Tag / Book Review

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The Unforgettable Woman | Pankaj Giri | Book Review

Written by Siddhartha Krishnan | 3 Min Read

As a new author breaking into the literary scene, one of the biggest challenges is to find your voice. Most of our writing is birthed out of what we have consumed as human beings. We are after all a product of our experiences. While as writers we try to be as original and honest as possible, we tend to subconsciously mimic what we have been influenced by, which may not be other writers necessarily. It could just be ordinary people we have met. This is not a bad thing. Imagination is a great quality but so is observation.

Neil Gaiman, in one of his lessons to young writers presses on the need to be brutally honest. But I’ve also heard him say that it’s okay to sound like writers who have influenced you. It often starts like that. He further says, “Let the bad words out, and the good ones will follow”. Eventually, he reckons, “You will find your voice”. This means that finding your voice is a journey.

Having read Pankaj Giri’s critically acclaimed earlier work, ‘The Fragile Thread of Hope’, I think it’s safe to assume that this is a new Indian author who is pursuing that journey. While his latest novel, ‘The Unforgettable Woman’ is a quicker read and departs from his earlier novel in more ways than one, Pankaj does stick to things that make his writing engaging.

Here, he chooses fictional towns in Sikkim to tell his story and explores the themes of love, regret, and forgiveness while touching upon several social issues. The two central characters in the novel are seemingly leading uneventful lives until ghosts of their past come to haunt them. It’s not that such themes have not been explored by Indian authors before. But here are some of my observations that set this author apart from other new Indian authors writing in this genre.

Character development – Just like in his previous novel, here too, the author chooses to dedicate each chapter to a character. He also chooses to journey between the past and present thereby creating a sprawling narrative. An improvement from his earlier novel that I noticed is how he has added several layers to his characters thereby making them more relatable. Whether you agree with them or not is a different discussion, but they aren’t black or white. There is sufficient conflict in the story to keep the reader invested.

Worldbuilding – This is perhaps the author’s biggest strength; his understanding of the culture that he was born into. To write a story rooted in culture is easier said than done. The devil is in the details, and it takes tremendous observation skills to make it authentic. The author has managed to bring to life not just the landscapes of Sikkim but also the mindscapes of its people in a fictional setting. The ability to understand what is unique to the world you have built is imperative to make it believable.

Dialogues – As new writers, we often falter in writing conversations. Effective dialogue writing does require technical prowess. It also comes with practice. I liked how the author through dialogue has been able to unravel the layers of his characters, their mindset, their beliefs, their flaws, and their courage. I liked also how he builds up tension through dialogue thus lending cinematic quality to the narrative.

Vivid Imagery – Often the trap that new writers fall into is to fill sentences with adjectives in a bid to make the narrative vivid. The reader ends up with a verbose prose that can cause an eye sore. In this novel, the language is simple, free-flowing, and effective. It also benefits from good editing. The words woven have been able to create the required imagery in the mind of the reader.

To conclude Pankaj Giri’s ‘The Unforgettable Woman’ is an effective novel that has well-etched characters and tackles important social issues. The book is evocative when it needs to be and the writing has cinematic quality. In case you are looking for a well-written book by an Indian author, give this one a go.

The book is available on Amazon. Link below –

Amazon – The Unforgettable Woman

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About the author –

Siddhartha Krishnan is the author of ‘Two and a Half Rainbows – A Collection of Short Stories’. He is also an enthusiastic blogger, and on his blog (www.whatsonsidsmind.com), he puts out his articles, essays, travelogues, book recommendations, and film reviews.

by whatsonsidsmind

Tilottama at a Glance | Book Review

Written by Siddhartha Krishnan . 4 Min Read

Before its chapters begin, the book opens with a quote by Pradeep Sarkar, director of the much-loved Hindi film Parineeta, which was based on a famous novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. He says, “Calcutta is beautiful. Wherever you place a camera, you get a vision.” I remember the director making this comment, 7 years ago, in a discussion with film critic, Anupama Chopra. You may hate or love this city, but what you cannot deny is that it is photogenic. The urban streetscape, especially in the older parts of North and South Kolkata, is mesmerizing!

Three generations of my family owe a lot to the city. My grandfather migrated to Kolkata in pursuit of a different life. My father, who has spent all his life there, calls it his home. As for me, it is the city which has given me a good education, and has moulded me. Kolkata is within me. I know a lot about it despite being an outsider of sorts, a Malayalee, from a small town in Kerala. So, when I read reviews of Tilottama at a Glance, in a Facebook group for bibliophiles (Readers Forever!), I asked myself—what am I going to get from it?

Despite the doubts, I took the plunge, and returned happy. I am going to tell you why.

This book to different people could mean different things. To a traveller, a handy guide, to someone who has lived or lives there, a memoir, and to a foreigner, a glimpse into a different culture. Thus, it serves many purposes. I was looking for something specific though, not having stayed in Kolkata for over 16 yrs.

