Malloban

<p><i>Malloban</i> is set in North Calcutta in the winter of 1929. The eponymous protagonist, a lower-middle-class office worker, lives in College Street-a locality known for its bookstores, publishing houses, and universities-with his wife Utpala and their daughter Monu. The novel unfolds through a series of everyday scenes of dysfunction and discontent: bickering about bathrooms and budgeting, family trips to the zoo and the movies, a visit from Utpala''s brother''s family which displaces Malloban to a boarding house, and the appearance of a frequent late-night visitor to Utpala''s upstairs bedroom. Meanwhile, the daughter Monu bears the brunt of her parents'' "unlove."<br>Arguably the most beloved poet in modern Bangla after Tagore, Jibanananda wrote a significant number of novels and short stories discovered and published after his death. <i>Malloban</i> is his most popular novel.</p>