Book Review #31: The Lowland By Jhumpa Lahiri

Naxalism, Life in Post-Independent India, Love story, Brotherhood, Friendship, Marriage, Children, etc.. A book that has so many stories woven into one, but, still it fails to attract you. I was not at all impressed by this book. First of all, its monotonous way of narration is what failed from the beginning. The story became too predictive after first few chapters. The plot deviated from what it was expected to follow.

Jhumpa Lahiri, known for her eloquent style of writing has somewhat failed in this novel. Just to let you know, this is only my interpretation. Many people might have understood this book in a different way. For me, it was way below my expectation from Lahiri after reading The Namesake.

Ok let's get into the review. Why it is not a must read book from my point of view ?. First of all, the plot is too weak. the narration is dull and is is way too slow. Somehow, it took me a while to complete this novel. Not because of 300 odd pages of story, but, because of its way of story building.

The story is all about 2 brothers that were born in the very next year of India's Independence in 1947, in calcutta i.e. today's Kolkata. Udayan the younger one and Subhash the elder one. The stories of their childhood is impressive, as we get to read lots about their tryst for technology, sports, books, chess game, morse codes etc.. Later, what follows after they've grown up, is a complete dry plot.

Udayan was more attracted towards Politics, rather, I can say it as towards Naxalism and not towards the mainstream politics. He gets attracted towards Communist ideologies that were popular during those times of early 50's. He often skips his college to spend time with comrades and listen to their speech all the time. As expected, once after his college he officially joins to the communist group and becomes a Naxalite.

Whereas, Subhash, the elder one, is more attracted towards his studies. He completes his degree and he applies for a postgraduate program in a US university in Rhode Islands. He was majoring in Chemical Industry. He sees his younger brother Udayan growing out to be a Naxalite with his very own eyes and persuades him to get a regular job or go for higher studies. But, Udayan was so adamant in his decisions, he never bothers to listen to Subhash.

Until this part was the interesting section from the book. Later, after few years, Subhash now studying in US, will come to know that his younger brother is married already, his wife is called Gauri. He was shell-shocked to hear this and comes to term with his brother and accepts his new sister-in-law. As the book progresses further, Subhash again receives a letter from Gauri that, his brother, Udayan was shot dead in a combing operation in Calcutta. Subhash returns to India.

As we get to see the plot, now it becomes too predictable. Subhash decides to marry Gauri for the sole reason of not leaving her with his parents who were still not ready to accept her. As the years passed, Subhash becomes the father of Udayan's child that Gauri was carrying. He named her Bela. Here, Gauri was not impressed with Subhash, rather, she wanted to skip from her responsibilities and decides to pursue her education in US and applies for a philosophy degree. From there she decides to leave Subhash and her daughter and she leaves the house forever.

Towards the end of the novel, Subhash, now taking care of Bela and her new child Meghna, decides to get a divorce from Gauri and he writes a letter to Gauri. As expected, Gauri instead of writing back, she heads back to meet Subhash to give her consent for the divorce. There, she meets Bela and her grand daughter Meghna. Surprised Bela, admonishes her mother for leaving her as a child. Disappointed, Gauri heads back to her place. That's it..., their life goes on as it is!!

That's the end of the novel. It is just this much, are we expected to read only this much.??. I was not at all impressed the way it ended. Lahiri would've at least changed something that might have reconciled their family!!. The only impressive thing from the novel is, Udayan's Naxal way of living and going headstrong against the government. Whereas, Subhash's part of the story is dry and dull.

My Rating:
3/5

Book Review #30: The Palace of Illusions By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Who doesn't love Mahabharata ?? An epic of thousands of tales intertwined together in a mesmerizing story. And even more awesome feeling is, when you read the same Mahabharata story in different angles, different perspectives and different dimensions. All in all, a book which is certainly unputdownable. After reading many books on Mahabharata, especially after providing the review of Parva and Jaya in my own blog. I am here to give you all, yet another version of the tales of dice or simply the Mahabharata.

