<p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">'THE WATER OF THE RIVER DEO' by PADMASREE MAZUMDAR is a</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">magnificent account of the lives of Sylheti people living in North Tripura. The</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">reconstruction of their livelihood, their inclination to their culture and heritage,</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">their festivals and folklore, their desire, delight and agony, the effect of emigration</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">and urbanization...everything is wonderfully portrayed by the novelist. The fates of</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">common folks are somehow connected to the river. The river is the silent witness</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">of the circus called life. The river is the divine and the demon. It is the symbol of</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">contentment and the metaphor of the eternal flight of Mahakaal. Through the</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">characters of the novel, we explore the plight of relationships, the propensities of</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">human-mind, the fruit of selfish pursuits, the science latent in superstition, and the</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">bites of blind faith, politics and dowry system. We marvel at the riddles of Nature.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">We feel an urge to transcend the karmic cycle of pain and pleasure, dilemma and</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">delusion. We feel the river flowing in our heart of hearts.</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">This novel contains reveries, moments of revelation and repercussion, horror and</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">nostalgia. The way she describes the landscape or transports the characters into</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">their worlds of imagination is spectacular. The way she uses the maxims of Khona</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">or the lyrics from 'Sri Raadhikar Ovishaar' or traditional folk songs to draw a</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">parallel between the mythological characters and the characters of this novel is</span></p><p><span style="color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 1)">fascinating.</span></p>