"Dongar Mhatara Zala" (डोंगर म्हातारा झाला), a Marathi novel by Anil Barve.
Story starts with Retired Major Kama deciding to leave Mumbai forever and going to spend rest of his life quietly on 'Malkarnicha Dongar'. He meets Kamrad (derivation of comrade) Mhatara (old man), a communist, who has spent all his life for upliftment of Thakar community. They gel slowly, a curious pair. Kamrad Mhatara is a samaj sudharak and Kama has nothing to do with the society.
Kamrad Mhatara calls Kama sojir, not soldier because he follows command and does not do what is required for the good of society.
There is a classic conflict between the established / wealthy and Thakars. Kamrad Mhatara fights for them and takes heavy losses. There is a lot of politiking of wealthy to grab Thakar lands. Will Kama do anything? Or will he remain aloof and detached as usual?
The book is writren exceptionally well. The focus is not on the issues of Thakars but on how everyone looks at them differently. Characters like Mhatara, Kama, D'souza, Boy D'souza, two seths etc are very well developed. Malkarnicha dongar is also a very important character. Developing characters was a very difficult taks considering that this book is about 110 pages long.
Intelligent readres can guess the climax. After climax the book ends logically as it should end. The end might have been more effective if the last 3-4 pages were not there.
Recommend reading. Since the book is small, even those who are not avid readers can read.
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