As the title of the book itself says, this story is all about the Illusionating Palace that Draupadi had dreamed off. The title is so apt for this book, since, the main theme of the book revolves around this palace. Divakaruni's attempt of narrating The Mahabharata from Draupadi's point of view is an excellent feat. Keeping Draupadi as the main protagonist of the novel, Divakaruni had achieved full effect the novel for what it meant to be. Loaded with heavy feminist viewpoint, you get to read the complete, different Mahabharata from Draupadi's point of view. Even arranging the chapter names is in a different style, as it is not numbered, rather, it is the theme of the story that she is narrating in that chapter. For example: Chapter name is Fire - it contains the Yagna that Dhritarashtra performs in the name of Rajasuya Yaga.

I am not going to give you all a review of Mahabharata here. That has been told many times over and over again. Here I will highlight the events and actions that unfolds through the eyes of Draupadi.

What was much fascinating was, Divakaruni's attempt of picturising Draupadi or Panchaali (The way she expects everyone to call her) is vivid and full of surprises. Draupadi also enjoyed the name "Sakhi" and "Krishnaa" (the female version of krishna) when Krishna used to call her. Draupadi's childhood is not a regular childhood of any little girl, since, it follows a different route. Draupadi, who was raised by his fond Dhai Ma, had a different view of the world such that, she always opposed the ritual of Women were not allowed to enter the Royal Courtroom, Women were not supposed to study after a certain point, Women had no choice of her own while selecting her groom (Yes, the Swayamvar!!), etc. etc..

Throughout the novel, we can get to see the lost love of Draupadi for Karna. Draupadi always longed for the love of Karna, which is not by compulsion, but by pure love. She had admonished him in the Swayamvar proceedings of his lower birth, not knowing Karna's true birth!!. Almost in every chapter, Draupadi's love for Karna is described very passionately, which is a must read from the book.

Without forgetting, having married off to 5 Pandava brothers, Draupadi had her share of fight or rather doubts against Kunti, her mother-in-law. She had to start her daughter-in-law life afresh in the new house, adjusting to the environments, getting along with people,etc.. You will sure enjoy the regular SAAS-BAHU cat-fights from this novel. When Draupadi learns that, Kunti had approached Karna to reveal his true birth and offered Karna to becomes the Sixth husband of Draupadi, towards the end of the novel!, Draupadi loses her cool and was about to shout at Kunti for not bringing this to her notice!!. This is for sure a spiced up story to read from the book.

What at all a review, if I do not bring the Palace of Illusions ??. This is the main theme or crux of the novel as I said before. What follows after their lac house was burnt and they get their share of barren land Indraprastha to start a life. Pandava's had called Maya to construct a beautiful palace that was never done before and will not be done after. As expected from this women centered novel, Draupadi becomes the chief architect for planning and suggesting what and all to include in this palace. The pillars, The waterfalls, The fish ponds, The rooms, The walls, The paintings, etc.. Everything was done according to Draupadi's instructions, which is the sole reason or the stepping stone for the entire Mahabharata. When Pandava's invited Kaurava's to visit their palace of Illusions, with much to the dismay, when Duryodhan accidently steps on to a pool which was looking like a glass floor, followed by Draupadi mocking him in front of her maid-servants, that led to the game of dice, followed by War of Kurukshetra is all a regular telltale!!.

Surprising stuff which I believe is that author's brought up story is, Draupadi had a boon from Sage Vyasa that, she can visualize the happenings across a far away place. When she was younger, Vyasa had already informed her that, she will be the main reason for thousands of deaths, also, she will get married to 5 brothers, etc.. Even in the war of kurukshetra, Draupadi already knew who Karna was, and she was tempted to reveal this to her husbands, which she didn't do, since, Vyasa asked her not reveal anything until what he wrote already must happen. 2 things we must notice here, First Vyasa giving boon to Draupadi to visualize future but not to reveal anything. And Second, Vyasa had wrote the Mahabharata much before it took place ?? (This is sure a debatable topic)

Towards the end of the novel, all Kaurava's side have been killed and Pandava's side have ruled for several years and it was time to take up the vanaprashta-ashram. 5 brothers along with Panchaali heads towards Himalaya that ascends to the greater heavens. The struggle and the hardship that Draupadi goes through this phase is a treat to read from the book. Because, Dhritarashtra had told his brothers that, none of them will help anyone if they fell down while ascending the himalayas. So, as foretold by the oracles, Draupadi falls much before. But to our surprise, Divakaruni had brought Krishna in this scene, who will lead Draupadi into the safer heaven.

