Potomac Turning

Potomac Turning refers to a secret location on the cliffs overhanging a sharp turn of the Potomac River in Washington DC. It plays a real and a metaphoric role in the story. The story is a hide and seek between life as lived and life that remains below the surface, of relationships and experiences among six young individuals, as they proceed through life, with courage, desire, pathos and uncertainty. In the backdrop, yet with a centrality in shaping their characters, are their mothers set in different cultures and continents, some as visible characters, some remaining in the periphery. The author explores beyond the reaches of the familiar soft touch of Indians writing in English. The characters are portrayed with directness, their descriptions delineated honestly, and their experiences with intimacy. Yet the use of words remains literate and scholarly. In this, the author charts a new course and sets a new trend in Indian writing. Zooming from San Antonio, Texas, to Washington DC in the United States, to Calcutta, India, and connecting even to Bogota, Colombia, the story embraces transnational cultural influences and practices, depicting tantalising variations in interpersonal relations set in a variety of locations across the globe. Thus, it is divided into three Books representing the different phases in the life of Patrick, the central character. The story begins in the 1950’s with Patrick’s education in a Catholic school in Texas. His environment of multiple dimensions comprises Agnes, a doting mother, much younger than his older father, and Sis, a younger sister. He has been cared for by Rosita, a Hispanic maid. Patrick’s friendship with Terrence, Rosita’s unschooled son from the family’s African American gardener, is intense yet imperceptible, going virtually unnoticed in the decidedly segregated society of San Antonio. Patrick also develops compassion towards Jolly, a few years his junior, who tries her best to attract his attention at school. There, Patrick is a scholar and a rebel but feels compelled to flee San Antonio. He picks Terrence up and bolts out in his father’s truck, an endeavour made possible by the cooperation of Agnes, who is fully cognizant of Patrick’s resolute personality. The boys travel through the South. In the Texas Panhandle, with Orion, the constellation in the shape of a sword-drawn soldier as their witness, they vow to be each other’s protector through the trials and tribulations of life. As they travel, contours of their relationship begin to take shape and reveal themselves during the journey. Reaching Washington DC, Patrick joins the elitist Georgetown University run by Catholic priests, while Terrence manages to enrol at Howard University, the premier university for African Americans. They discover Potomac Turning, an exclusive spot on a cliff overhanging the Potomac River. Here they relax, stare at the stars, in particular at Orion, and spend hours together in the pristine silence of their surroundings. Their quiet and blissful life receives a jolt with Jolly’s arrival in DC. She joins the nursing school at Catholic University, sharing an apartment with Leonor from Bogota, Colombia. Terrence remains protective of the secret of Potomac Turning but eventually begins to treat Jolly as a friend who is ever present, helping out with their many a domestic chore, while Patrick and Leonor share common intellectual interests. Though they hobnob with one another in their daily lives, their true affinities lie beneath the surface and only begin to surface with time. Agnes and Rosita visit DC for the graduation of their sons. Taken aback by the absence of Sis, Patrick’s sister, in their midst who should have just graduated from high school, Patrick prods Agnes for an explanation. A shocking revelation by Agnes causes Patrick anguish and anger though he remains silent. Agnes notices the encroachment of Jolly into Patrick’s life and ventures to caution him against it, in particular drawing his attention to Jolly’s growing obesity. Patrick feels hurt, if not insulted, by his mother’s interference, and it affects their relationship adversely. It nevertheless appears to distance Patrick from Jolly. Patrick’s intellectual interests usher him to do a Master’s thesis on Naxalism, Communist activity in the tea gardens area of northern Bengal flanking the southern edges of the Himalayas. Its violence had reached Calcutta, the region’s capital. Patrick converts himself successfully into a Bengal specialist even learning the regional language. He decides to go to Calcutta, and persuades Sis to come along with him. Even as Patrick is leaving with Sis for Calcutta, Terrence leaves DC for a cross country drive from DC to San Francisco that, years back, Patrick and he had planned to undertake together. Leonor finishes her nursing degree and returns to Bogota. Jolly returns to San Antonio to her mother’s abode and takes up a steady nursing job. Calcutta takes Patrick by surprise more than it does Sis. The pressure of population is immense and the streets are full of urchins. At the famous Coffee House of College Street, Patrick and Sis meet Amlan, a young college lecturer who had completed his graduation at Amherst College in Massachusetts, known for its Leftist leanings. The tete a tete between Patrick and Amlan is tinged with intellectual fervour. Sis appreciates her brother’s knowledge of local affairs just as she is taken by the dark, bespectacled Amlan with his mastery of Western classical music and literature. His furtive glances do not escape her either. He is inextricably drawn to her strikingly beautiful face encased in flowing blonde hair. The next morning, Patrick meets Felman, the U.S. Consul, at an appointed hour. Felman’s tart attractiveness as he enters the library in tennis shorts, with racquet in hand and beads of sweat on his forehead—draws Patrick to the wily Felman. Patrick’s youthful enthusiasm in Bengal’s political developments convinces the career diplomat of Patrick’s usefulness. Mutual benefit draws them together and culminates in the consummation of their liaison. The maturation of the rightful relationship between Patrick and Terrence becomes a distant, unachievable dream. Amlan and Sis experience a close encounter at the Victoria Memorial, a mammoth marble mausoleum built in Empress Victoria’s memory by the Rajas, her land-owning Indian subjects. From there, Amlan guides Sis towards Calcutta Club, an exclusive private club which has been a haunt of his family for generations. Over drinks, Sis confesses her recent vicissitudes to Amlan who breaks down but resolves to propose to Sis right there. Sis dithers but finally accepts his offer. Amlan returns home to tell his mother that he wants her to meet his American bride-to-be. Ma has to quickly recover from the sudden news that an American girl will enter her aristocratic household. She knows that there could be no other resolution than Amlan’s own choice of a life partner, reflecting his strong personality. She receives Sis in the traditional manner with a lighted lamp to illuminate her face and is taken by her future daughter-in-law’s striking Nordic beauty. She reinvents Sis by naming her Lokkhi, the goddess of domestic fulfilment. While Patrick is relieved at Sis’s prospect for stability, Agnes is unhappy with the news. The increasing distance between mother and son seems unbreachable. Nevertheless, the wedding takes place with traditional fanfare. While Sis moves into the Bengali household, Patrick is given living quarters at the US consulate. The rest of the story speeds up inexorably and is best not revealed. Let it be said that it ends with an unanticipated climax. It unfolds as if petals are being peeled one at a time through events that take place across continents right to the end. The reader has to read to find out…..