चित्तकोबरा

by Mridula Garg

चित्तकोबरा जो लिखा है, उसे उपन्यास कहते मुझे संकोच हो रहा है। जिस तरह यह लिखा गया, याद करके हँसी आती है। एक कहानी थी जो मेरे अन्तर्मन में फैलती-सिकुड़ती रहती थी। फिर एक दिन उस कहानी के अन्तराल का एक-एक क्षण अपनी कड़ी से टूटकर बिखर गया। मैंने आँखें फैलाकर देखा तो दीखा, हर क्षण अलग से फैल रहा है और पूरी एक कहानी का आभास दे रहा है। यह सच है कि मैंने उन अलग-अलग क्षणों को लिखने की प्रक्रिया में अलग-अलग जिया है...आखिर मैं थक गई। लिखे हुए पन्नों को एक जगह इकट्ठा किया और यह बात मेरे लिए सुखद आश्चर्य का विषय है कि पूरी पुस्तक में एक अन्तर्धारा बहती हुई दीखती है और एकसूत्रता भी आसानी से पकड़ में आती है। इस उपन्यास में परिच्छेद नहीं हैं। मैं जानती हूँ, जीवन की इतनी प्रवहमान धारा को टुकड़ों में नहीं काटा जा सकता। अन्दर के दबाव के कारण ही शायद यह हो सका है कि क्षणों में जी और लिखी गई इस कहानी के टुकड़ों का क्रम भी बाद में तय हुआ। दरअसल, बहती नदी से किसी किनारे खड़े होकर पानी पियो - क्या फर्क पड़ता है! क्रम-निर्धारण का पूर्वग्रह तो कहानी गढ़ने में होता है; जो कहानी है, वह तो...कोई कहीं से भी साथ हो ले... - प्रक्रिया से

Genres: Fiction

175 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Mridula Garg is an Indian writer who writes in Hindi and English languages. She has published over 30 books in Hindi – novels, short story collections, plays and collections of essays – including several translated into English. She is a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award.

She published her debut novel, Uske Hisse Ki Dhoop, in 1975. She was arrested for obscenity after her novel Chittacobra was published in 1979, in a case that extended for two years but did not result in prison. Several of her works have feminist themes, and she told The Hindu in 2010, "My writing is not feminist. One of the metaphors of womanhood is guilt, be it in sexual matters, in working woman or non-working. My women felt no guilt ever. It ruffled feathers. We have the cerebral part and the womb, which encompasses and empowers you but at the same time also tightens you. My kind of feminism is that each woman can be different."

She has been a columnist, writing on environment, women issues, child servitude and literature. She wrote a fortnightly column, Parivar in Ravivar magazine from Kolkata for five years between 1985-1990 and another column Kataksh (Satire) in India Today (Hindi) for 7 years, between 2003 and 2010. Her novels and stories have been translated into a number of Indian and foreign languages like German, Czech, Japanese and English.

She was a research associate at the Center for South Asian Studies in the University of California-Berkeley, USA in April 1990. She has been invited to speak on Hindi literature and criticism, and discrimination against women, at universities and conferences in erstwhile Yugoslavia (1988), the USA (1990 and 1991), and was a delegate to Interlit-3, Germany(1993). She was invited to and Japan (2003), Italy (2011), Denmark and Russia (2012). She traveled widely and lectured and read from her works there.

Reviews

[Gorab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highlight - Abstract coquettish conversations.
Roleplay. Fantasies. Intimate talks. Intense feelings. Infidelity. Insecurities.

The protagonist, Manu, expresses her repressed feelings of a middle class housewife. Mother of two kids, she has no complaints from her husband. But her mind seeks elsewhere to quench that sense of emptiness. She gets attracted to a Scottish theatre artist and missionary priest - Richard. Together they realize their potential for true love.

There are some detailed scenes, due to which the author got arrested for obscenity. The book has excerpts of the author's interview and conversations regarding her arrest. Objectification of men, and the disconnect of mind and body is beautifully expressed.

Overall:
Most of the book is composed of monologues and dialogues. Laden with various emotions, these are the best parts to relish. Published in 1979, the thoughts presented were much ahead of their time, and hence caused a stir in the social and moral ethics of that era. As for modern times, it makes a good, heavy and yet fast read.

P.S.: An English translation done by the author got published recently under Speaking Tiger.
Speaking tiger has become my go to publisher for trying out random translation experiments across the globe.

