Author: Achala Moulik
Publisher: UBS Publishers
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 332
ISBN/UPC (if available): 817476352X
Description
Dream Journey tells the extraordinary story of Moni, a journalist and diplomat, whose odyssey takes him from the banks of the River Padma to the great cities of the world-Calcutta, Rome, New York, Washington, Tokyo, London. The shattered idyll of boyhood, the formidable challenges and triumphs, are set against the tumultuous events of the 20th century. As a foreign correspondent for Indian newspapers, Moni is drawn into the glittering social and political circles in Europe, where he meets Mussolini and Benes, the Novel laureate Pirandello.
He sees the frenzied adulation for Hitler at the Nuremberg Rally and the end of imperialist Europe. Returning to India as the world war begins. Moti forgets his velvet-eyed Simonettas and marries Leela, a tender and beautiful girl. But their idyll is shattered by betrayals, famine, riots, and the Partition. India’s independence brings fresh predicaments. Moni returns to the eternal city to take up his old fight against hunger and poverty. This powerful and poignant tale is sprinkled with humour and hilarious situations. In passages of haunting beauty the author describes places and people. At the end of the story, the narrator Claude Fontaine sits on the bank of the Padma and muses that those who dare to dream attain the final victory over Time.