Diamond Shumsher’s Basanti….made me cry a lot…each tragic line melted my heart….and the melted blood of my heart came as tears…the salted one…..It really awakened me such a great love story but I found some glimpses of Shakesperian drama –”Othello”. My understanding made me think over it like the love between Gagansingh and Basanti is parallel with the love between Othello and Desdemona. Same jelousy and same amount of love and same amount of tragic seriousness….Each tragic lines was striking my heart…I infact couldnot resist the pain of the tragedy between the Basanti and Gagansingh and similarly the tragedy of Queen ….The heart trembling tragedy….If I would have finished reading yesterday I am damn sure that I couldn’t have slept. Thank god light went off yesterday……!!!!
The plot’s simple a love story indeed and so simple its language to understand but it generated a strong tragic seriousness…A simple girl “Mithu” falls in love with Gagansingh at one sight…Their love like vegetable soon Gagan singh becomes a “Kazi” but he had to hide his wife Mithu aka Basanti ( Later she’s named Basanti ) in a place far from the palace. Queen has given her heart to Gagansingh its not revealed but one can easily trace out her deep love for him, a passionate onesided love indeed. Gagansingh was in love with Basanti, his wife , his love and his soul.Gagansingh and Basanti are happily married but Gagansingh cannot reveal that he’s married to Queen and because of this their tragic life starts and Basanti could never get the position of “Kazini” ( meaning Gagansingh’s wife ).
Meanwhile the antagonist Silange, another character in the novel…creates misunderstanding between them….the tragedy begins….Gagansingh easily believes that his Basanti doesnot loves him. I say how can Gagansingh believe …the twist in the story…and twist in my heart….My restless heart couldnot resist the separation of the lovers….My feet were trembling…tearful eyes…and I was wishing for the happy ending of the story.How could Gagansingh order to kill his love, his life , his soul, his heart and his everything…how could that be possible….Basanti however escaped death….I wished again for their reunion…but unnaturally Gagansingh finds a dead body…thinks to kill killer but the killer dies…Gagansingh has a real wounded heart. This mistakes makes him to take his life…he suicides too and Basanti who was alive …..also does same ….( She goes sati I assume )
Thus, I finished the last two chapters of novel today morning…..I was tearful…no I was crying and equally I fell in love with a foil character Janga Bahadur Rana….he was impressive…and the love was great….the tragedy was heart breaking. Along with the history and the mix up fiction was awesome…Basanti is inface a historical novel….a novel to be praised for its tragedy and its tragedy.P.S.—–Awesome…..heart breaking….