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PATNA ROUGHCUT.
Patna Roughcut is both an elegy to the intimate neighbourhood and a poem of protest. It is a story of love, idealism and sexual awakening.
Sensitive, laconic, fool for love Ritwik, apprentice writer and biographer of urban affliction, steers this novel from the coal badlands of undivided Bihar, to patrician Patna colonies and Delhi University campuses. Back and forth through five decades he maps the serrations on which a generation cuts its teeth and a society slowly slits its wrists.
Ritwik’s is a shared world of books, music and films. And, thus, the only people he can truly love are those that further his unsentimental education: flamboyant Harryda who, blessed by Marlon Brando, sees his dreams in technicolour; austere Ila who gifts Ritwik The Communist Manifesto for his thirteenth birthday; Samar Sinha, the brilliant subaltern historian who plays for him Creedence Clearwater Revival albums and takes him for coffee with Phanishwar Nath ‘Renu’; Mrinal Thakur-Chowdhury, patriarch of Hriday Kutir who one day disappears in his trademark white seersucker suit; Sudama Pathak, the doomed Glee Club chorister who provides Ritwik with his literary double; and in the end Mira Verma who by her own admission is ‘more of a Truffaut girl than a Godard moll’.
With ironic, delicate humour Patna Roughcut peels away layers if sepia-toned memories to arrive gently at the heart of an aching, throbbing youth.
Sensitive, laconic, fool for love Ritwik, apprentice writer and biographer of urban affliction, steers this novel from the coal badlands of undivided Bihar, to patrician Patna colonies and Delhi University campuses. Back and forth through five decades he maps the serrations on which a generation cuts its teeth and a society slowly slits its wrists.
Ritwik’s is a shared world of books, music and films. And, thus, the only people he can truly love are those that further his unsentimental education: flamboyant Harryda who, blessed by Marlon Brando, sees his dreams in technicolour; austere Ila who gifts Ritwik The Communist Manifesto for his thirteenth birthday; Samar Sinha, the brilliant subaltern historian who plays for him Creedence Clearwater Revival albums and takes him for coffee with Phanishwar Nath ‘Renu’; Mrinal Thakur-Chowdhury, patriarch of Hriday Kutir who one day disappears in his trademark white seersucker suit; Sudama Pathak, the doomed Glee Club chorister who provides Ritwik with his literary double; and in the end Mira Verma who by her own admission is ‘more of a Truffaut girl than a Godard moll’.
With ironic, delicate humour Patna Roughcut peels away layers if sepia-toned memories to arrive gently at the heart of an aching, throbbing youth.
- GenresFiction
187 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 25, 2011
Patna Roughcut is a delightful little book, the kind of book you hate for being only 180 odd pages long. It revolves around the life of Patna's own Ritwik Ray (i think there's a lot of Siddharth Chowdhury in him), his life around Kadam Kuan, in patna,and Delhi University, the characters that influence his life- friends, mentors, and lovers.
It is a tale of growing up, growing old and the loss of innocence. On many occasions, it reminded me of The Wonder Years. The interesting thing about the book is that its non linear, not just in terms of narrative, but also in terms of narrators, and though the protagonist remains Ritwik most of the time, you also get to read others' perspectives.
I think I connected with the book (also) because of its small town setting, middle class values, and ambitions that never go beyond a certain limit. It has a lot of "you know you were a kid in india in the 80's " moments that are very endearing.
When you know that a wave of nostalgia tinged with melancholy is upon you, this is the book to pick up and laze through.
It is a tale of growing up, growing old and the loss of innocence. On many occasions, it reminded me of The Wonder Years. The interesting thing about the book is that its non linear, not just in terms of narrative, but also in terms of narrators, and though the protagonist remains Ritwik most of the time, you also get to read others' perspectives.
I think I connected with the book (also) because of its small town setting, middle class values, and ambitions that never go beyond a certain limit. It has a lot of "you know you were a kid in india in the 80's " moments that are very endearing.
When you know that a wave of nostalgia tinged with melancholy is upon you, this is the book to pick up and laze through.
April 24, 2023
A raw, Malgudi Days-like tale about people from Patna.
Loved the narrative prowess of Chowdhury, but the dialogues were quite underworked. After a couple of stories, the initially amusing facts about, and history of, Patna couldn’t singlehandedly hold my attention.
All in all, a decent read!
Loved the narrative prowess of Chowdhury, but the dialogues were quite underworked. After a couple of stories, the initially amusing facts about, and history of, Patna couldn’t singlehandedly hold my attention.
All in all, a decent read!
April 1, 2019
Lovely book. I started raeding after reading Patan Blues and found it equally good.
