#9 The Blind Witness

Book Review

The Blind Witness

Arup Ku Datta

Rating- 3.5 stars(self)

About the author-The author is a professor of English at a college, Jorhat, Assam. He is also a journalist by profession.

Synopsis:

    The theme of the story is that a disabled should never be underestimated because their disability is not burden for them. They are gifted with special abilities which compensate their disability. So, these specially-abled people should never be mocked at.

    

The story presents the exemplary courage of a blind boy named Ramu, who acts as the central character of the plot.  The story depicts the immense will power of Ramu with the help of which he solves a mysterious murder case. Though he is blind, yet he can sense all the things present around him to perfection. He, most of the time, concentrates on hearing different sounds and detects the origin of those sounds. He also possesses an extraordinary ability of portraying a person (in his mind) with highest accuracy by hearing his voice. A normal person can guess the state of mind of a person from his facial gestures but Ramu can do the same by hearing the tone of a person. This unique ability turns him hero of the story.

    

Ramu is accompanied by his friend Sunil who is a very caring and responsive boy. He justifies the definition of a true friend in all aspects by supporting Ramu whole heartedly in various tough situations. He deeply believes in Ramu, respects him as an individual and completely relies upon his special abilities.

  

Gopalan is a gentle man, in his early thirty, who has been shifted to live in Ramu’s locality. He is a very wise and compassionate person by nature. He is a man of appreciation and positive spirit. He always encourages Ramu by arousing his abilities. He nurtures a sense of deep respect and affection for Ramu in his heart. Due to the amiable nature of Gopalan, Ramu is very fond of him and often feels comfortable in discussing several matters with him.

  

Once, while Ramu was alone in his home, he hears the chattering of two suspicious fellows near his house and the very next moment, someone gets shooted out. The shocking fact is that the person shooted out is none other than Gopalan. The investigation starts aftermath and a lot of precious and rare antiques are recovered from his house. Then, he is declared as a thief who was engaged not only in collecting but also in storing the pirated things imported from abroad illegally. In other words, he was thought to be involved in the activity of smuggling.

  

Everyone then starts regarding as a ‘crook’ and nobody is found to shed a drop of tear for his departed soul. Ramu is the one who is unwilling to accept the fact that Gopalan was a thief. He feels it extremely difficult to believe that a person, who has always been so kind to him, could ever do such illegal work. The criticism from all around against Gopalan invokes Ramu to look into the matter and to unveil the truth.

   

Ramu then tries to share the information (of suspicious talks of two strangers near his house) to the police. The story takes a different turn when he meets Lalkaka (assistant Superintendent of police) who later carries out the investigation process. Through his rigorous investigation procedures, it is confirmed that Gopalan was a spy by profession who was helping out the police to trace the smugglers.

  

The story continues in the way an ideal mystery story does, unveiling the mystery step by step. The police, one by one, get the clues to reach the criminals. This story has a positive ending and at the end Ramu and Sunil are rewarded for their indomitable courage and bravery.

Language:

   

First of all, it is a mystery story of its kind. The author has very beautifully described everything. Each scene depicts the author’s mastery in presenting the minute details of each and everything with a lot of precision. The author provides opportunity to readers to experience the deepest insight of human senses. Sometime the sensory interpretations are very very valuable in deriving certain conclusions than mere words produced. The systematic description of the plot and the step-by-step method of unravelling the typical mystery intensify the desires of the readers to delve deeper into the storyline. The ideas of the author are crystal clear and are reinforced by suitable words, phrases and idioms. It will never be wrong to say that the author has taken every care to raise the level of curiosity of readers by not revealing the characters at once. In this way, the suspense is maintained throughout the story. So, it is a very interesting novel for those who are searching for a classic mystery case with the blend of perfect literature. In the nutshell, it is a must read for readers of any age group.  

---By Swati Sarangi