Maya miriga / Le Mirage
by Nirad Mahapatra
Mirage is set in Orissa. Raj Kishore Babu, a retired school principal, lives in the old family residence, among his five children. A very close family...
Tuku, the eldest, is a teacher. Prabha, his wife, is pregnant with their first child. Tutu, the youngest, is the family’s great hope. He is studying in Delhi, with the promise of a state civil service career.
Bulu, the third child, considers himself a failure opposite his brothers ; and Tuli, the fourth, disrupts the strict discipline of the family. Tikina, the only daughter, is still in school. If the emotional core of the family is the grandmother, the pillar is the father, who exercizes perfect authority. Yet in the vast, carefully laid out house, the calm is only apparent. Bitterness and strife and growing.
The marriage of Tutu, the death of the grandmother, the birth of a little girl, accelerate the family discord. In the end, Raj Kishore Babu remains alone in an empty house.
Tuku, the eldest, is a teacher. Prabha, his wife, is pregnant with their first child. Tutu, the youngest, is the family’s great hope. He is studying in Delhi, with the promise of a state civil service career.
Bulu, the third child, considers himself a failure opposite his brothers ; and Tuli, the fourth, disrupts the strict discipline of the family. Tikina, the only daughter, is still in school. If the emotional core of the family is the grandmother, the pillar is the father, who exercizes perfect authority. Yet in the vast, carefully laid out house, the calm is only apparent. Bitterness and strife and growing.
The marriage of Tutu, the death of the grandmother, the birth of a little girl, accelerate the family discord. In the end, Raj Kishore Babu remains alone in an empty house.
