Subhadranka Akhi | Jagannath Prasad Das | Book Review by Kedar Mishra

Today, I began with the smallest among the books I bought at the book fair, and finished it within an hour and a half. It is a pocket-sized book called Subhadra’s Eyes, written by Jagannath Prasad Das, my deeply loved and respected JP.

I started reading Subhadra’s Eyes with a strange curiosity. At first, I felt JP was perhaps writing about the background behind his celebrated research work Puri Paintings. Then, gradually, it seemed to me, no, he is telling a story here. But after finishing the book, I sat there wondering in amazement: was this really written in words, or was it only a pair of mysterious eyes shimmering silently through invisible letters? Is this a suspense-filled novel, or a lived experience carried deep within the self?

Every incident and every character in this book is real. Yet there is a strange mystery moving through these pages, something that wraps reality itself in a dark and unsettling garment of fear, and leaves the reader startled. After many years, a book has truly shaken me. As I went on reading, I found myself becoming afraid of fear itself. In Odia fiction, this is an extraordinary tale of dread.

A hundred salutations to JP’s pen.