AN INSANE MOON

An Insane Moon is a contemporary fiction by Devdas Kakati, inspired by a true story. An internationally known social worker mysteriously disappeared from the monastery island Majuli in the Brahmaputra, not far from Dibrugarh. The entire valley of Brahmaputra was in a state of shock. Murder was suspected. But, a murder in Majuli? A murder under the nose of the monasteries of the holy island? Just about a month after this, the author joined Dibrugarh University as Vice-Chancellor in August 1997. He was deeply disturbed. Sometime later, he visited the monasteries in the island. His sense of distress deepened. None the less he was fascinated by the people and the priests of Majuli. And this made his agony all the more painful. Saint Srimanta Sankardeva’s preaching was at the heart of these monasteries, known as the Satras. The author does not have any pretence to scholarly knowledge of the vast work of Saint Sankardeva, but he had grown up in the Sankara culture. He was immersed in the cultural values of Srimanta Sankara’s teachings. In his childhood days often he used to sit with his father and chant the verses of Srimanta. The recent happenings in Majuli made him feel uneasy. To him, the apparent abduction that was in fact suspected to be murder had a serious message for society. He was obsessed with it. It haunted him. “I felt a compulsion in my heart to express myself, to depict the future of our people as I could imagine” he says. This is what led to the book – An Insane Moon. That is the genesis of the book. An overview of the plot follows. Majuli in the bosom of the mighty Brahmaputra is known as the largest river island of the world. It is the easternmost sentinel of spiritual India. In the perception of the author, India’s spirituality reached its finest maturity here in Majuli. It is the abode of scores of Hindu monasteries known as the Satras. Life in Majuli moves around the monasteries. Peace and serenity of the monastery island is suddenly disturbed when a well known social worker, Dr. Aklant Negi of Himachal disappears there under mysterious circumstances. Apparently the dreaded militants of the region abducted him. Strong public protests forced the authorities to take some action. The Police identified a corpse to be that of Aklant and cremated it. Later it was established that it was not Aklant’s body. One after another different theories were put forward only to be discarded later. Some of the theories were quite bizarre. A frustrating charade dragged on. A forlorn wife crisscrossed the vast country in search of information or at least a ray of hope. The truth eluded all efforts. As time went on, reports became more and more queer. Could it be revenge by a suspecting husband whose wife was helping Aklant in his social work? Or,victim of local chauvinism that led to propaganda that the presence of the members of Aklant’s group who came from outside was a threat to the local culture? Or, did the establishment feel uncomfortable with the work of Aklant? But where is the body? What is the evidence? A similar abduction of an internationally known social worker had taken place in Majuli ten years earlier and had left everybody very disturbed. The astonishing thing was that it all happened under the shadow of the monasteries. What was their story? Did the visiting social workers pose any threat to the monasteries? Or to the people, or to their culture? What is the genesis of terrorism in this tradition bound serene environment? Years are rolling by. Still the mystery of the disappearance of a prominent person in the island is not resolved. More awful incidents keep happening. The long term implications do not seem to bother anybody. Reports of unpleasant or unfortunate incidents keep coming out like spasms of a chronic patient of asthma. Is the valley going through the twinges of a cultural decay? Are the cultural moorings of the people so fragile? How can anybody agree to such a preposterous view? It is clear that the author’s own answer is an emphatic “No.” But the valley’s peace is forever gone The book is a blend of facts and fiction. Many of the characters and events were inspired by real life around the author. However the work is a pure fiction. The author had started his research and writing of the book while he was in Dibrugarh University. “Then I got absorbed in the ordinary humdrum of life and the notes were just lying around for some years. But happenings in Assam kept perturbing me”, he explains. “As far as my feelings were concerned, it started with the tragic event in Majuli that summer”, he adds. “Long after that I visited Himachal. The spiritual ambience under the shadows of the Himalayas stirred up something inside me. I sat down to write.” The author knows his subject well and is fully equipped to write this novel. The characters are credible and their relationships are convincing. Principal Haranath of the local college who became closely associated with Aklant emerges as the intellectual centre in the island. Haranath is a lovable man. On the other hand, Aklant is an intense person. But they gelled well. The story is mainly concerned with the discontent of youth in a world of disillusionment and escalating violence where affluence, corruptions and disparities grow concurrently. In this the book serves its purpose very well. Haranath’s evolution in his own perception of the changing time is interesting. The book is much more than a story of youth discontent, violence and terrorism. It is a reflection on the conflicts of tradition and modernity as well as issues of nature and environment, all seen as interrelated. It should appeal to a wide range of readers.