Binnir Khoi Lal Batasa by Atin Bandyopadhyay [Hardcover]

Little Bachchu's own country is very beautiful. But he was always astonished by the zamindar house in Noyapara, where his father was the number one official. On the banks of the Shitalakshya River were large, neatly aligned double-storied houses for the big, middle, and small tenants. There were horses in the stables and elephants in the pilkhanas. Flocks of birds and rows of boats floated on the Shitalakshya River—single-masted, double-masted, triple-masted. Every year, during the puja, Bachchu would arrive at Noyapara on a boat sent by his father. It was in that zamindar house that he met Indu. Indu wasn't much older than Bachchu, but she had as much courage as she had intelligence. Indu would feed Bachchu binnir khoi and red sugar candy, and also scare him. Sometimes she would dress as a fairy, sometimes walk straight across a high ledge like in a circus.

This brilliant novel, set against the picturesque backdrop of East Bengal, tells the story of Bachchu and Indu. It is an extraordinary tale of a young girl's stand against religious hypocrisy and superstitions.