Overall, a fresh aspect, a bold attempt of Mahabharata or I can call it as Panchaali's Mahabharata!!. A section of Krishna teaching Bhadagawad Geeta to Arjun was kept bare minimum, which should've been extended a bit further. Other than that, a must read book for all those historical fiction buffs.

My Rating:
5/5

Book Review #29: Vamshavruksha By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

There are few books that questions your own existence and the root of your family.!! Yes, S. L. Bhyrappa had written this novel in the year 1965 which is close to 50 years now and still it is one of the epitome of all his novels put together. Written long ago, this book captures the essence of transformation of families and persons from a traditional Indian background to a modern India and the ups and downs that they face while doing so. Vamshavruksha can be literally translated to english as FAMILY TREE.

In the year 1972 this novel has been adopted as a movie under the same title by one of the renowned directors and a great personality in Kannada B.V.Karanth in association with a popular kannada plays writer, actor Girish Karnad. This movie have won the best direction national award and southern Indian filmfare award. The story is so gripping and it is thought provoking.

As I finished reading this novel, several questions arose within me. Who am I ?, Who are my ancestors ?, What is the purpose of our family tree when we are not even sure of who was the first person from our family ?, Can anybody answer such questions ?, Certainly not. This book captures this very arguments through our protagonists and gives us an amazing literary journey.

This novel captures the tale of two families, Shrotri and Rao households, that captures their journey that spans over three decades. In first few chapters, there is introduction of the characters of these 2 families without any twist. Later what follows in subsequent chapters is almost a biographical journey of Srinivasa Shrotri, his wife, his young widowed daughter-in-law Kathyayini (she plays an important role in this novel) juxtapositioning against the literary journey of Dr. Sadashiva Rao, his wife Nagalakshmi and his younger brother Raja Rao.

The journey of Kathyayini and Dr. Sadashiva Rao from their own perspective is a way ahead of time considering the novel's publishing time, where modernism was not so encouraged by the traditional practitioners. This particular part of the novel explores the love life of Kathyayini with Raja Rao that stood on questioning grounds of morality and cultural impact. Whereas, Sadashiva Rao's tryst with Karuna Rathne a research student of him, whom he marries on the sole purpose of completing his research books, after realizing he alone cannot complete his books.

The essence that these stories are narrated by Bhyrappa is a treat to read from the book. Through his characters he explores the age old fight between social norms versus personal happiness, morality versus individual choice, cultural tradition versus modern aspirations, family values versus individual choices, etc..etc..

This book brings us, the readers, into a debate on what is most important in our life. Holding onto the moral values or just be happy with the way we wanted. The re-marriage of Kathyayini with Raja Rao is a phase, where readers will question themselves on what she did was right or wrong. It also brings us to debate on the moral policing by Srinivasa Shrotri, who questions his daughter-in-law regarding her marriage and why its against the traditional social pattern, he also questions her whether she should take the kid along with her to her new house, by citing a reason that, kids actually belongs to the family first and then to the parents. Kids alone can represent the continuation of the family tree and when these tree breaks by a non-acceptable marriage, then it will be a bad name on their family and not on parents. Hence, it is left to Kathyayini's choice whether to uphold the accepted social pattern or to continue with her own decisions.

