Category
Talks
Artists
Nilanjan Choudhury
Date
March 12th, 2023
Song of the Golden Sparrow: Nilanjan Choudhury
‘Nilanjan Choudhury is a master of magical surrealism. A tour de force involving mythical beings and real-life figures, the narrative sweeps like a tornado through the history of modern India from Independence to the present day.’—Jug Suraiya
Guilty of the crime of sleeping on the job, the lowly yaksha Prem Chandra Guha, is banished to India on a punishment posting. During his stay here, he must write a sufficiently riveting history of the land of his exile. Prem Chandra arrives in India on the first dawn of her independence and fate brings him to Netarhat, an obscure town near the forests of Chhota Nagpur. It is here that he meets Manhoos, an orphaned urchin who repairs motor vehicles for a living, and his friend Mary, a feisty tribal girl from the nearby Santhal village.
Assuming the shape of a common sparrow, Prem Chandra turns into an unobtrusive observer and follows the fortunes of Manhoos and Mary as they travel to Calcutta, and then to Rishikesh, Bangalore, Ahmedabad… As they plunge from one adventure to another, a series of figures play key roles in their lives: the Naxal leader Charu Majumdar; Satyajit Ray, in his crisp dhoti and clipped accent; the ever-giggling Maharishi Mahesh Yogi; the powerful business magnate, Ameer Premji; and even a mysterious man with a 56-inch chest.
On the broader canvas of India, other events are playing out. Indira Gandhi declares an Emergency; a new party, the Jana Sangh is formed; Siddhartha Shankar Ray cleanses West Bengal of Naxalism and Jyoti Basu brings in thirty years of Communism; somewhere, a dam is built, and hundreds of tribals are rendered homeless, elsewhere, a masjid falls, a deadly virus rises and the ground of India shakes beneath her feet…
Song of the Golden Sparrow is the story of Manhoos and Mary, and mirrored in their tumultuous lives, is the history of free India from 1947 to 2022.
About Nilanjan
Nilanjan P. Choudhury is an author, theatre person and science communicator. He is the author of three novels, which have all been bestsellers. He studied at IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Kanpur.
His interests lie at the intersection of science and art. He believes in the power of theatre and storytelling to communciate the magic of science. His play “The Square Root of a Sonnet”, explores the history and science of black holes and has been recognized as a significant voice in science theatre. It has been performed all over India to wide critical acclaim and has been seen by over 6000 people. His recently written play “Servant of God” tells the story of Abdus Salam, the brilliant Pakistani physicist and is expected to be staged soon.