Nijer Shonge Nijer Jiboner Modhu (, ) is a Bengali novel written by Bangladeshi author

Humayun Azad Humayun Azad (28 April 1947 – 12 August 2004) was a Bangladeshi poet, novelist, short-story writer, critic, linguist, columnist and professor of Dhaka University. He wrote more than 70 titles. He was awarded the Bangla Academy Literary Aw ...

. It was first published in February 2000 in Ekushey Book Fair by

Agamee Prakashani Agamee Prakashani () is a Bangladeshi publishing house located in Dhaka. History Agamee Prakashani was founded in 1986 by Osman Gani. It was based in Banglabazar which housed a large number of publishing houses. As of 2015, it has more than 2 ...

. The novel tells the story of a boy's rural life of

Bikrampur Bikrampur (lit. City of Courage) was a historic region and a sub-division of Dhaka within the Bengal Presidency during the period of British India. Located along the banks of the Padma River (a major distributary of the Ganges), it was a sign ...

of 1960s decade and believed to be inspired by author's own childhood life as Azad was also born and brought up in

which is now known as

Munshiganj District Munshiganj District () is a district of Dhaka Division. It is located in central Bangladesh. This region is also historically known as Bikrampur. Geography It is a part of Dhaka Division and borders Dhaka District and Narayanganj District in the ...

, however the fictitious character Jalkador, who is the main protagonist of the novel, belongs to a farmer-family. The main subject of the novel is about life-leading of a boy named Jalkador in Rarhikhal village of

(the village is now in Sreenagar Upazila of

) in 1960s decade when Bangladesh was part of Pakistan. The novel tells the story of his journey as a rural Bengali boy from boyhood to adolescence. Author Humayun Azad dedicated this novel to his childhood's rural friends and compared the novel to Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's novel ''

Pather Panchali (, ) is a 1955 Indian Bengali language, Bengali-language Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray in his directorial debut. It is an adaptation of Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay's 1929 Bengali Pather Panchali ...

''.

Plot summary

Jalkador lives in Rarhikhal village with his parents and siblings; he has one brother and one sister who are named Abju and Moyna respectively. Jalkador comes from a farmer-family background; his father is a farmer and Jalkador raises cattle and catches fish who does not go to school and speaks local dialect of the Bengali language. He grows up gradually but his penis remains uncircumcised. When monsoon comes, Jalkador observes flood, their whole village affects badly by the flood, for this reason flood also attacks their house. Jalkador watches

canoe sprint Canoe sprint is a water sport in which athletes race in specially designed sprint canoes or sprint kayaks on calm water over a short distance. Prior to November 2008, canoe sprint was known as flatwater racing. The term is still in use today ...

and

kabaddi Kabaddi (, ) is a contact team sport played between two teams of seven players. It is one of the traditional games of South Asia. In this game, a raider enters the opposing half of the court to touch defenders and attempt to return within 30 ...

game in village; he also takes part in reaping paddies. His friend Majid teaches him to smoke cigarette and they talk about circumcision, they see each other’s penis secretly though not in homoerotic gaze. From Majid, Jalkador learns basic knowledge about male-female sexual relationship. In the last part of the novel, Jalkador feels sexual attraction watching female snake-charmers and other rural women. He learns to masturbate and before it, he faces

nocturnal emission A wet dream, sex dream, or sleep orgasm, is a spontaneous occurrence of sexual arousal during sleep that includes ejaculation (nocturnal emission) and orgasm for a male, and vaginal lubrication and/or orgasm for a female. Context Nocturnal e ...

; he is already a teenager during this time.

Setting

This novel was set in the 1960s decade’s Bengali rural life of

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

. At that time East Pakistani villages had no electricity, nor had any system of good sanitation.

Characters

*Jalkador - The main protagonist of the novel, a Bengali rural boy *Abju and Moyna - Jalkador's siblings, junior to Jalkador *Majid - Jalkador's friend *Rokman - Jalkador's family's servant *Malti - The milkmaid

References

{{reflist

External links

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at

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Nijer Shonge Nijer Jiboner Modhu
at

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Books by Humayun Azad Novels by Humayun Azad Bengali-language literature Bengali-language novels Bangladeshi novels Bangladeshi books 2000 novels Juvenile sexuality in books Novels set in the 1960s Novels set in Bengal Agamee Prakashani books