The ending is a true realization. The realization of Srinivasa Shrotri about his true birth and he himself doesn't belongs to the right family. Kathyayini realizes that, she shouldn't have remarried again just for the material pleasures that has no purpose after sometime. Whether Shrotri is right in terms of his traditional upbringing or Kathyayini is right in terms of her wishes is a never ending dilemma. Imagination left to the readers. Readers can introspect themselves which one is more important.

For sure, author SL Bhyrappa focuses on the moral decisions that people make or the social implications of the same for others. This is a must read book for everyone including the new generation of people. And must read for those, who justify the moral policing based on traditionally accepted societal patterns!!.

My Rating: 
5/5

Book Review #28: The Missionary Position - Mother Theresa in Theory and Practice By Christopher Hitchens

First things First:

I am neither a follower of Mother Teresa, nor do I believe in such people who help the destitute by starting a full-fledged organization, that’s purpose, is highly deviated from what it must have done actually. I am also cautioning the readers to read this book before coming to any conclusion. Since, as Indians, we have more respects and regards to this saint figure. Mother Teresa is the only Non-Indian after Nelson Mandela to get conferred with Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award that Indian government gives.

The Review:

The great  Polemicist Christopher Hitchens turns his attention to Agnes Bojaxhiu a.k.a Mother Teresa, in this what seemed to be a sting operation kind of book. This book is a perfect and honest account of life and practices of Mother Theresa.

After reading this relatively short book (yep, around 99 pages). I turned on Youtube to watch his documentary film which this book was based on. This documentary is famously called as Hell’s Angel. The first half of this documentary is what is told in this book. This is probably the thinnest yet incredibly good book that I have read in recent days.

Hitchens lays the bare Teresa’s life like it should have been. After all, what’s wrong with a little bit of devil’s advocacy ? And, you have to hand it to him for his courage in taking someone who has clearly been one of the most important icons (holy cows!!) of catholic church.

As this book is relatively short, I will highlight only the important events from this book.

Hitchens recounts Teresa’s dubious links with the known dictators of the world, a special mention is Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and his wife Michele who all but bankrupted their country and fled to France. According to the author, Teresa, despite supposedly caring for the poor, does little for them – she demands that poor has to accept their condition and position and live with that.

Was she political after all?. she is not supposed to be political. Yet, she often involved herself in politics especially when it came to the subject of abortion. She travelled to spain to protest when post-franco legislation was to be passed regarding the legalization of abortion and even spoke to Margaret Thatcher about passing a bill that was in the house of commons.

The biggest criticism of mother Teresa is the way she and her order of people withheld the painkillers from the very sick and dying. In a filmed interview, she encountered an exchange she had with a cancer patient, who was almost dying, where she said “You are suffering like a Christ on a cross. So Jesus must be kissing you!!” to which the dying man replied, “Tell your Jesus to stop kissing me!!”. More than this, her order of people or the nuns who were supposed to take care of the patients are not even medically trained.! They were sterilizing the needles and injections with tap water!!

One more such incident that Hitchens mention without forgetting that, the greatest tragedy of India. The Bhopal Gas tragedy, where the cause of the mishap was a company that goes with the name Union Carbide. As usual Mother Teresa was rushed to the camp and by looking at those victims, she said “Let’s forgive” , there was a long silence among the crowd. She again repeated “Let’s forgive”, even now there was no reply. Sensing what would happen in next moment, she slowly dispersed from the crowd.!!

Hitchens also raises an important question of how Mother Teresa had got her sainthood. A must read section from the book. He also raises an important questions on the millions dollars of donations that Mother Teresa had received for her organization. There was never an audit of those things, since, it was a catholic church.

One such incidents where she received a whopping $252,000,000 as donation from the questionable source like Charles Keating, a fraud, who was imprisoned for 10 years for his part in savings and Loan scandal in the 90s. Much to everyone’s surprise, then Mother Teresa wrote a character note to the judicial bench requesting them to his acquittal, though he was under trial and the charges were proven 100%. It had no effect, but the co-prosecutor of the case, Paul Turley, wrote back to Mother Teresa explaining her why he was on trial, informing her that money she had received in the form of donation was stolen from the hard-earned money of ordinary people.  He had also requested Mother Teresa to consider his request and that she should return that money on the basic principles of humanity, for which she was famous for. He never received a reply from Mother Teresa or from her organization till today and the money was not refunded.

