Of Waters And Boats

“Good morning Ma’am, kaise ho? Breakfast kiya?”

 

He asks ritualistically while I verify reports of patients in the laboratory every morning. We call him ‘Tasleem’, a young lanky boy of seventeen from Assam who is quite the songbird. There is no tune that he is not familiar with; there is no Hindi song that is not in his playlist. When I hear him sing, I get perturbed thinking about his job as a housekeeping staff in the hospital, such raw and beautiful talent in the wrong place.

Yesterday when he wished me so, there was a subtle change in his tone. I looked at him and smiled.

“What happened Tasleem, everything fine?” I inquired. His reply was something that made me think there is more to this boy’s charm beyond his adolescent silliness. 

“Bina paani ka naav jaisa hai mera life Ma’am” he said and smirked.

I thought about it all day. There are a hundred wise sayings and quotes about boats on shore and how they need to be sailed. But what Tasleem told me was beyond all that. At times we learn from people whom we least expect to teach us. I am grateful to him for that, of course he does get a word or two from me every other day on how he needs to grow up ;-) We all need water, don’t we? Something to use our oars against. While most of us at some point cry and complain of the battles of routine, there are some who find it difficult to find even that purpose in life. What if there is no water, no battle, no purpose? Eerie feeling!

Hope you all find enough waters to sail, a merry good weather and lots of sunshine. And do take care of your boats. Have a good day :-)

-R

When She Smiled- Book Review

I finished reading Ritoban Chakrabarti’s ‘Freaking novel’ today, the reason I am using this adjective for the book is that at the end of the ordeal I have to but presume that it is the author’s favourite word- ‘Freaking funny’, ’freaking hell’, ‘freaking planet’ and freaking brilliant’- the list continues. And how can I forget ‘ Ram sake’, dictionary please anyone! While I am still getting over the below average English grammar and choice of words let me do my duty of reviewing the book.

The story revolves around a boy who gets back to his town, Shimla after a stint of two years in a boarding school. What happens is something I wouldn’t stress upon much for reasons you will know at the end of this review. School life, studies, tuition, crushes, puppy love, friends, teachers, school fests, competitions, bus rides, parents, outings, trips, dance, games, siblings, loss, learning and disappointment are aspects of a typical Indian teen that are talked about in the story in different situations. While some scenes were close to reality, some in my opinion are pointless narration. The extreme detailing and the lack of flow only made me feel” So what?” at many places. There are contradictory statements here and there, in one scene he speaks about his wrist injury in the football field during boarding school days and says how painful it was- ‘HARD TO DESCRIBE’ (Pg 97) to the girl he is drooling at. A few flip of pages and you will find the wrist injury and pain again in a fight with his brother during  a family  trip to Rajasthan- ‘THE SINGLE MOST PAINFUL THING’ I wish the story moved on, well including the protagonist. The death of his sister who never came in any scene, apart from the few phone calls well even that did not add any empathy. I am sorry about this spoiler.

The theme or the skeleton of the story is totally Bollywood like, CB style but what murdered the plot was the abrupt ends between scenes. The shuttling between the past and present, I suppose that added to my trouble of interpreting what the author wanted to put across. At a point Roy seemed to be a determined and studious fellow, and at the next instance he was nothing short of a bozo calling the love of his life a ‘chicken to be caught in a basket’! And the same guy calls his guy friend ‘cutie pie’. I repeat again, the choice of words and grammar is what gave me many heart aches. If one were to look at the story from a fifteen year old boy's point of view, maybe this can pass the test. A decent adolescent Indian fiction, nothing beyond that. I am hoping for a day when Indian authors make me proud that I read them, no excuses just because the author is a debutant! I wish I could end this review just like the end of the story, abrupt. The title ‘When She Smiled’ made sense only in the last page, and that was the turning point, the closure. Done and dusted.

Title: When She Smiled

Author: Ritoban Chakrabarti

ISBN-13: 9781502850577

Binding: Paperback

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Number of pages: 232

Genre: Fiction

Language: English

Price: Rs.215

My rating: 1.5/5

PS: This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Shattered Dreams’ - Ramayana-The Game of Life - Book 2 - Book Review

‘Shattered Dreams’ is the second in the series of Ramayana-The Game of Life authored by Shubha Vilas. About a week ago I received a copy from the author with a wonderful handwritten note which definitely has added  to the positivity I hope in this year , also I must say that my inquisitiveness to learn more about the epic which started with the first book is adequately appeased.

Firstly mythology, secondly a series to write in my opinion is a great challenge. To top that keeping a reader of the modern times hooked to the story is not a piece of cake. I did feel some dialogues and scenes above the light reading that I usually prefer but something did not let me put down the book. It does succeed very much like the first in its rendition.

The story begins with Dasaratha’s nightmare on a restless night and ends with Rama, Sita and Lakshmana leaving towards the Dandakaranya forest. What transpires in between is where all the learning of life is, as the author rightly put it for me in his mail-how to handle reversals positively is what one can learn from Rama and how to explore beyond one’s comfort zone is what one can learn from Sita.

What added to my knowledge and confidence about Ramayana is what the other characters had to tell me. Dasaratha, Kausalya, Sumitra, Kaikeyi, Lakshmana, Bharatha, Shatrugna, Urmila, Manthara, Sumanthra, Guha, Anasuya, Vasistha and all the others have myriad things to teach us as well. We all have heard and read about Ramayana from many sources, but what makes this book different is the extreme detailing and the interpretation which contributes to developing our own perspective about the epic. The stories within the story-how people earned their names, why a certain situation had to happen and what made people behave the way they did is what the book offers. For example how Dasaratha came to be called so, why a boatman wanted to wash Rama’s feet, why Bharatha refused to become the king and so on. The book has answers to these questions.

My favourite line is in one scene between Rama and Sita”…she then wove an imaginary garland around Rama’s neck by moving her beautiful eyes and smiled again” This was one poetic portion. I also have to mention about the point to point footnotes. Some of them like these are etched in my memory.

“Relationships thrive when genuine service is acknowledged by active gratitude”

"The decisions to make decisions has to be made in moments of strength not in moment of weakness"

“One ounce of immaturity coupled with ten ounces of ill advice is the perfect recipe for a life of disaster”

“Convenience is about changing the law to suit your life but maturity is about changing your life to salute the law”

On one considerable side I must admit that I was at my wit’s end with some portions of footnotes and explanations, that one thin line when a reader realizes with the flow”Oh wait, let me get back, where was the story!” This happened to me a couple of times when I had to flip the pages back. I guess this was the only pique I had to deal with even with the first book. I decided to overlook this since so many good ideas and opinions came along with the reading . I would only recommend this for people who are interested in looking at Ramayana as our story, because it actually is. 

-R.