The Interloper (Chandal Jibon Trilogy Book 3)

About the BookTHE FINAL BOOK IN THE AWARD-WINNING CHANDAL JIBON SERIESAfter escaping a deadly bomb blast in the citys red-light area, Jibon returns to the Jadavpur railway station having lost his memory. He is instantly recognised by those who live in and around the stationsquatters, rickshaw-drivers, beggars. liquor vendors, ragpickers. pickpocketsas the daring young man who rescued them many a time. However, Jibon has become a stranger to himself. He is simply playing the role of Jibon. His past, allegiant to the Naxalites, is marked by bloodshed.He is in Calcutta of the mid-1970s, a time when the Stoneman prowls the streets after midnight, crushing the heads of homeless folk. This is the city where the rich refugees from East Pakistan have become even more affluent, and the poor ones way more deprived. Women are swindled and brutalised with alarming frequency here; orphans are kidnapped from public places. The influence of the ultra-reds has waned and the clout of the reds and the Congress party is on the rise.Jibon knows hes an unnecessary creature in this Saare Jahan se Achcha country. Like a wheel, he is simply caught up in a cycle of relentless destitution, oppression and hatred. And yet an inexplicable will to move forward remains in his blood.Masterfully translated by V. Ramaswamy, The Interloper is an evocative finale to Manoranjan Byaparis spectacular autobiographical trilogy.About the AuthorManoranjan Byapari writes in Bengali. Some of his important works include Chhera Chhera Jibon, Ittibrite Chandal Jibon and the Chandal Jibon trilogy. He taught himself to read and write at the age of twenty-four when he was in prison. He has worked as a rickshaw-puller, a sweeper and a porter. Until 2018, he was working as a cook at the Hellen Keller Institute for the Deaf and Blind in West Bengal.In 2018, the English translation of his memoir, Ittibrite Chandal Jibon (Interrogating My Chandal Life), received the Hindu Prize for non-fiction. In 2019, he was awarded the Gateway Lit Fest Writer of the Year Prize. Also, the English translation of his novel Batashe Baruder Gandha (Theres Gunpowder in the Air) was shortlisted for the JCB Prize 2019, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019, the Crossword Prize 2019 and the Mathrubhumi Book of the Year Prize 2020. The English translation of his novel Chhera Chhera Jibon (Imaan) was shortlisted for the JCB Prize 2022. The English translation of his novel Thik Thikanar Sandhane (The Nemesis) was shortlisted for the JCB Prize 2023. He also received the Shakti Bhatt Prize this year for his body of work. In 2021, Byapari became a member of the Bengal Legislative Assembly.About the TranslatorV. Ramaswamy is a literary translator of voices from the margins. His previous translations include The Golden Gandhi Statue from America: Early Stories, Wild Animals Prohibited: Stories, Anti-stories and This Could Have Become Ramayan Chamars Tale: Two Anti-Novels (shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award, 2019), all by the anti-establishment Bengali writer, Subimal Misra. He was awarded the inaugural Literature Across Frontiers-Charles Wallace India Trust Fellowship at Aberystwyth University to translate the Chandal Jibon novels.