I wanted a trip down memory lane, and to discover something new about the places and things that are known to me.

The introduction makes it amply clear, how the book came into being. Each chapter, to me, felt like an essay, an ode to the subject at hand. It gives enough without being over indulgent. It doesn’t pretend to be a chronicle of the history of everything about Kolkata, which would take a lifetime. Impossible to encapsulate in a single book. This honesty is much appreciated. In each chapter, the book offers little nuggets of joy to a reader, nostalgia for a city dweller, and requisite knowledge of a topic for a tourist. The author gets this mix and balance right.

The language is lucid, and the writing is crisp, making the book an easy page-turner. Quotes by famous people relevant to the topic discussed and anecdotes from the author’s own life adorn its pages. They help the storytelling considerably, and is the best part of the writing. The stories helped me relive my own experiences in the city, while the quotes helped put things into perspective. But I would have liked more of it. In fact, the author could have a been a little more generous with her personal stories, and the book could have easily done with a few more pages.

In the end, I got what I wanted from the book. It took to me to places I know of, both tangible and intangible. I remembered the distant winter morning at the Maidan, waiting anxiously with friends for a group to vacate one of the many cricket pitches. The addas outside Victoria Memorial sharing a bhel puri with my para buddies. And I held my dad’s finger once again to walk down the charming alleys of North Kolkata, with my jaws dropping, marvelling at the artistry on display during Pujo. These and many more beautiful memories came rushing in and flooded my thoughts. I also got a better understanding of the meaning of lyadh and the history of adda and why it is so intrinsic to Bengali culture.

Reading Tilottama at a Glance by Sreeparna Sen was an enjoyable experience. I would like to recommend it to readers who want to know what Kolkata means to the people who love the city.

The book is currently available online on Flipkart (link below)

Tilottama at a glance: Buy Tilottama at a glance by Sreeparna Sen at Low Price in India | Flipkart.com

 

Siddhartha Krishnan is the author of Two and a Half Rainbows – A Collection of Short Stories. He is also an enthusiastic blogger and, on his website, www.whatsonsidsmind.com, he regularly puts out his essays, articles, travelogues and movie reviews.

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by whatsonsidsmind

Book Review – The Star Outside My Window | Onjali Q. Rauf

Written by Siddhartha Krishnan . 3 Min Read
Reading middle-grade fiction as an adult is a lot of fun. Even if the narrative is dark, there is an underlying innocence about the worlds and characters of these stories. Also, the fantasy and adventure in them evoke pleasant memories of our childhood. However, that was not the reason why I picked up ‘The Star Outside My Window’. I picked it up after reading a compelling review of it in a Facebook group for bibliophiles, and I felt that it would be a good way of introducing novels to my six-year-old.
From the review, it was clear that the book deals with a sensitive topic, that of parental death and domestic violence, and I was curious to know how the author had managed to convey these realities to young readers. But I was also jittery about the prospects of reading the same to my son, who hadn’t yet been introduced to the likes of Enid Blyton or Roald Dahl, and who hadn’t yet reached the reading age suitable for this book.
So this write-up is going to be as much about the book as it will be about my experience of reading it to my son. We had both decided to take it slow and read one chapter a day. I had decided not to over-explain, and censor only if things got out of hand. But the writing was so good that I didn’t have to censor anything, despite the odd moments of silence I had encountered when reading the murky bits.
In a week we were at the halfway mark, and for some reason my son got bored! I didn’t see that coming. He angrily put the book back in the rack once we were done with the 11th chapter. I couldn’t pinpoint what had put him off, and resigned to the fact that we weren’t going to read the book again. However, a week later he came back and reminded me that I had forgotten to read him the remaining chapters. I was startled by how nonchalantly he had passed the blame onto me for not meeting our agreed target for finishing the book. Anyways, we continued, and in 2 weeks we were done.
But the reaction from him after having finished his first novel was a bit of an anti-climax. It seemed as if he wasn’t impressed. Just relieved at finishing the book, made apparent by the ‘phew’ he let out before jumping off the bed to return the book to the rack. I left it at that. Thoughts flooded my mind – maybe the topic was too sensitive? Was I over-ambitious? Did I corrupt his innocent mind with dark thoughts? … I asked myself. It wasn’t until a week later that I got the answer.
His teachers had asked him to pick a person, place, animal or thing to speak for a minute for their “introduction to nouns” in class. Guess what he chose – a book, ‘The Star Outside My Window’. It’s only then that I realized that the book had actually made an impact on him. I was thrilled!
This was how Advay introduced the book to his class. “The Star Outside My Window is the story of two children Aniyah and Noah, who go on a road trip with their friends Travis and Ben on their bicycles, from their foster home to the Royal Observatory in London to name the newly discovered star after their mother. I really enjoyed reading the book and you should read it too!”
Let me add my two cents to his description. I felt that this book was an emotionally engaging read. We as parents generally tend to shy away from difficult topics which we deem unsuitable when choosing books for our children. But this book deals with the subject of parental death with maturity and finesse. The pain and suffering have been conveyed metaphorically, and the tenderness of the storytelling is retained throughout. The characters are well-sketched and the author gives them unique characteristics to make them easily distinguishable for young readers. This is definitely a book that you should gift your child.
Advay and I finished the book two days before we lost our dog. So the book took a different meaning for us. He was our first dog, and was with us for 13 years. That evening when we returned after his burial, my son asked, “Is Joshua going to become a star outside my window?”. I nodded.

