The Flight of the Hilsa by Amit Shankar is the story of young Bengali painter, Avantika Sengupta, and her search for success and happiness. Her past continues to haunt her – she is coping with memories of a traumatic childhood, an abusive father, a mother who was unconventional and rebellious, and the hypocrisy of an unforgiving society. She struggles to find and understand her own sense of self-worth.
This gets difficult because her perspective, conditioned by her unhappy childhood, comes too often in the way of her interactions in everyday life. It also mars her talent as an artist, so much so that her paintings get referred to as ‘soulless blabbering’ by her peers in the art fraternity.
Avantika meets and takes up with the owner of a boat, twenty years her senior, and life suddenly is in an upward surge – with the boatman, Captain, as her friend, philosopher and guide. Will the Hilsa find the happiness she eagerly seeks?
The Flight of the Hilsa
By Amit Shankar
Vitasta Publishing
Rs.245