Darling Democracy

by Nilotpal Mrinal, Hind Yugm

Bilaiya naamak gaon me panchayat chunav ki sugbugahat ke saath jab gaon ki seat Adiwasi ghoshit hoti hai tab vartmaan mukhiya Rang Bahadur Singh pareshan ho uthta hai. Malum chalta hai ki uss gaon me ek vidhwa adiwasi mahila hai jo ab nirvirodh mukhiya chuni jayegi. Usi dauran ek baniya ke beta ek adiwasi ladki ko bhaga le jata hai. Tab use manakar wapas gaon me laya jata hai aur baniya samaj us ladki ko chunav ladane ki taiyari karne lagta hai. Udhar vartman mukhiya ko pandit Tribhuj ne salah diya ki wo kisi adiwasi mahila se shadi karke rajput dwara shaasan karne ki parampara ko bacha sakte hain. Mukhiya aisa hi karta hai. Tabhi pandit Tribhuj ka beta ek adiwasi girlfriend se court marriage karke wapas lautata hai. Ab Bilaiya gaon mein mukhiya ke 4 candidate taiyaar ho jate hain. Lekin tabhi khabar aati hai ki panchayat chunav abhi nahin hoga. Iss tarah sabke armanon par pani fhir jata hai.

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2021

About the author

Born in 1984 in Santhal Paragana, a remote area of ​​Jharkhand, Nilotpal Mrinal has already established himself among the readers and literary intellectuals with his first novel 'Dark Horse'. Nilotpal, originally hails from Bihar, is also active in political and social activities for the last several years after completing his education from St. Xavier's College, Ranchi. Along with playing a special role in student movements, Mrinal has already reached to TV platform in the field of folk music. These days, he's also trying his luck in poet-concerts and gaining popularity.

Reviews

[S.Ach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nilotpal Mrinal's narration of his own book "डार्क हॉर्स" happens to be the first audible audio I listened to. I was so fascinated by Mrinal's narrative style, even if his story doesn’t offer anything out of ordinary, that I was looking forward to listening more from him. Fortunately, I found this one in the same platform, where he is assisted by other voice artists that I also like.
With his quintessential UP/Bihari accent Mrinal repeats his feat once again. This time the story typifies village level politics, and revolves around the commotion it creates when a panchayat is declared to be an Adivasi seat. Mrinal covers many evils that India is still reeling under - caste based discrimination, local level corruption, petty politics, et al.
I somehow felt the story ended abruptly, without doing justice to the characters that got introduced towards the end. I had expected more.
But, nevertheless, it was a fun listen.