About the author –

Siddhartha Krishnan is the author of Two and a Half Rainbows – A Collection of Short Stories. He is also an enthusiastic blogger and, on his website, www.whatsonsidsmind.com, he regularly puts out his essays, articles, travelogues and movie reviews.

 

All rights reserved by whatsonsidsmind.com

 

by whatsonsidsmind

Siddhartha – Hermann Hesse | Book Review

Written by Siddhartha Krishnan . 5 Min Read

First published in 1922 (in German), Nobel prize winning author Hermann Hesse’s ninth novel Siddhartha is a book that has stood the test of time. I have heard a lot about this book over the years. It first caught my eye, as a teenager, when it was languishing in my father’s bookshelf, and I was being introduced to Buddhism in my history classes. Then I heard of a movie adaptation of it from the 70s, during my college days, which starred some famous Indian actors. And most recently it’s been popping up regularly on the Amazon page, which could be a result of my recent searches. Whatever it is, I can safely say that the book called out to me, and that I started reading it on the day of Buddha Purnima felt like divine providence. But after a bit of introspection, it was understood to be a conspiracy by Amazon.

Despite the divine calling, to assume that I have understood everything that the book had to offer would be foolish because a book on self-discovery, spanning a life time of its protagonist, is bound to mean different things to different people. Also, an understanding of what is being told will depend on the reader’s own life experiences and the stage of life the person is in. This could be the reason why I was hesitant to read it all this while. But this could also be the reason why the book is considered a classic.

It is difficult to review a book like this because you can’t really disagree with what is being said. Unlike other works of fiction, the truth isn’t blended or cloaked in something sinister or magnificent. It is said as it is, making it feel like a self-help book or a book of philosophy. Moreover, what is being said is so profound that you don’t have an option but to be an attentive student.

Written in a lyrical style, this novella is meant to take you on your own path of self-discovery through the journey of a brahmin boy named Siddhartha. Born during the time of the Buddha, Siddhartha just like his namesake, renounces his privileged life, but then goes on to live several lives; that of an ascetic, a rich merchant, a lover, an ordinary ferryman and a father before the great realization happens to him. The lyrical style suits the narrative because the writer is trying to find beauty in the suffering. It is through this road of suffering that the protagonist finds his enlightenment. The following quote from the book explains this point,

“I have experienced on my body and on my soul that I needed sin very much, I needed lust, the desire of possessions, vanity, and needed the most shameful despair, in order to learn how to give up resistance, in order to learn how to love the world, in order to stop comparing it to some world I wished, I imagined, some kind of perfection I had made up, but to leave it as it is and to love and to enjoy being a part of it”.

Like the above quote, much of the learnings are shared through conversations that Siddhartha is having either with himself or someone or something he considers dear to him. The prose is replete with metaphors and the pace is intentionally slow to induce a meditative state within the readers.

The Buddha’s story is a fascinating one. It resonates with millions across the world, and although our stories may not be as impressive as his, we do associate with the ideas of renunciation, detachment, transformation and self-discovery. These ideas are universal and timeless. And authors in the past and in the present have harnessed the power of this story to create their own remarkable works of fiction. Robin Sharma’s “The Monk who sold his Ferrari” and Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” comes to mind in this regard. However, for me, Hermann Hesse’s masterstroke, was to let the story unfold during the time of the Buddha, so much so, that Siddhartha even has a conversation with his namesake. This I felt not only made this story timeless but also credible to readers who wouldn’t otherwise be interested in philosophy.

This is a book that readers will go back to, as and when they have new and transformative life experiences, bitter or sweet. There are several quotes in this book that will take newer meanings as you progress in life. The quote that stayed with me at this point in my life was,

“Knowledge can be conveyed, but not wisdom. It can be found, it can be lived, it is possible to be carried by it, miracles can be performed with it, but it cannot be expressed in words and taught.”

Siddhartha Krishnan is the author of Two and a Half Rainbows – A Collection of Short Stories. He is also an enthusiastic blogger and, on his website, www.whatsonsidsmind.com, he regularly puts out his essays, articles, travelogues and movie reviews.

 

All rights reserved by whatsonsidsmind.com