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7: NARRATIVES
(A) Upward Spiral
Dilip Roy's novel Upward Spiral was first published in 1949. As he informs the readers in the "Preface", he wanted to call it a mystic novel, but he dropped the idea thinking that the popular meaning of
"...the word 'mystic' is... far too often associated with the mysterious and the intangible, whereas the fact of the matter is--as the wisest of men have proclaimed with one voice down the ages that the things we call concrete and tangible appear so in proportion as they mirror the mystic Light beyond land and sea that informs them."!
The novel, in five parts, covers the miraculous incidents which happened in life of a girl named Mala, she is inclined towards spirituality from her very childhood, under the serene influence of her cousin, Asit. He is a musician and a spiritual seeker who generally stays at the Yoga-Ashram of his Gurudev Swayamananda in Dumel. Swayamananda is a man of profound spirituality and occult wisdom. With his mystic knowledge he patiently helps people to come out of their ordinary existence to aspire for love of Krishna. The child Mala dances and sings before the image of Krishna in their temple-house and frequently visits the Dumel Ashram with Asit. Suniti, Mala's practically wise mother and Prabal, her cunning distant relative do not approve of such fits of Mala. So, by hook or by crook, they succeed in taking Mala away from the Ashram. Mala, when taken away from her real aspiration for Krishna, wanders in the mundane world of ordinary pleasures. When she attains majority, she decides to get married with Amar Singh, a young, handsome Punjabi flutist, who is apparently a patriot, an idealist and almost a revolutionary. Later on, Mala comes to know about his affair with Lisa, an Anglo-Indian girl, who died a fortnight after delivering a dead child. Mala begins to dislike Amar now.
Tapan, Amar's Bengali friend and a revolutionary, tries to attract and impress Mala by posing his superiority to Amar. He pretends to be a man of spiritual interests with his visions of Higher Reality called God. But, ultimately, it is revealed that Tapan also is unreliable and crafty. He has been having an affair with a married woman, Lina. He commits decoity to prove his idealism to Mala and gets arrested. Amar tries to persuade Mala at his house to get married to him and not to think of unscrupulous Tapan. Mala is in great dilemma. At that time, Amar behaves very rudely with Swayamananda and Asit who have come there to meet and bless the sick and repentant Prabal. Mala is extremely angry with Amar. With the help of the British Police Commissioner, Sir Eric, Swayamananda and
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