June 13, 2015
A man and a woman who chose to remain friends as sun sets gently on Patna.This book is all about the capital of Bihar and her uniqueness.
This is not agreat literary read but obviously a piece to relate to your place,to the nostalgia to the unexplored riddles of life.This is my first novel am reading which is ubiquitously Patna.The fever,love,culture,tone..everything will take the readers to the place.But the best part are the characters Harryada,ritwick,mira,illa all are so linked and yet cast a distant sorrow of separation.I must admit the characters could have been much well crafted to give this book a better approach but still the Bengali culture of Patna,the books,the movies..truffaut and godard..will always give you the different taste of a society of Bihar..which we don't know.It is well beyond Laloo prasad,yadav brotherhood and the demeaning politics.Siddharth is successfull enough to potray the daily life with so much rawness and brutal..so once it comes to readers ..they can distinguish the dream and reality
My #Patna friends relive it..you will like it:)
This is not agreat literary read but obviously a piece to relate to your place,to the nostalgia to the unexplored riddles of life.This is my first novel am reading which is ubiquitously Patna.The fever,love,culture,tone..everything will take the readers to the place.But the best part are the characters Harryada,ritwick,mira,illa all are so linked and yet cast a distant sorrow of separation.I must admit the characters could have been much well crafted to give this book a better approach but still the Bengali culture of Patna,the books,the movies..truffaut and godard..will always give you the different taste of a society of Bihar..which we don't know.It is well beyond Laloo prasad,yadav brotherhood and the demeaning politics.Siddharth is successfull enough to potray the daily life with so much rawness and brutal..so once it comes to readers ..they can distinguish the dream and reality
My #Patna friends relive it..you will like it:)
February 5, 2016
The word 'Bihari' has a number of connotations. Reading "Patna Roughcut" has altered a few of them for me. Ritwik is a DU pass out who returns to his native Patna to pursue a career in journalism. Patna Roughcut is a series of pieces on events and acquaintances (and their fates) that shaped Ritwik's worldview. With passing references to the JP Movement, the Mandal protests and Laloo's Bihar, Chowdhury manages to firmly anchor the story in a Bihar one can relate to. The final chapter in which he encounters his college sweetheart (now married to a common friend and settled in the US) and wherein she grudgingly admits that its possible to love two men at the same time was the piece de resistance for me.
"Is it possible to love two persons at the same time? Perhaps it is. Men have done it for centuries"
"Is it possible to love two persons at the same time? Perhaps it is. Men have done it for centuries"
July 27, 2007
The most pathetic book I have ever read in my life.
Must admit, it was the title that got me.
That old phrase needs to be amended.
Should read - Never judge a book by it's title!
The book is pretentious. Just like its author. Wonder how he conned the publisher.
It lies alone somewhere in my pad. Away from other books. Lest they get infected.Have wasted a star on it. Simply because I feel compelled.
I don't want people to think I haven't rated it and accidentally commit the mistake of reading it.
Must admit, it was the title that got me.
That old phrase needs to be amended.
Should read - Never judge a book by it's title!
The book is pretentious. Just like its author. Wonder how he conned the publisher.
It lies alone somewhere in my pad. Away from other books. Lest they get infected.Have wasted a star on it. Simply because I feel compelled.
I don't want people to think I haven't rated it and accidentally commit the mistake of reading it.
September 12, 2011
Liked it. Warm and lovingly evoked story of life in a small town, and away from it. The book refers to life in college in a big-city (New Delhi) and lots of details about life in Patna and growing up in between the two. Author has written another book (called Day Scholar) about Delhi campus life which is the first of its kind, and supposed to be very good.
May 4, 2016
"What is with adolescent Patna convent girls and Edna St. Vincent Millay, I wonder sometimes."
One of the many reasons why Siddharth Chowdhury remains one of my most loved modern Indian fiction writers.. an antithesis to Narayan and his Malgudi tales, but - an intriguing and charming one!
One of the many reasons why Siddharth Chowdhury remains one of my most loved modern Indian fiction writers.. an antithesis to Narayan and his Malgudi tales, but - an intriguing and charming one!
October 13, 2012
melancholic and quirky . an author who doesnt respect the rules but writes a book that is like india itself. reminds me of Daniel Muniyadeen in some respects. a must read.
July 27, 2013
It's like a dream within a dream within a dream.
August 4, 2014
Best book on Patna ever ... With each chapter i went back to my childhood .... Every part of Patna is meticulously described .
May 3, 2017
There is a lot of repetition in most of the stories. Besides, seems like the author just wants to show-off his knowledge of books & movies - why else would he arbitrarily mention so many of them?
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews