Notes from Leisure

The Last Song of Dusk

2007-11-11T19:57:00.000+05:30

by Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi

An unusual story that starts as a modern fairytale and ends with the grimness of this world, 'The Last Song of Dusk' takes the readers through a roller coaster ride of love, loss, fate and acceptance of life as it comes. The novel opens as Anuradha leaves Udaipur to meet her prospective husband Vardhaman. The story then continues to tell us about her tryst with 'kismet' When she enters Dwarika house, the house at their first encounter had told about the Mischief it could unravel with unpassioned deviousness - the death of her first son, Mohan. After the arrival of Divi-bai, a eyelash-less had who made a 'malicious fitting' to the Gandharva family, Anuradha learns that love and loathing, joy and distress, quietness and noise, all eventually blur and one is left wondering where one started and the other ended. Things drastically change after the death of Mohan when Anuradha found that contrary to what others said, Death was not deadening at all; rather it was a dynamic creature whose black fragrance, whose concrete stillness seeped into the wood of the furniture, the linen of the bed, the flowers in the vases; it was everywhere as omnipresent as its only sibling, Life. On the other hand, quietness found its way into Vardhaman: not merely as a baffling reticence but the species of heavy silence one finds in the folded white wings of Death's seraphim. And all these do not change even after arrival of their second son Shloka who at an age of four could be described as an ascetic with an amazing genius for melancholy.
The readers are then introduced to Nandini - a-walk-on-water, soul painting, beedi-smoking girl who saw people for who they were and who, at the age of seven had wisely concluded, 'Life is pathetic'. The fate of all these characters unravel in an old villa of 1920s' - Dariya Mahal, a monstrous house who licked up all its inmates with its deep, morbid sorrow that was too sacred for it to lose.
In his narration, Shanghvi touches every aspect from the incredibility of imagination to the inevitability of realism. the readers are introduced to all possible facets of life such as pain, pleasure, fear, hope and fantasy through his eloquent description of events and individualism of the varied characters. The language is poetic and imaginative in which Shanghvi lavishly uses imagery, personifications and metaphors. His achingly melancholic tale is sprinkled with humour, witticisms and tenderness that engage the readers in vicarious emotional turmoil throughout. As the story proceeds, the readers quietly agree that fate has its own way of bringing forth long forgotten secrets, each time making humans relive it with same pain or pleasure; that life in its own way indicates its intentions, good or bad long before the event actually takes place; and that how bad a situation, the only way to endure it is to live through it.
Shanghvi brilliantly matches the situation with the characters. Even the disturbingly silent child Shloka falls into places with the quietness of Vardhaman and the grief of Dariya Mahal; and the mysterious ways of Nandini with the terrible secrets of her past. In the first chapter, the readers encounter the statement "In this world, my darling, there is no mercy" and throughout the story the truth of this statement is brought forth as each new event unfolds and the characters crave for the 'small mercies of life'.
The narration is delicately interwoven with a number of small stories to look into the depths of the life of four main characters. However, in a n attempt to introduce variety and fullness, Shanghvi sometimes unexpectedly throws the reader off-track. A great many characters are introduced some of whom leave no or sometimes only an ephemeral impact.
But as a whole, the book looks into tragedies of life as they are and as life can be; it is a story of sacrifices, courage, relationships, destiny, desires and forgotten secrets; a tale that beautifully interweaves the distant worlds of imagination and realism in a language that Shanghvi majestically uses.

[Book Review by Ankita Mukherjee]

The God of Small Things

2006-11-12T14:53:00.000+05:30

by Arundhati Roy

Set in a village in the south-western Indian province of Kerala, the novel opens with the arrival of Rahel to her home at Ayenemen to meet Esthappen. It centres about the life of the fraternal twins, Rahel and her brother Esthappen, their mother Ammu and other members of the family.
The work is lyrical and poetic, uses unusual imagery and metaphors and appeals equally to the intellect as well as the sentiments of the reader. We find some of the singular figurative expressions as in the line : The old house on the hill wore its steep, gabed roof pulled over its ears like a low hat. Or when the river's decription is given as Once it had the power to evoke fear. To change lives. But now its teeth were drawn, its spirit spent. It was just a slow sludging green ribbon lawn that furried fetid garbage to the sea.
It is an intricate writing that explores the depths of human nature, their passions, yearnings, quarrels with fate and the acceptance of inevitability.
"We're Prisoners of War", Chacko said, "Our dreams have been doctored. We belong nowhere. We sail unanchored on troubled seas. We may never be allowed ashore. Our sorrows will nver be sad enough. Our joys never happy enough. Our dreams nver big enough. Our lives never important enough. To matter."
The story is told in third person from the perspective of the little girl Rahel while she moves into spells childhood and adulthood. Reference to the childhood and youth of older generation have also been given to explain the behaviour of certain characters. The language is used as a tool and is manipulated at various parts to indicate the viewpoint of a child as in: The singing stopped for a 'Whatisit? Whathappened?' and furrywhirring and sariflapping. or the use of 'stoppiting' instead of 'stopping it'. Short sentences have been used in various parts to increase the impact and gravity of the situations. The author narrates the story as spells of memory, shifting between three generations smoothly. However this makes the initial chapters confusing and difficult to comprehend. But once the separate narations intertwine, it grips the reader till the end. Reference to events that are unveiled in the latter chapters have been made in the initial chapters so that even if it was not understood initially, when the main story unfolds, the reader can identify them with the events mentioned later.
The main plot of the story deals with the arrival of the half-English cousin of the twins, Sophie Mol, her accidental death and the events that followed which led to a shattered family, devastated childhood, end of an illicit love story and the complete transformation of many lives. The story deals with various aspects prevailing in that place during that time and their effects on the social, political, ethical as well as individual lives. The effect of Marxism that swept the province, casteism that prevailed not just among the Hindus but also among the Syrian Christians, the attitude towards a divorcee from an inter-caste love marriage, the love between 'paravan' and high class girl, the struggle of a child's mind against the prejudice of adult and even paedophilia has been dealt with.
In a country that shecame from, pised forever between terror of war and horror of peace, Worse Things kept happening. So small God... climbed into people's eyes and become exasperating expression.
The revelation of the clandestine meetings of Ammu and Velutha was followed by the ruthless killing of humanity and innocence and the fragmentation of aclutched family. The separation of the two twins when in those early amorphous years when memory had just begun, when life was full of Begginings and no Ends and Everything was For Ever, Esthappen and Rahel thought of themselves together as ME and Separately as We or Us resulted in the quiteness in one and the emptiness in another, both beyond the comprehension of common man. At the end of 23 years from when the events took place, the twins meet again not to share happiness but a hideous grief.
The story deals with sensitive issues in an unusual but impressive way. However there still remain flaws. Some of the characters are weak and are unable to make any impression; there is iterative and overuse of language manipulationand towards the end the reader longs for more simple and straight forward approach; and the end although poignant and touchy does not fall into pieces with the story and is unable to leave much impacton the reader's mind. However as a whole, the novel makes a good reading, explores the dimensions of language and pressurizes the reader to think on the fallout and importance of certain aspects of our society.

[Book Review by Ankita Mukherjee]

Amu

2006-09-28T00:14:00.000+05:30

by Shonali Bose

Amu, is the story of a twenty one year old girl, Kajori (Kaju) Roy, Indian by birth but brought up in Los Angeles by her adoptive mother Keya Roy, an activist. The story takes place in a span of around 5 months – October 2001 to February 2002 and during which Kaju’s life traverses a roller coaster ride.

It all starts with Kaju’s decision and determination to go to her land of birth and discover her roots. Keya at first vehemently expressed her unwillingness to the idea but had to finally give in before Kaju’s resolve. Kaju, thus finally finds herself amidst the unsettled layers of history and legend of Delhi where the past and present were hopelessly mixed up.

Her search for her roots leads her to a village where memory betrays her and she finds that within India, [she] had a whole different sense of identity. She didn’t look different, but she couldn’t fit in here either. She however doesn’t give up and continues with her mission. Her quest to recognize the real India brings her face to face with Kabir. Together they discover the undisclosed truth of her life.

The story is short, less than 150 pages, but it still tries to capture minute details that make up the characters. The language is simple yet descriptive. In some parts the story gives hints that it was first made into a movie because many of the details are more visual. It is probably the identification with a real event that adds the final charm to the story.

Kaju’s accidental encounter with the description of the 1984 riots, her efforts to dig into more details and the discovery of her life’s relationship with it has been brought forth with care and caution such that the story runs smoothly. The readers get to see the whole event of the massacre from the point of view of people who have lived through it either as victims or as survivors. It is a well narrated and well composed story where the author touches all required aspects, for example the hideousness of the gruesome massacre, the neglect and even support of the government to it are not missed in the quest of the young girl’s roots. Neither is the tender love that blooms between Kabir and Kaju in the midst of the unsettled and flustered situation. The strong bonds in an Indian family have been brought forth with as much ease as the complexities that a diasporic Indian in search of her identity faces.

It is a story of the conflict between the apprehension of an adoptive mother and the curiosity of an adopted daughter, “Ma, after everything you’ve taught me, everything you’ve ever stood for, since when is hiding the truth the right thing to do?”, of sacrifices, ‘She remembered the decision to leave India and how painful it had been…’ of strength, courage and determination, ‘Sitting curled up on his bed, looking lost and vulnerable, she was still undefeated, still courageous, still searching for the truth.’

Kaju’s journey of rediscovering her identity takes us from the idyllic world of her imagination to the stark reality of her past where the readers finally get to know who Amu is. In the end, Kaju woke up for the first time whole rather than fragmented. Despite her new painful knowledge, she actually found herself renewed.

