Chokaro Tol: 5 Stories from a mystical jungle town of India
Book Details
Author(s)Siddhartha Bhasker
ISBN / ASINB00K5CMBKA
ISBN-13978B00K5CMBK7
MarketplaceCanada 🇨🇦
Description
Chokaro Tol is a mystical town located in the midst of the jungles of Jharkhand, a state in India. The town is blessed. The residents of the town do not die until and unless they undertake voluntary death through a process of Samadhi or they leave the Tol for the outer world called Duniya. Once they stop residing in the Tol, they lose their blessing.
Through the five stories, the uncommon life of the people of the mystical Tol is depicted. ‘The Disease’ speaks about the Singh household who are a well to do family in the Tol and how a peculiar disease has taken hold of their affairs. It has to do with brothers leaving each other and going out of the Tol in greater numbers than before. ‘The Festival’ delves into the way festivals are brought into the Tol by the deity. These are not the same as the festivals of the Duniya but arrive only when needed. The purpose of festivals is not celebration but to bring the general average of emotions and activities to equilibrium and a favorable pace. The new festival is called Aham which erases people’s ego but keeps their rationality and culture intact. In ‘The Visitors’, Chokaro celebrates the end of the festival with the arrival of two noble souls from the outer world; the great writer Munshi Premchand and the Mughal prince Dara Sikoh. The residents of the town are treated to their stories. ‘The Lovers’ takes us into the budding love of Nivi and Neeti along with the complicacies of dealing with marriage in the Tol. It deals with the concept of probable dilution of love with marriage. Finally in ‘The Samadhi’ we see the grand process of attaining enlightenment through which a person cleanses the Tol of its dirt and pain. The very process of attainment is so difficult that the residents of Chokaro choose to die in the Duniya instead. A glossary is also provided in the end to give the readers the meaning of different new terms.
Characters like the three brothers Chiski Chikir Chik and the priest Hakka are present in a number of stories. Bauls (wandering monks) are a bridge between the Tol and the Duniya. Tales of Invisible diseases, people living through centuries, festivals which run for years and bring drastic changes, visitors who defy the rules of time, lovers who are scared of the mediocrity of marriages diluting the charm of physical union, the act of Samadhi which cleanses the dirt and pain of the Tol through the mammoth sacrifice of one person provide a description of its peculiar rules of living. With these and other characteristics, the magical town of Chokaro Tol invites you to have a glimpse inside.
Through the five stories, the uncommon life of the people of the mystical Tol is depicted. ‘The Disease’ speaks about the Singh household who are a well to do family in the Tol and how a peculiar disease has taken hold of their affairs. It has to do with brothers leaving each other and going out of the Tol in greater numbers than before. ‘The Festival’ delves into the way festivals are brought into the Tol by the deity. These are not the same as the festivals of the Duniya but arrive only when needed. The purpose of festivals is not celebration but to bring the general average of emotions and activities to equilibrium and a favorable pace. The new festival is called Aham which erases people’s ego but keeps their rationality and culture intact. In ‘The Visitors’, Chokaro celebrates the end of the festival with the arrival of two noble souls from the outer world; the great writer Munshi Premchand and the Mughal prince Dara Sikoh. The residents of the town are treated to their stories. ‘The Lovers’ takes us into the budding love of Nivi and Neeti along with the complicacies of dealing with marriage in the Tol. It deals with the concept of probable dilution of love with marriage. Finally in ‘The Samadhi’ we see the grand process of attaining enlightenment through which a person cleanses the Tol of its dirt and pain. The very process of attainment is so difficult that the residents of Chokaro choose to die in the Duniya instead. A glossary is also provided in the end to give the readers the meaning of different new terms.
Characters like the three brothers Chiski Chikir Chik and the priest Hakka are present in a number of stories. Bauls (wandering monks) are a bridge between the Tol and the Duniya. Tales of Invisible diseases, people living through centuries, festivals which run for years and bring drastic changes, visitors who defy the rules of time, lovers who are scared of the mediocrity of marriages diluting the charm of physical union, the act of Samadhi which cleanses the dirt and pain of the Tol through the mammoth sacrifice of one person provide a description of its peculiar rules of living. With these and other characteristics, the magical town of Chokaro Tol invites you to have a glimpse inside.