For which Paul W. Turley replied as below:

 Ask yourself what Jesus would do if he were given the fruits of a crime; what Jesus would do if he were in possession of money that had been stolen; what Jesus would do if he were being exploited by a thief to ease his conscience? I submit that Jesus would promptly and unhesitatingly return the stolen property to its rightful owners. You should do the same. You have been given money by Mr. Keating that he has been convicted of stealing by fraud. Do not permit him the ‘indulgence’ he desires. Do not keep the money. Return it to those who worked for it and earned it!

If you contact me I will put you in direct contact with the rightful owners of the property now in your possession.

Paul W. Turley

You can read more on this in the following blog: Paul W. Turley

Conclusion:

Was Mother Teresa really a saint ? Or just a Roman Catholic opportunist with a rather narrow minded agenda, who was at the head of a global PR movement. Read this book to question your faith in Mother Teresa’s goodness.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #27: Sita - An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana By Devdutt Pattanaik

This is yet another good book by my favorite mythological author Devdutt Pattanaik. We might have heard many versions of Ramayana's till today from our parents, teachers, grandparents, friends, colleague, etc.. But, this book stands class apart. This book tries to give us the various details of Ramayana not only a regular Valmiki Ramayana as in practice, but various versions of Ramayana that have been foretold around the world. It even includes the plays and folklore tales through which Ramayana has been passed on from generations to generations.

As I finished reading the book. Not only many of my questions have been answered. But also, many of the misconceptions have also been demystified. It is certainly a well researched book.

I am not going to give you all a regular review of the Ramayana. As most of us know the overall story, at least the overall Ramayana happenings. Instead, I will mention only those things, which I found worth to be noted in my review.

Sita:
First and foremost, the character Sita. She is one of the main protagonists of Ramayana. Is that enough to be known.? Certainly not. This book gives us the various traits of Sita and her tryst with the entire Ramayana. She is a well educated, well versed woman, full of wisdom, love and courage. She assesses the situation from her own point of view. We all admonish Rama as a bad person when he sent out Sita to the woods after their 14 years of exile, by questioning her chastity. But, in this book, Sita assesses her situation from Rama's point of view and she was happy to go!!. She tries to reason with her situation and comes to a conclusion. At sometimes you may feel, Sita is more mature than Rama in terms of actions, decisions and what not. I can say it aloud that, from this book, my respects for Sita has been multi folded.

Hanuman:
Another character worth to be noted is of Hanuman, the monkey god. He was the greatest devotee of Rama that mankind ever came to know. He actually teared down his chest to show the world that his lord, Sri Rama resides in his heart. But, that is not enough. He is full of knowledge and wisdom. He is a vedic scholar. The main section of the book, where Hanuman sets out to find Sita in Lanka. And, when he finds out Sita, the dialogues between them is a treat to read from the book. It is captured in such a fashion by the author that, you actually feel, this might have happened for real between Sita and Hanuman.


Hanuman the funny side: 
A funny incident which I would like to mention here. When Rama's 14 years of exile was over and they come back to Ayodhya. During Rama's coronation ceremony. Sita gifts Hanuman a pearl necklace for his help to fight Ravana. As Hanuman receives the necklace, he starts to bite every pearl and throw all the pearl one by one. Surprised Sita asks Hanuman why he was doing such things?. For which, Hanuman replied, "I was finding Rama in each of those pearls, and I threw it one by one after checking there was no Rama in it!!". This shows us that Hanuman's unconditional love for his master, lord, Sri Rama.

