KHOBH - anguish
Synopsis
Set in a village in Assam, the story of Khobh (anguish) revolves around the anguish of the eleven year old protagonist, Sanju who lived with his family consisting of his father Sameer, mother Jayanti and younger sister Rekha besides of course, his grandparents and the domestic help Jolly.
Sanju shared a happy childhood with his school friends amidst the rural pleasures of the countryside and the affection of his grandfather who fondly called him ‘Captain’. However, when his father received a posting in Guwahati, Sanju with a heavy heart had to leave behind his grandparents and his dear village and go away to the city with his parents.
They had a new house with a mango tree in the compound. Sanju and Rekha joined a good school. Rekha soon adapted herself to her new environment unlike Sanju who had remained a loner ignored by his classmates as a country bumpkin. He became the butt of ridicule of one of his classmates named Achintya. At home too he was a loner, with his father being on official tour most of the time and his sister Rekha receiving all the attention from her mother including fulfilling her infatuation for ripe mangoes at meal time. His only joy at school was the kind attention of Daisy Miss, a teacher of the school.
Frequent reports of Achintya’s strifes with Sanju were viewed with annoyance by the Principal of the school who summoned Sanju’s father and expressed his utter displeasure at Sanju’s behaviour. The result was that Sanju received a good thrashing at home. Meanwhile, his grandfather passed away at his village home. There followed another tragedy; Rekha was diagnosed by Dr Baruah as a case of a rare form of Leukemia.
School had lost all charms for Sanju. In one of his sulking moments while he was sitting by the school swimming pool, Sanju didn’t notice Achintya approaching him stealthily to push him into the water. But accidentally, Achintya tripped and fell into the pool. Achintya, who didn’t know swimming, became panicky and began to struggle in the water watched by his helpless friends who also didn’t know swimming. Sanju, who was an expert swimmer, dived into the pool and saved him. That was the moment that Achintya and his friends discovered another Sanju.
Rekha’s condition was rapidly deteriorating. Sanju, with his childish simplicity, thought that mangoes that she loved so much, could save her. In his anguish at not finding a mango in the tree of his house for her, Sanju started hitting the leaves of the tree with a stick and in the process, he fell down from the tree, hurting himself and had to be admitted to the hospital.
Meanwhile, at the initiative of Dr Bhatta, a specialist in his field, Rekha had to be flown to Singapore for treatment. There were among others, Achintya and his friends and of course Daisy Miss who had financially helped Rekha, to see off Rekha and her father at the airport.
***************