Review | ‘Register me as Kulbhushan’ by Alka Saraogi is about one man’s determination to be seen
Alka Saraogi’s novel 'Register Me as Kulbhushan' explores the life of a refugee navigating identity and displacement during the Bangladesh Liberation War. The story highlights the struggle for official recognition and the psychological impact of trauma and memory.
Why it matters
It provides a literary perspective on the historical trauma of the Partition and the universal human need for identity and belonging.
In Hindi writer Alka Saraogi’s novel, Register Me as Kulbhushan , set against the turmoil of the Bangladesh Liberation War, one story stands out for having more fact than fiction: that of a refugee named Kulbhushan, whose uncertain life is shaped by displacement, memory and the search for identity.
Lost in a maze of memories, he seeks to reinvent himself by adopting different names — Bhushan chacha , Kulbhushan Jain and Gopal Chandra Das. Hailing from Kushtia in what was then East Pakistan, he drops ‘Kul’ from his name to marry a Bengali woman in Calcutta. This reinvention of his name, however, raises questions among the elders in the family: “Did the bride’s side change their ancestral name?”
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