Hanuman the "generous":
It so happened after all the Ramayana tales that. Valmiki, supposed to be the original Ramayana writer was about to complete his writing of Ramayana. Then suddenly, a voice from the space told him that, Hanuman's version of Ramayana is better than yours. Saddened Valmiki thought no one will read his version of Ramayana. So he meets Hanuman and borrows Hanuman's version of Ramayana. To his astonishment, it was indeed a better version than his. So, Valmiki told Hanuman that, "Your version is way better than mine. And, no one will read my version of Ramayana". By hearing this, Hanuman tore down his version of Ramayana once and for all. Surprised Valmiki asks Hanuman, "Why you did that, your version was better than mine!!". Then, Hanuman replied "I wrote Ramayana because, I didn't want to forget my Rama and all those days I spent with him. You expect your version of Ramayana to reach to public, hence your Ramayana deserves to be saved than mine!!". This again shows us that, Hanuman is not just a mere monkey, but above all a generous, wisdomful person, who rose to be a godly figure.

Ravana:
When it comes to Ravana, there was no greater details in the book. As this book mainly focuses on Sita. Still, author had covered Ravana in greater detail and let his readers amuse by reading the knowledge and power that Ravana has possessed. The interesting section arrives when Ravana was shot by an arrow and he was about to leave his physical body. Rama asks Lakshmana to go and learn all the possible things from the greatest brahmana Ravana to gain his knowledge. When Lakshmana was not so welcomed by this idea. Rama himself will go to Ravana and lay down in front of him and asks him to educate him by his vast knowledge. This shows us that, even when you are fighting with your enemy, respect your enemy for his knowledge!!

Not only these tales that the author wrote, he also mentions the cycles of the Yugas and its a repeating phenomenon. Thereby, justifying his writing that, there may be thousands of Ramayana's that have happened in this never ending cycles of Yugas. As per the author, the 4 yugas (4 - Kritha Yuga), (3 - Treta Yuga), (2 - Dwapara Yuga) and the final one (1- Kali Yuga) that marks the end of the Yugas as proclaimed by Brahma. And this cycle repeats from Krita Yuga again. So, there are possibilities that, there may be many many Ramayana's happened that can't be imagined by humans.

This kind of surprising things are lot to find in this book. As a signature writing of Pattanaik, even in this book, he has produced some of the modern age practices that were directly linked to the practices that were followed in the Ramayana times. He also traces some of the modern places that can be directly or indirectly linked to the ancient Ramayana tales.

I would highly recommend this book to everyone. It surely helps you to gain and expand your knowledge on Ramayana.

My Rating:
5/5

Book Review #26: Yana By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

For the first time S.L. Bhyrappa tried a science fiction based novel.!!. Published just 2 weeks ago, has attracted thousands of his loyal readers, making this book as one of the bestsellers in Kannada in recent days.  As a first timer to this genre, there are slight mistakes and scientific inaccuracies and there were space to improve in the writing. Nevertheless, this book didn't disappoint me. As a regular reader of SL Bhyrappa's books, what I read is an expected. There is nothing unexpected or extra super stuff that he wrote. He just carried it in a simple but elegant manner.

What it seems to be the most secret phenomenon called Black Hole has been studied in this novel in a somewhat possible way. But, it is beyond a science fiction, it explores the regular SL Bhyrappa's flavor of human relationships, bondage, philosophical aspects, etc..

The story is very simple as it seems to be. Two Astronauts, a female fighter pilot Uttara and a male scientist Sudarshan, who sets out on a epic journey into a far away galaxy leaving our solar system. They set out to travel to the Proxima Centauri which is several light years away from our solar system.

The intention of this journey was kept a top secret by the central space research agency. The mission was supposed to test the human generation growth in a space. These two astronauts were supposed to procreate and their children were supposed to marry (Yes, you are reading it right!!) and should procreate and this cycle must continue forever. As the intention of this experiment is kept top secret, the central space research agency selected fighter pilot Uttara for her right attitude towards serving the country and Scientist Sudarshan who is capable of building modern space shuttles. They were instructed clearly by the space research station that they will never return to earth. So, these two sets out on this journey or YANA leaving behind the earth forever.

