History as a genre has forever appealed to all creators of content – be it filmmakers or authors. A recent addition to the ever growing and impressive list is the supremely engaging historical fiction – The Raja Of Jongol Badi: A Tale Of Love & Rebllion by debuting author Bhaskar Som, an IIT Madras & IIM Clacutta alumnus who heads Fitch Solution’s advisory business in India, with over twenty-five years of cross-sector experience in corporate advisory, strategy formulation, project advisory, risk modelling, data analytics and artificial intelligence, is a well researched book on a lesser known yet extremely important chapter from Indian history focusing on the legend of Isha Khan and the mighty Baro Bhiyans or 12 Chieftains.

Ask him why he chose the subject and pat comes the reply. “Our family migrated to India from East Bengal during the partition. As a toddler, I grew up hearing my grandfather’s tales of the golden land that was East Bengal (now Bangladesh) and from where he originally hailed. The names like Buri Ganga, Sadarbazaar, Shitalakshya, Ramna Kalibadi, Sonargaon, Goalundo Ghat are therefore etched in my memory from childhood. One particular story that fascinated me was that of the legend of the Sonakanda fort and the romance between Isa Khan, the chief of the Baro Bhuiyans (twelve chieftains) and Sona, the widowed daughter of another chieftain. What intrigued me and seemed an anathema was that Isa – a Muslim – descended from a family of aristocrat Hindus.”