One banked on her sacrifice, and the other wanted her love!
My first exposure to Tagore’s Sesher Kobita was during a discussion by veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee. But picking up bits and pieces of the story did not really help much, given that I have been hearing it’s a great narration. It was only last week that I finally completed reading the book and what would be a better time than on the occasion of Rabindra Jayanti to put forward my views of it.
Sesher Kobita literally translates to The Last Poem and definitely, the story has a loud poetic touch to it while circling around the lives of Labanyalata and Amit. Amit is the quintessential bhodrolok of Calcutta, apparently enmeshed in literature and poetry; so much so, that the readers often get glimpses of his alter ego- Nibaran Chakraborty. Labanya, on the other hand, is practical, ambitious, and even competitive on several levels, though working as a Governess has mellowed her. She has always shunned the existence of love in her life and even shoos away the one man who has dearly loved her. Nevertheless, a sudden car collision on the slopes of Shillong introduces Amit and Labanya to each other where the former gets smitten by the latter and even musters up the courage to propose to her a few months later.
It is this proposal from whence the actual story starts. The practical nature of Labanya poses questions to Amit which are both deeply intellectual and highly relevant. For a person like Amit who is always riding on the clouds with his thoughts, it will be sooner than later that Labanya’s mind and actions will fall short; and he will leave her far behind with his intellectual superiority. One can question here, whether she is really being practical or hiding her insecurities in the garb of Amit’s colorful nature. Going a step ahead and metaphorically using history to continue her point, she relates that ‘To realize his [Shah Jahan] dream, her [ Mumtaz] death was necessary’; or else why will Shah Jahan take pride in a mausoleum of his lover’s death and become internationally famous? This reflects a stark understanding and hatred towards patriarchy and gender inequality through Labanya’s eyes.
Creativity and Preservation have been cleverly merged into the narration of Sesher Kobita. While Amit is creative and does not lose a chance to display the same; Labanya is quiet, conservative, and preserves moments, memories, and life. An interesting explanation given by Tagore here is that Creativity and Preservation cannot complement each other because of their functional nature. To Create is to destroy, rebuild, and renew what is preserved; and to Preserve one needs to stop creatively building upon what exists. So it can well mean that to unite, both Amit and Labanya or at least one of them has to give up their individuality. But is it worth it?
Trust forms the basis of any relationship and even if an iota of doubt creeps in; it is powerful enough to break the relation. Much that Amit loves Labanya, but her recitation of her ex-lover’s words definitely leaves a cringe in Amit’s mind. It leads him to doubt the relationship that he is aiming for. He too starts thinking practically that it is very easy to please one’s partner through mellifluous words and creative imagery during courtship, but once a union stands true both the individuals have to come together as a whole by sacrificing parts of their individuality to accept the other.
Much that we say that marriage is a union of two souls, one cannot disperse the fact blatantly that family has an important role in it. Amit belongs to the so-called elite class of Calcutta whose life is engulfed by the literary circles and social gatherings, while Labanya belongs to the scholarly middle class. Her meeting with Amit’s family renews the latent self-doubts about the unison that she has borne within herself. This along with a letter from her ex-lover gives the storyline an interesting direction.
Will Labanya re-establish connections with her ex-lover? Will she accept her relationship with Amit devoid of doubts? Will Amit’s family approve of Labanya whom they look down upon as a mere-Governess? Reading this poetic narration will give you your answers. Looking closely at the story you will find that Labanya in her quiet demeanor is the perfect rebel to the societal standards of yesteryears, quite similar to Tagore’s other leading ladies. Her questioning the unquestioned and taken-for-granted norms of patriarchy raises pertinent questions in the minds of the readers as to what will be the definition of a perfect union and how can it be achieved whole-heartedly.
I would suggest if you can read Bangla please read the original text. Should you want to read translations like I did, the details are mentioned below.
No. of Pages: 211
Publisher: Rupa
Available on: Amazon
Translated from: Sesher Kobita by Rabindranath Tagore
Translated by Anindita Mukhopadhyay
by Subhadrika Sen 
Nice.
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