As the novel progresses further, Author had done little damage while describing the space and its intricate details. Though he described the space shuttle in somewhat possible way. The space station that has facilities to grow even vegetables. It has been proved in recent times about the facility to grow vegetables in space stations.

As the novel continues, we find that, pilot Uttara had already covered a space travel program of 100 days previously with her pilot husband in a similar journey. When the 2nd time was announced, her husband declined this offer, whereas, Uttara accepts this offer. Hence, their relationship was ended abruptly.

With the clear instructions from the space research agency, these two protagonists, Uttara and Sudarshan were supposed to procreate. But, somehow, Uttara loses her interest in this idea and she starts to avoid by becoming pregnant. And, Sudarshan tries all his might to explain the duty that she was supposed to carry out in this mission. But, he fails. As their journey continues, Sudarshan also loses interest in this mission and he tries to find solace by surrendering to meditation. The ideas and the thoughts that Sudarshan gets while he starts practicing meditation is a treat to read from the book. I will not be explaining those things in my review.

After a while, Uttara changes her mind and approaches Sudarshan. But this time, Sudarshan declines and suggests her to get pregnant with the sperms that was given to them by the space research agency before their travel. Somehow, she gets pregnant and gives birth to two children a boy Akash and a girl Medini. These two children were supposed to get married in few years and carry out this YANA. But this idea itself is somewhat creepy. I know some conservatives/orthodox people will hate this idea of brother marrying his own sister. But this is fiction right, author have every rights to let his imagination go in any direction.

As the novel progresses towards the end, the two children were supposed to marry. But, they starts getting doubt about this marriage. So, they approach their parents with all the questions they have on their mind. By studying their parent's life journey, they comes to a conclusion that, this journey has come a long way and there is no possible way of going back. Hence, they also decides to serve their mission and thereby serving their country. This marks the end of the book. Were they got married ??. Imagination left to the readers.

The writing style of this novel is lucid and it did engage the readers. If you expect a typical SLB writeups in this novel. There are two answers for that, Yes and a No. Yes, because you can read the conventional human-human relationships, whether its an illicit or a time bound relationship doesn't matter, the spiritual thoughts that runs through in the minds of protagonists, the philosophical experience, etc, etc.... And No, because, you get a feeling that, this is not even a science fiction, but a regular book that has a backdrop of space station. THAT's ALL.

Overall, can be read. Not a must read though. Author would've taken a different approach for a science fiction genre than his regular writing style. A new try will always have some loopholes.

My Rating:
4.5/5

Book Review #25: Tantu By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

Yet again, I am here to give you all a review of Dr. S. L. Bhyrappa Sir's another magnificent novel Tantu. Tantu can be meant as "Links" or a much sophisticated close meaning as "Relations". This book reveals the various facets of a life and how the bad decisions can affect one's own life and their surroundings. I can say, this book is more or less similar to Anchu in terms of the characters, feelings and relationships are concerned. But still, it makes altogether a different impact on its readers. Much have been talked about the capabilities of Dr. SLB sir and his magic while creating a psychological view of every character.

Tantu is a journey of individual souls that judge things from their own perspective. The protagonists are mere mirror image of a modern society. The reality is, Tantu captures the minute details of a person that you and me see in everyday of our life. This book is a fight between, honesty, bravery, cunningness, illicit relations, upbringing kids in the right way, money, meditation, music, school, government, politics, politicians, journalism, etc, etc..

Spread across 900 pages. This book captures many stories that are interlinked with each other. Author had brilliantly connected each story to the next and previous one in order to achieve the full effect. A complete package of a typical Indian life in a typical India during the time of Indira (the then prime minister of India)!!!.

There is no single protagnonist in this novel. Each character has the same depth of a protagonist range. A Resident Editor of a popular english daily Mr. Ravindra, who sticks to his principles and known for his honesty and integrity. A shrewed woman, wife of the resident editor, Mrs. Kanti, who is least cared about living the life in a right way, she rather believed in living life in all possible way. And, a teenage son of this couple Anoop, who falls in the wrong companionship of wealthy kids, and starts to steal things from his school, steals money from his dad's pocket. Later stage of the novel witnesses Anoop being convicted by police, when raiding a brothel cum nude dance bar.

