Forests

I have never been to a forest in my entire life. I don't exactly know why that is, and I've always envied my friends whose parents/ relatives have worked for the forestry department. My own great-uncle, who we lovingly call Cchordada, spent a great many years in the forests. My parents have thousands of stories to tell about their days in different forests of the country   but after my siblings and I were born, we have never ever visited one or even gone close to one.

One of the things that I want to do in the almost immediate future is to go to one of the forests in India ( recommendations, please!)

Part 2 of this story is even more interesting. I was named after a character in a book that was published in serialised form in Desh Patrika. The story was written by Buddhadeb Guha, a Chartered accountant who is also a very well-known author in Bengal. The woman in the story, the protagonist was  called Reeti Roy and she was a really stubborn woman with a bit of a feminist streak who visits a forest for the first time in her life. There she meets a handsome forest officer called Rajarshi ( Alas, I know NO Rajarshis- the one I know is like my uncle!) who is a fabulous cook, listens to the greatest music on earth, is slightly sarcastic and is a bit of a poet. She leaves something behind in the forest bungalow and from then onwards begins an exchange of letters.

The entire book is written in epistolary form. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the book. If any of you happen to have read it, please let me know. I want to re-read it. Anyway, I identified with the girl very much and the man i.e Rajarshi wrote very nice letters. That would be Such an excellent way to be chased! Subtle and discreet, but very effective, nevertheless :P


 Baba, who decided to name me after the character, gave the book to me on my 16th birthday. I was a little bit scared to read the book, lest I really dislike it. But turns out- I loved it. Well, if I find out the name of the book, I shall buy it from Flipkart and read it again. I distinctly remember that there were vivid descriptions of the forest in the book. I don't know why, but I'm dying to visit a forest and see Elephants with huge tusks. They are called tuskers, I think.

Comments

Unknown said…
Can you please name the book.
Reeti said…
The book is called Shabinay Nibedan :)