Book Review
Title: Strong Woman: Reba
Rakshit
Author: Ida Jo Pajunen
Publisher: Om Books
International, 2024
Pages: 218
Reba Rakshit was a rare kind of entertainer. She could
lift an elephant on her chest. She would lie on a mat and a huge plank would be
placed on her chest. An elephant would walk on that plank. Reba could bear the
weight of that elephant though for a few seconds.
Reba was born in what now is
Bangladesh. She migrated with her sister to Calcutta (today Kolkata) to live
with her uncle who promised them good education. That was a decade and a half
before India became independent. A man named Bishnu Charan Gosh discovered
Reba’s potential and trained her to become a performer. He was running a
college of physical education in Calcutta where Reba became a trainee while she
was also pursuing regular school studies. Eventually Ghosh made Reba capable of
doing many things like breath control using yoga, weight-lifting, and mind
control. Soon enough, Ghosh found her a coveted place in a few famous circuses
that came to Calcutta. After Reba became famous with her elephant stunts, the
circuses started taking her to faraway places too. Ghosh accompanied her. Reba
was earning huge sums of money and Ghosh was her guru as well as manager.
This short biography throws ample
light into Reba’s active life. The biography ends when Reba was young but she
put an end to her career for health-related reasons.
The author of this book came across
some writings of Reba and took interest in her. She collected as many details
as she could about this woman who retreated from public life in her youth
itself. We get to know how a performer of this sort manages her life. The book
has little more to offer than that. The book is about the dedication and hard
work of a young individual to achieve what she wanted to: success and fame. Was
she happy after she achieved that in her youth itself and then retired? The
book doesn’t answer that. Probably, nothing much is known about that part of
Reba’s life. Reba died in 2010 at the age of 77.
The book could have become more
engaging if the author could find more insights into the life of the person
called Reba, like her later life and her views on her career which became
extinct in her lifetime. As it is, the book remains a mere factual description
of the life of a stunt-performer.
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| A page from the book |
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It begs the question: was she happy performing or was she forced into it?
ReplyDeleteShe was not forced except maybe towards the end when she developed certain health issues.
DeleteHari Om
ReplyDelete...so, a newspaper article extended beyond its word count? YAM xx
Yes, I'd say that.
Delete"A man named Bishnu Charan Gosh discovered Reba’s potential and trained her to become a performer. He was running a college of physical education in Calcutta where Reba became a trainee while she was also pursuing regular school studies. Eventually Ghosh made Reba capable of doing many things like breath control using yoga, weight-lifting, and mind control." Indeed, as you mention, it's a pity that we don't know much about her later life, namely, how this training was helpful afterwards
ReplyDeleteMaybe, there's no literature available on those details.
DeleteNever heard of her. One thing about blogging. Is what one can learn.
ReplyDeleteI too heard of her only through this book.
DeleteGreat read about Reba Rakshit, Amazing
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
Delete