The story revolves around these main characters. But, the other events and stages of the novel feels as important as these 3 peoples. As the novel further goes, Mr. Ravindra came to know that, his son is going in a wrong direction. He decides to get him admitted to a different school, that runs on the principles laid down by Mahatma Gandhi. The speciality of this school is, it doesn't take any support from the governmental agencies, even, the teachers are mostly celibate and they stays in school forever. The vivid description of this school must be read from the novel itself. Here author introduces us to the scene, where Mrs. Kanti was not at all happy about getting her son admitted to a school in a faraway village. This event had led her to have a spat with Ravindra.

As the novel further goes, Mrs. Kanti decides to go to her hometown for her father's birthday. But, she decides to stay there forever. Reason being, she meets one of her childhood friend, Mrs. Sheetal, who works in external ministry department. She gives Kanti an idea of starting her own cloth export business, for which, Kanti agreed instantaneously. Later events, proved that Kanti grown as one of the successfull business tycoon.

The real twist in the novel appears now. In Anoop's school there is a music teacher by the name of Mr. Hemanth Honnatti, that left his high paying job and decides to pursue his career in sitar music and runs away from his house and was practising in Anoop's school. Fortunately, Kanti knew the parents of Hemanth, she decides to meet him and persuade him to go and meet his parents. As the events unfolds, Kanti realizes that, she is attracted to Hemanth, she slowly shows her intersts in him, for which, Hemanth reciprocates equally. Within no time, their relationship had grown beyond imagine and they started seeing each other almost daily.

As the novel approaches towards the end. Anoop had joined an engineering college to pursue his engineering. Here author tries to explain the grave realities of the problems of a young adult, who is curious enough to try his hands at relationships, but not adult enough to sustain those realtions. Anoop tries his luck with many female students from his college. He also visits brothels, that leads to him in a bigger mess in the later stage of the novel. Finally, he decides to pursue his career in USA for an administration degree in Business. Here, due to Indira Gandhi's emergency declarations in the country, Ravindra decides to quit his resident editor job as he feels that there is not enough room left for fair, honest practice for journalism. His newspaper investors asked him to not to cover any governmental decisions and to stay out of reporting those things. This was the phase, that whole of India was in ultimate shock by witnessing the dictator style of governance from Indira Gandhi.

In climax, Ravindra will come to know about the illicit relationship that his wife Kanti had with Hemanth. He tries to question her, but he gets admonished from Kanti. Even Anoop knows about her mother's illicit relatioship, for which, his mother tactful response makes him silent. Here Kanti had grown out to be a good successfull business icon, but, failed as a wife and a mother. She had suffered a massive heart attack and passes away in isolation. Ravindra was put behind the bar for writing against the Indira Gandhi's government, Anoop marries his girlfriend and decides to stay in USA. The final scene marks, where Ravindra and few other were shouting slogans against the government for its decision to arrest common people. This marks the end of the book.

As though my review seems to be long and very simple. It's not the case, I didn't even revealed 20% of the novel in my review. It is such a huge novel, and it is difficult to write a conclusive review after all. It exposes those persons that lives in each one of us who are after material desires than relations and responsibilities. As we witness in this novel, Kanti failed as an honest wife and a loving mother. Anoop failed as an honest son, Hmeanth failed as a trusted friend, Ravindra failed for being an honest man!!. Their relationships or TANTU with each other seems to be just on the papers, and it has broken long ago.

We all must appreciate the hidden meaning in this novel. Don't just think it is a work of fiction, it gives all of us some lessons on how to maintain our relationships. If we go behind just material desires, our relationships, for sure, goes in a different direction. We wouldn't even realize it. By the time we realize, this TANTU or RELATIONSHIP will be beyond the stage of repair. A must read for everyone.

My Rating: 
5/5