[Divya Pal · Rating 3 out of 5]

उच्च मध्यम वर्ग की एक सुखी विवाहित भारतीय महिला और एक खुशहाल विवाहित स्कॉटिश पुजारी केअंतर्गत व्यभिचारी रिश्ते की निर्भीक कथा। एक संवेदनशील वैवाहिक निजी दृश्य के कारण १९८० में लेखक की गिरफ्तारी और बाद में रिहाई हुई जिसका विवरण पुस्तक के अंत में दिया गया है।

[Bian · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,35⭐️

[Meenal Manolika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books-- fiction, nonfiction-- in English on women challenging social codes just by existing and having thoughts have significantly shaped my mind. But it's the Hindi novels on these themes that actually loosen the tight grip of the log-kya-kahenge-syndrome on small town soul.

The book follows the relationship between a married Scottish priest and a married Hindu woman. She stays, he roams around the world. They spend some time together in Delhi, fall in love, and meet only for 5 days each for a few following years. What stands out is that there's no guilt, no repentance, in fact, there's self actualisation as a writer for the woman.

The author was arrested for a few pages of a sexually explicit scene. She also shared in an interview that most of the book is based on her own experience. In the same interview she shares that there are some thoughts a person, more so a woman, cannot share if they want a peaceful (read: conflict free) life. She appreciates fiction as an outlet for those and I appreciate her and Hindi novels like these for the same.

One star less than 5 because sometimes the pages and pages of dialogue got annoying and some prose was too abstract (perhaps will be appreciated in a second reading).

[DALIP · Rating 2 out of 5]

Initially Published In Hindi As ‘Chittacobra’ Back In The Mid-70’s Of The Last Century, It Is Hard To Believe That Not Only Was It Banned But Actually Got The Author MRIDULA GARG Arrested As This Book Was Actually Labelled Obscene Back In Those Dark Days Of The Emergency!!
What Was So Scandalous Back Then Was The Very Thought Of A Traditional Indian Housewife Actually Stepping So Much Out Of Line As To Have A Relationship With A Missionary Who Too Was Married Back Home..It Was A Shocker That A Woman Could Write Such Literature And For That The Author Had To Pay A Steep Price For It Not Just With The Ban Of Her Book But Also Being Arrested.
The Story Of A Married Housewife Mannu Not Just Being Attracted But Also Rebelling And Conducting An Extra-Marital Affair With A Gypsy Missionary Richard Threatened To Virtually Tear Apart The Very Core Of The Moral Fabric Of Society And Back Then That Was Not Just Scandalously Unheard Of Or So The Government Of Those Times Wanted Us To Believe Almost 5 Decades Ago.
Since The Very Seed Of The Idea Was So Threatening Those In Power Decided To Sweep ‘Chittacobra’ Under The Moralistic Carpet And Battering It Senseless With The By The Ban Baton And Arresting The Author Lest She Got Bolder With Her Themes If She Continued To Write, Not Having Learnt Her Lesson.
Now After Almost 40 Years Once Again ‘Chittacobra’ Has Raised It’s Head To Make It’s Presence Felt This Time In It’s New Avatar As ‘Banjara Love’
Looking Back Into The Future One Cannot Help But Wonder How Much Has Actually Changed In The Four Decades Between ‘Chittacobra ‘ And It’s Reincarnation ‘Banjara Love’ And How Tolerant Are We Even Today To Ideas That Make Us Uncomfortable And Wriggle In Our Seats...Have We Really Evolved Or Is Everything Still The Same Below The Surface And Only The Timeline Stamp & The Titles Have Changed?
Like Love That Does Not Stale Nor Reaches Any Conclusion Banjara Love Or Chittacobra Is Absolutely Abstract..So Much So That At Times It Seems To Stand Still And At Other Times It Appears To Meander Aimlessly With No Sense Or Desire Of Direction.
Returning Back To The Past, One Simply Cannot Help But Wonder If The Moral Custodians Back Then Actually Read All Those 300 + Pages Of ‘Chittacobra’ Cover To Cover’ Or Was The Blurb On The Jackets And A Two Page Serialisation In A Weekly Magazine Sufficient To Ban The Book & Throw The Author Into Prison? Disturbing Questions That Continue To Haunt Just Like The Book Itself That Refuses To End Even After There Is Nothing More To Read As The Author Leaves A Lot Unsaid In ‘Banjara Love’!!

[Anurag Asthana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sar mein dard hota hai to kya hum sochte hain ki ye dard kyun ho Raha hai ... Shaayad kuch meri palkon pe thera hoga aur mujhe aur kuch kehna chahta hoga .... Kya ye abhi aaya hoga ya maine he ise bulaya hoga .... Pata nahi kab ye mere Saathi ban gaya hoga... Sar mein dard

[Mahika]

Cant rate this because i reviewed it! For Asian Review of Books and you can read it here https://asianreviewofbooks.com/conten...

[Mahender Singh · Rating 2 out of 5]

A below average babble. Only a foolish action of lodging a case by someone made this book famous, otherwise nothing useful, worthwhile or literary is there in this useless book.