Book titled The Elephant Girl released at Institution of Engineers India, Assam Centre

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The Elephant Girl, a fictionalized account of a forgotten and lost heritage of Assam set in the district of undivided Goalpara and North Bengal penned by Chitta Ranjan and published by Mumbai-based publisher Leadstart, was released on Saturday at the Institution of Engineers India, Assam State Centre here.

Padmashree Arup Kumar Dutta formally launched The Elephant Girl and said that the author’s background study is reflected in the novel. Dutta said, “The most pertinent thing that I’ve noticed while reading the book is that the author has beautifully done his homework. The author has done deep research into the backgrounds while portraying or narrating the content of the story, which unfortunately lacks in the writings of many of our today’s generation writers.”

Speaking on the use of English language, Dutta said, “Writing in English is no longer considered to be that we’re using a foreign language, because India has localized it.”

Congratulating Chitta Ranjan for his debut novel, Dutta said, “I hope you’ll come out with more books in future thus by enriching the literature in English of the Northeast.”

Present on the occasion as the guest of honour Bipul Deuri said that the life of jungle can be felt so closely through this book. The author has brilliantly portrayed everything by going into the depth such as the rituals of Assamese society, thus by presenting it in an international platform.

Soumyadeep remarked that the book will play a vital role in case of environmental conservation and that the book must be translated into Bodo as the story is set in the backdrop of Ripu and Chirang. “It’ll help to carry on message related with the issue,” he said.

Talking to The Sentinel, author of the book Chitta Ranjan said, “Even though it’s a mystery-fiction book, the book has a special place in my heart, as the book has been written in the backdrop of the region where I grow up. Most of the people in Assam are mostly concerned to rhino-centric conservation in Kaziranga. We’ve lost the Goalpara Forest Tramway at the time of Bodoland agitation. Sometimes I think that if we could retain the tramway it will be a big heritage attraction. These are thing that forced me to write and explore it to the people.”

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