[Book Review by Ankita Mukherjee]

An Area Of Darkness

2006-05-05T13:17:00.000+05:30

by V. S. Naipaul

Born and brought up in an Indian colony of Trinidad, V.S. Naipaul always thought India to be the country from which his grandfather came, a country never physically described and therefore never real, a country out in the void beyond the dot of Trinidad… a country suspended in time… So in 1962 he set out to discover this country of his imagination. But during his journey, as the physique of Europe melted away and he found himself into the Aryan Asia, his feelings are described as “Hysteria had been my first reaction, and a brutality dictated by a new awareness of myself as a whole human being and a determination, touched with fear, to remain what I was.” His first journey to India was of “Superficial impressions, intemperate reactions”.

An Area of Darkness is what he sees the real India as. Arriving at Bombay, he travels as north as Kashmir, east to Calcutta and south to Madras and even in the interior of the village where he supposed his roots lay. With some apprehension, he spends one year and experiences the diversities of India in the pilgrimage to Amarnath, stay in the shikara and association with people from different communities. The writing is lucid and vivid with an observer’s perception. His point of view is neither that of a native Indian nor that of a foreign writer. Hence, he observes things which both of them miss.

He does not paint a rosy picture of the real India but brings out the filth that Indians are so oblivious of wherever visible and it is done not with contempt but with a sense of concern and bitterness. He looks beyond places, people and incidents and struggles to recognize India and Indians. This book is his attempt to find himself as a part of India and not to sever himself from it.

Naipaul describes the post British India where England is dead in the eighteenth century monuments which had become part of the country’s alien ruins and yet England lived in the division of the country towns…, in the army officers’ messes…, in mannerisms and jargons… and incisively outlines the british that has trickled into the Indian society and the British that really is. We look into some of the ideas of different authors from the point of view of Naipaul about India, British and British India.

Naipaul’s stay coincides with the Indo-China war and he manages to touch that issue as well. His description may not be appreciated by the native Indians since he looks at thing they are indifferent to but the book is tender and reflective. The readers look not only into the country of India with its flaws and fallacies but also into the mind of a person who continuously soul-searches to identify himself with a lost country. It is a book that gives a reason to look at India not as we have been thinking but as it really is.

To end it in the words of Naipaul “I felt it as something true which I could never adequately express and never seize again”.

[Book Review by Ankita Mukherjee]

Mother Night

2006-02-01T14:30:00.000+05:30

by Kurt Vonnegut

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be" - This is the moral of the story that the author states in the introduction.Mother Night is an account of the confessions of Howard. W. Campbell Jr. from a prison in old Jerusalem in the year 1961 where he awaits a fair trial for his war crimes.

The story starts when he introduces himself as an American by birth, a Nazi by reputation and a nationless person by inclination. What he missed, however was tha he was also secretly a US spy. His secret unknown not just to the world but his parents and even his wife. The reader delves into the life of Howard through his own account where he sketches his biography from his birth in 1912 to his coming to the jail of Israel and more.

The first twist in his life occurs in the year 1938 when his 'Blue fairy Godmother' recruits him as an American agent. Among the various reasons for his acceptance of the offer, in his own words, 'the best reason was that I was a ham. As a spy of the sort he described, I would have an opportunity for some pretty grand acting'. And that is what he did. As a writer and broadcaster of Nazi propaganda, he passed coded information out of Germany, informations that he himself never came to know.

After the war, he was high on the list of the war criminals but his neck was saved and for 15 years, he led his life in purgatory in New York.The next twist of his life occurs when he was rediscovered by his admirers and captors simultaneously. His love returned to him and a friend found. However soon everything was devastated. Eerything lost, when he could not find any reason to move on, he surrendered to Israel himself.

One of the salient features of the novel is its short chapters that are brief and yet they embrace in themselves the whole of the idea introduced in that chapter. They although based on a single central concept, are diverse from one another and each of them start by taking up a loose end left in the previous chapter. The protagonist, Howard is well aware of his two lives. He could be many things at once - all sincerely. And atrngely he is devoid of both self admiration and self pity. Throughout the story we meet curious characters. Some ignorant and insane, some strange in differnt ways. And although the meetings are brief, they leave strong impressions on the reader.

It is a grieving gruesome and strangely funny tale based on some not-so-funny themes. Through sharp humour and dar satire, the author sketches the effects of activities of totalatarians and our own decisions. The characters are left to the judgement of the readers with no conclusive inference drawn. An event by even dissection of Howard's life is presented and the readers are allowed to form their own opinion. And although, nowhere a dedution is explicitly written, the horrors of his life are easily discernible. The end, however, leads the readers to the moral which was introduced in the beggining. Howard pretended to be a Nazi, nobody saw the honest self he hid so deep inside but at the end when he is about to be a free man again, he finds the prospect nauseating.

Mother Night encompasses a tale of illusion, reality, high treason, loyality, love and war, all in itself. It is the story of a person fragmented socially and emotionally by one of his honest decisions. The book is a great read because of its theme, style and realism.

[Book Review by Ankita Mukherjee]