ‘Ichccha Thakilei Upay Hoy (Na)’ [Where There is a Will, There is (not) a Way], there is a complicated life story about Manik and his seven siblings, especially about the experience of study at the university. Indeed it’s a real example of stovel, a story written in the form of a novella. We find an indication of the ways to get mental satisfaction here.

In ‘Kee Hoye Gelo’ [What Happened!], there’s an attempt to find the solution to the problems of using mobile phone in public life at present.

In ‘Matabbori Shomachar’ [Bossing Message], there’s a focus on a problem of men in the contemporary social structure. Here we see a family harmony, especially a unique scenario of brotherly affection. Besides, there’s a farcical picture of the dominating agency’s injustice here.

In ‘Roommate’ we get a reminiscence of university life. Two sides of the same coin—ungrateful versus selfish—two negative aspects of human characteristics are delineated in this story, with a view to portraying the reality of our life.

 ‘Okormonnyo Upodesher Porinoti’ [Consequence of Inactive Advice] manifests the scene of proverbial reality.

‘Eider Juta’ [Shoes of Eid] is a teenager story. However, there’s a humanistic appeal here.

Finally, the way Pramatha Chaudhuri has pioneered the Chalito Riti of Bangla language, I think that M Miraz H will also be followed by the writers of future generation in the field of Bangla literature.

The book is available at Amar Ekushey Book Fair-2018 [Stall # 457 – Onnorokom Prokashonee] and at Friends’ Book Corner, Nilkhet, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

*Reviewed by: Md. Abdul Karim Ruman; Member, Faculty of Languages & Translation, University of Bisha, Saudi Arabia; PhD Fellow (Applied Linguistics & ELT), IML, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.