Published :
Updated :
For all latest news, follow The Financial Express Google News channel.
No one can avoid diving into the sea of memory, which is a matter of both joy and sorrow. Again, not everyone can recall the past precisely. Those who have strong feelings of both pleasure and sadness when thinking about things that happened in the past love to walk down memory lanes. They also like to share some of their bittersweet memories with others in various ways, and Rowshon Akter Mili is one of them. Although she is a housewife, she enjoys writing short stories. In her latest endeavour, she comes up with the book titled Sritibidhur, meaning nostalgia in English.
The book is a collection of 15 short stories, of which five are brief tales of family memories in a fictional format. These stories are not just about Mili's family, but about the shared experiences of many families. Readers will find touches of their own memories in these stories. In some of the stories, Mili attempts to sketch familiar events of middle-class families, making it easy for readers to connect and find something common with them. Again, some stories indicate an effort to explore different shades of life, resonating with the diverse experiences of the readers.
The writer dedicated the book to her mother and her elderly sister who had demised earlier. The first story in the book is a brief and scattered account of the life of Umme Salma Chowdhury, the mother of Mili. It is worth noting that her mother was the central figure at the book's publication ceremony, held in the third week of last month in Dhaka. The event evolved into a social gathering of family members and friends, where Salma Chowdhury offered brief words of encouragement.
As Mili writes in plain language, it will be easy for any reader to move ahead. She also tries to keep turns and twists in the stories as limited as possible. That's why many readers may easily predict the end of the stories after going through a page or two. Nevertheless, it is a style that the writer employs.
There are some typos in the book, which might be a bit disturbing for a keen reader. However, it's important to note that these errors are minor and do not detract from the overall reading experience. We hope that these will be corrected in the second edition. The cover, designed by Rafia Ferdous, is simple yet indicative enough to evoke nostalgia, adding to the overall charm of the book.
asjadulk@gmail.com