MAGARDOHA (Marathi)

‘MAGARDOH’ IS A COLLECTION OF ELEVEN STORIES REVOLVING AROUND THE MENTAL-PHYSICAL METAMORPHOSIS THAT HAPPENS IN A WHIRLPOOL OF MYSTERIOUS AND MYTHOLOGICAL REALMS. THE FIRST OF THESE STORIES, ‘GHATCHAKRA’, DEALS WITH THE CONCEPT OF REBIRTH. SHAMKANT IS TRAVELLING ON A TRAIN WITH HIS WIFE, AND THE CONVERSATION BRINGS UP JULIE PARERA, HIS ERSTWHILE SECRETARY. SHAMKANT IS DISTURBED BY THE MEMORY AND EVENTUALLY GOES MISSING DURING THE JOURNEY. ‘GHATCHAKRA’ DEPICTS THE MYSTERY BEHIND HIS SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCE AND THE EVENTFUL SEARCH FOR HIM.
THE PROTAGONIST OF THE STORY ‘SUN 1860CHAA RUPAYA’ ACCIDENTALLY FALLS INTO A DITCH, AND WHEN HE COMES TO HIS SENSES, HE FINDS HIMSELF IN THE YEAR 1860. THE STORY NAMED ‘CHAKVAA’ TALKS ABOUT SANJAY GITE WHO HAS LEFT HIS HOMETOWN VERY EARLY IN HIS LIFE. HE COMES BACK TO HIS HOME IN THE TWILIGHT OF HIS LIFE, AND GETS A FEELING THAT HIS HOUSE IS STILL BEING INHABITED BY HIS FAMILY MEMBERS. BUT UPON NOT SEEING A SINGLE HUMAN BEING, HE DECIDES THAT HIS VENGEFUL NATURE HAS CAUSED HIS FAMILY TO BECOME INVISIBLE. THE DEPTH OF THIS MYSTERY HOLDS THE READERS SPELLBOUND.
THE STORIES ‘REKHACHA AARSA’ AND ‘RANJANACHI PRATIMA’ TOO PORTRAY THEIR HEROINES ENTANGLED WITH SOME INEXPLICABLE VIBES. THE VERY IDEA OF REKHA GIFTING A MIRROR TO HER BOYFRIEND, AND THEN MATERIALIZING OUT OF THE SAME MIRROR EVERY NIGHT TO MEET HIM, GIVES GOOSE-BUMPS. AND RANJANA, FROM ‘RANJANACHI PRATIMA’ TOO HOLDS YOU WONDERSTRUCK WITH HER MYSTERIOUS PERSONA.
FINALLY ABOUT ‘MAGARDOH’, THE STORY THAT FORMS THE TITLE OF THE COLLECTION. IT TAKES YOU TO THE SHEER CRESCENDO OF SUSPENSE. THIS STORY IS ALL ABOUT THE MYSTERIOUS AURA THAT A PARTICULAR PAINTING APPEARS TO CREATE AROUND ITSELF. THE OTHER STORIES, NAMELY ‘PAHELI’, ‘ARUNDHATICHA DABA’, ‘BAND PAAKIT’, ‘DOKEDUKHI’, ‘UJAALI’ TOO WEAVE AN ENIGMATIC WEB OF HUMAN PSYCHE, ITS MYSTERIES AND THE MERCURIAL NATURE OF LIFE ITSELF. THE AUTHOR LOOKS AT THE DAY-TO-DAY, ROUTINE INCIDENTS AND TURNS THEM INTO A MAZE OF PUZZLES WITH HIS IMAGINATION. THE WHOLE EFFECT, GIVES THE READER A READING EXPERIENCE TO REMEMBER.