''Gabhi Bittanta'' (, English: A Tale of a Cow) is a 1995

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

novel by

Ahmed Sofa Ahmed Sofa (, ; 30 June 194328 July 2001) was a Bangladeshi writer, thinker, novelist, poet, philosopher and public intellectual. Sofa is considered by many, including National Professor Abdur Razzaq and Salimullah Khan, to be the most import ...

. Considered one of the best satires in

Bengali literature Bengali literature () denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time and dynastic patronization or non-patronization. Bengali h ...

, it satirizes "the practice and politics of vice-chancellorship and intellectual poverty" in Bangladeshi universities.

Background

The novel is based on a true story. The novel's protagonist Abu Zunayed, the vice chancellor of the premier university of the country, is based on Abdul Mannan who was the vice chancellor of

Dhaka University The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka was founded in 1921 ...

from 1986 to 1990. Abdul Mannan used to keep a dairy cow which was killed amid factional clash among different student groups involved in politics. Sofa's ''Gabhi Bittanto'' presents a fictional account of that event.

Synopsis

The story of the novel revolves around chemistry professor Abu Zunayed, a newly appointed vice chancellor of the oldest and the most prestigious university of the country. In flash back, the narrator narrates that there was no chance Zunayed would be nominated for the VC panel, let alone get appointed in the position of VC, but he got nominated finally due to the influence and support of Zunayed's colleague young Dilruba Khanam, who manipulated her feminine charm to get others support Zunayed since she harbors grudge against the previous VC for some personal reason. Despite getting the lowest number of votes in the nomination, the country's president, who is also the university's chancellor, appoints Zunayed as the VC since Zunayed was thought to be someone who would be subservient to the regime reigning the country.

Characters

* Mian Muhammad Abu Zunayed, chemistry professor and the vice-chancellor of the university * Begam Nurunnahar Banu, Zunayed's wife * Dilruba Khanam, chemistry lecturer and very active in the politics of Dorakata Dal * Sheikh Tabarak Ali, a development contractor who bribes the VC a cow * Abed Hossain, Ali's BUET-graduate son-in-law * Janardan Chakrabarti, an old part-time teacher * Mawlana Abu Taher

Reception

''Gabhi Bittanto'' is considered "a canonical piece" describing "the absurd practices in the academic arena of Bangladesh." A third year law student of the University of Dhaka protested against the question paper leak of the admission test held on 12 October 2018 (later re-held on 16 November 2018 invalidating the former) by reading ''Gabhi Bittanto'' as an act of protest during his hunger strike.

References

{{reflist Bangladeshi novels Bengali-language novels 1995 novels