Author Description

This fiction narrates how the ever slow development of Kadampur, a dusty railway town, which was condemned to remain stagnant, suddenly takes a dive into a cataclysmic event which shook it as nothing did it before. It was the historic wild cat strike by railway workers. Barbarous police torture followed instantly. The Communist Party of India and an ambitious leader emerged out of the ashes of this blast which changed the complexion of this no-hopers' paradise. Kadampur College was the human face of this smoky town. It was a political and cultural barometer of happenings inside the working class zone. This became a platform for mingling of young boys and girls coming from progressive and conservative families which facilitated a new culture. What women could do, if pressed, is incredible. When the information reached them that their menfolk were being mercilessly beaten inside the locked gate of the workshop they could not resist their impulse to rescue them from attackers and rushed to the workshop gate in hundreds with broomsticks and kitchen utensils. They - no Belindas -revealed their ferocity in breaking the gate and fighting the mighty railway armed guards and succeeded in their operation The two protaganists, Harinarayan Mishra and Ratnakar, worked in different fields: Com. Mishra worked among common people, and Ratnakar? Well, he was the moving spirit in the college and a tower of strength to student movements outside.