Yātrāra prathama pāda
By: Śantanu Kumāra Āchāryya.
Publisher: Granthamandira
Published: 1976
Place of publication: Kaṭaka
Language: ori
Format: Hardback
Number of pages: 78
Description: Yatrara Prathama Pada ( The First Leg of The Journey)is a critical view of the vicious social-political scenario  obtaining in the aftermath of post-independence period in India, when the violent Naxal movement was apprehended ,but was waiting for right  time  to fully bare its venomous fang.
The chief protagonist of this novel,Mini, is a sixteen year  girl that got most atrociously raped,  within the very sight of her parents, one afternoon, on the Puri sea-beach by a group of  people. She identified them later as some powerful  young political figures of her town, whom she knew from her childhood days.Through this tragic character, Mini,the novelist portrayed the existing social-political realities of the times when India was getting ready for bidding a farewell to non-violent Gandhian political movement for  ever and casting her  die in favor of an alien political ideology branded as Maoism, for bringing in quick economic solutions through horrendous methods of violence.

In order to hush up the police case Mini was hastily married away by her father who was a government servant  of considerable social influence but was completely helpless against the politically powerful criminals involved in the nasty rape case that involved his young daughter.  But that was no solution for deciding poor Mini's fate.Soon the girl became a widow by the turn of events and the next moment she was forced to join the same group of people  that raped her, by inducting her into their newly raised political party of neo-revolutionists! 

The tragedy of Indian politics started with the disillusionment of the Gandhian politicians who labored so hard to usher in their most cherished goal through the practice of non-violence as their avowed creed. But after arriving at the coveted goal they knew no better  than to cast off their Gandhian mask and put on those of Marx and Mao,  that were counter to the  age- old tradition of India that believed in peaceful social change.This amounted to say that they collectively raped the same woman whom they salvaged from the clutches of another rapist whom they branded as foreigners. This is the crux of this short and poignantly structured  story of Mini.
Notes: In Oriya.