চোখের বালি – রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর

chokher-bali-rabindranath-tagore book review:

‘Sand of the Eyes’ is probably the first successful psychological novel in Bengali literature. In this novel, the issues of mutual relations, friendship-conflict, love, conflict-reunion, human character have been beautifully portrayed. One of the main points of this novel is that every character here seems to have moved the mind of the reader equally. Rabindranath Tagore himself said about this novel, “If we follow the path of my literature, we will see that the novel ‘Sand of the Eyes’ is accidental, not only in me, but in the field of Bengali literature of that time.”
Mahendra, who was admitted to the medical school after passing his MA, was always averse to marriage, his refuge was in the shadow of his mother’s affection. Mahendra’s best friend was Bihari, who has come to know Ashish as Mahendra’s grandfather and his mother as his mother. When he sees his bride, the first character is caught in laziness, in the course of events, hope – Mahendra’s marriage is completed, their unconditional loving married life begins.
Meanwhile, Rajalakshmi sheltered her young friend’s newly widowed daughter Binodini in her house. In a short time, Binodini won the hearts of everyone in the house with her beauty, work ethic, dutifulness and intelligence. Binodini’s intimacy with Ashalta became very strong and they named their relationship “Sand of Eyes”. Instead of Shrutimdhur’s name, they took this insult of love on the advice of Binodini. Mahendra kept the bride away from all worldly activities and always kept her to herself. Mahendra’s excesses made his mother jealous. Rajalakshmi’s jealousy of her obsession seemed to draw Binodini closer to Mahendra and fueled the illicit affair between them. On the other hand, Bihari’s weakness towards orphans and simple idleness is evident in Binodini’s eyes. Both Mahendra and Bihari look at the entertainment, not the entertainment. But in the twists and turns of the story in the novel, it is seen that later when Mahendra overcame all the hesitations and wanted to get close to Binodini alone, Binodini did not hold herself close to Mahendra and looked at Bihari.
But did Bihari give Binodini a place in his mind? Will Mahendra get his desired entertainment? Will obscenity get her husband’s former love back? The obsession that once formed such a friendly relationship with Binodini in complete faith and sincerity in the hope of a little variety in the uninterrupted love life is the Binodini that became the cause of the storm in his life! The reader must take up this extraordinary psychological novel to know about the tensions and conflicts and consequences of the relationship.