Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
Translator: Chhanda Chattopadhyay Bewtra
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In the novel Ashani Sanket (translated here as Distant Thunder) by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay we see a searing description of the famine of 1943, what later came to be known as the Great Famine of Bengal. It was a man-made disaster, caused mainly due to rural/ urban divide and income inequality in the wartime economy in India under the British Raj.
At first, life in the villages moved along at a tranquil ebb and flow, but as food ran out and the specter of hunger and famine loomed ever closer, societal unrest developed. In the face of disaster, people tried to do everything possible to survive while seeking somehow to preserve the traditional ways.
The bewilderment of Ananga and Gangacharan and their compatriots at the onset of the famine-the distant thunder is shown through their daily lives, drawn with deep sympathy by the finest portrayer of rural Bengal.
 
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