A Voyage - by Niranjan Bhattacharyya

A Voyage

by Niranjan Bhattacharyya

Preface

This book is recommended by the President of India as a true adventure book and suggested NCERT to include this book as a "Rapid Reader" for CBSE – Class IX and X.

"A Voyage” is an interesting narrative of the past adventures of youth, from the dairy of a young recruit in the Indian Merchant Navy. This book can inspire millions of youth of our country to read this book and reap the benefits from the real life experiences and adventures, which a nineteen‑year-old youth from a Sainik School from the North East India underwent while sailing around the world. All the contents of this book are from the diary of the nineteen-year-old youth, which youngsters of this country would easily relate to.

In addition to information regarding history, geography, and culture of around eleven varied countries of the world, this book has mention of the sailor’s experiences at some very significant events of the world in 1984, like the Solidarity Movement of Poland, the Gulf War, Israel’s attack on Egypt to have control over the Suez, the navigational hazards due to Adam’s Reef between India and Sri Lanka, the Miners strike of the UK, and many others.

To order, please contact:

Author/Publisher @ 9810954483

Book Review

By

Robin Kalita, IRTS

Executive Director (Operations)

Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (under The Ministry of Railways), New Delhi

“By the way, you have the liberty of saying “No Sir” to your Captain only once – that is when I ask you, “do you have any doubt ?,” was not quite the response one would have aspired for in the first exchange with one’s boss on the very first day of one’s career. But this was exactly the note on which Niranjan Bhattacharyya kicked off his checkered career – and that too on a ship on the deck of which he would be moored 24 x7, subservient to his boss, for, God knew how many months, years - nay decades !

And that day young Niranjan decided – never to say “No”!

Just as I could not say ‘No’ to the next page – and the next – and the next – till I read the last page in one sitting – almost in one breath! Yes, I am referring to the book “A VOYAGE” by Niranjan Bhattacharyya. The adventure loving sea-farer, the astute corporator, the devout pedagogue, the social therapist, and the simple yet profound humanist – summed up in one word: maverick!

‘A Voyage’ is much more than meets the eye – it is an educational journey around half the globe, experienced through the keen eyes of a crusader charged with a mission, rich in the vast treasure of information it unfolds, poignant in the emotions of personal anecdotes and racy in the style of portrayal. Bhattacharyya has an extraordinary acumen in packing a plethora of information – so much in so few pages, that the last word leaves the reader breathless and hungry for more. He confesses, ab initio, that the book is a compilation of his diary written 24 years ago. An extremely profuse, potent and valuable collection of scribblings, which is an indication of the depth in young Bhattacharyya’s perception of the world around him – literally!

The book ‘A Voyage’ is a first hand narrative on the experience of seventy two sailors aboard an Indian Merchant Freighter vessel “Vishwa Parijat” from Netaji Subhash Dock in Calcutta to numerous ports of call in Europe via the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar, the North Atlantic Ocean & the English Channel and returning via the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea route onwards to Bombay. The voyage covered among others, ports and cities in Sri Lanka, Egypt, France, U.K., West Germany, Poland, Sweden, East Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and Italy.

Bhattacharyya manages to portray a clever mix of Mythology, Legend, History, Geography and Tourism about the lands and climes that the ship impinged upon. The reader is guided through the pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx built by the Pharaoh, whose legend and history explained so vividly, capture his imagination. The mythology associated with the Roman God of the seven seas, the intricate geographical attributes of the Strait of Gibraltar with expletives on the Rock of Gibraltar, also called the Pillar of Hercules, the vagaries of weather in the North Atlantic Ocean, the vivid descriptions of the beautiful cities of Europe etc. make the book attain the status of a classy international travel document and leaves the reader wiser about scores of information he did not have earlier on some of the world’s most visited destinations. Bhattacharyya’s powerful style of narrating personal experiences which often had nail-biting finishes, adds to the readability of the book.

Not that the book escapes all the natural pitfalls a book can be subjected so. The printer’s devil, for one, has inflicted minor injuries to the script and lexicon, once in a while. Sometimes, the narrative gets extremely intense and keeps the reader spell-bound, but disengages unexpectedly leaving him wishing that the episode did not end at that. It is evident that Bhattacharyya is a man in a hurry, like his ship that had to cover maximum ground in minimum time.

The book has been physically produced extremely well. The glossy cover depicting a ship with myriads of sails, at sea, gives a mystifying appearance and makes the reader automatically curious to open the pages and read the contents. The quality of paper and print, with appropriate font types and sizes soothing and comfortable to the eyes, add value to the final product. The photographs, snapped 24 years ago and therefore obviously black and white, still look fresh and add tremendous support to the text. The introduction of the author by his senior colleague and his childhood friends are apt and touching, a realization the reader gets after he has done the last page.

‘A Voyage’ is an exotic experience for the reader and the beginning of a journey unto dabbling with and ultimate actuation of literary penchant for Niranjan Bhattacharyya. With this quicky of one hundred and eight pages, he has left me gasping for more and has given a signal, loud and clear , that there is more – much more stored where this book came from. Many more publications from him in the near future will be eagerly awaited.