Book review: The Flight of the Falcon

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book review, campus politics, current Indian politics, Daphne du Maurier, Gothic, power hungry sociopath, pscyhological thriller, suspense

“Why do you follow Aldo? What makes you believe in him?”

“We have no one else we can follow.” Cesare replied.

Hallmark of a classic is that it remains relevant across time. This book isn’t Daphne’s best, but it is startling in its eerie & hideous parallels with today’s India. See if you can spot’em.

Premise: The tale is narrated by Beo and largely fixated on Aldo. The story itself has inbuilt parallels between Gothic fantasy and modern Rome. Tourist guide Beo chances upon the murder of a tramp, who turns out to be his old nanny Martha. Seeking her murderer and filled with nostalgia, Beo returns to his hometown Ruffano, but incognito. Here, he meets a ghost resurrected from his childhood.

Aldo is a Professor. But demure, benign or modest? Not he! Aldo is a power monger, a megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur.

‘He who ceases to see anything great in God will find it nowhere. He must either deny it or create it.’

·         His dream – to recreate the chariot ride of the sinister Duke Claudio.

Book review: Silent realities by Ranjan Kaul

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book review, ranjan kaul, realism and magic, short stories, twists and turns

A cluster of 10 stories tilting between the real and unreal, with myriad characters in an ever changing multilayered society. The range captures the frailties, moods and impulses of human behavior.

That’s what the gist of the blurb says. I agree in part.

4 stories impressed me, namely Lallan, The Slap, The Nest and Touch. These should’ve been placed at the beginning of the collection to hook the readers, instead of inserting them midways and towards the end.

Lallan & The Nest have a parallel between the human-animal world that explores human psyche well and throws up believable, relatable characters. Slap & Touch have a mellow tone and an unhurried pace

Book review: 03:02 by Mainak Dhar

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book review, civilians as soldiers, Daesh attack, IIT Powai, military, reliance on technology, social isolation, Tales Pensieve, teamwork

Twitter review: When Indian civilian Davids take on a Goliath Daesh …

Story & setting: Aadi is poised pretty on the corporate ladder, when his world gets nuked into darkness by a terrorist attack. Out of a desperate survival instinct, he & his community carve out a collective defense system, which soon snowballs into an aggressive counterattack upon the insurgents.

Aadi gets to re-live his long cherished dream to join the military instead of the corporate world. The crisis allows him to flex muscles, engage in mental games with the enemy as also delegate jobs to unlikely & untrained candidates including security guard, maid, autodriver, gardener etc. In the process, he rediscovers a soldier-leader within himself who relishes and thrives on the leadership

Book review: Love forever @ Rajpath by Kalpana Mishra

Tags

book review, cultural rituals, forced marriage, Rajpath, Zabaria shaadi

Indians don’t marry individuals – they marry families. What happens when the existing cultural  rift is sorely tested by criminal rituals?

‘Love forever@ Rajpath’ is a cross cultural love story between Shalu and Kartik. She’s modern, progressive, extrovert. He’s orthodox, shy, introvert. She’s Sindhi. He’s Bihari – and never the twain shall meet.

The duo have widely differing opinions on culture, diet habits, dowry and caste. However, whilst the couple iron out the wrinkles, trouble brews as soon as families get involved.

Shalu (autobiographical shades of the author?) an employee in Govt. organization and Kartik fall in love through a series of official tours, conversations and competitive exams.  Just when marital utopia awaits …disaster erupts from totally unexpected quarters.

Trapped between loyalty and love, Kartik reaches breakpoint as he finds himself dealing with near death, forced marriage and criminal litigation by his own fiancée. Her insistence on proceeding with the case is the last nail in their relationship’s coffin – or is it?

***

My Q to author: What is significance of Rajpath in the title?

Her answer: Setting of the story is the Govt organization. Since most offices in Delhi are located on Rajpath, hence it features prominently in title as both protagonists are in ministry.

My Q: Why did you choose ministry as occupation for the protagonists? Was it familiar ground for you or was it vital to the plot?

Her answer: I am also an Officer (She is Deputy Director of Govt. of India), so I had information on the posts’ nomenclature which was important to the story.

***

Personally, I thought making Shalu a Govt official ensured her active role in rebelling against the horrifying rituals. A layperson may not possess insiders’ knowledge or the legal knowhow to deal with her fiance’s abduction into enforced marriage. 

Cons: The crucial social stigma of Zabaria shaadi comes a tad late in the story. In consequence, much text is spent on the blossoming romance between 2 apparently mismatched people.

A possible twist could have been added, if ***SPOILER ALERT*** Kartik’s marriage was already solemnized by the time of his rescue.  It would have ensured a more challenging ethical, legal and social dilemma for the couple. ***SPOILER ENDS***

Pros: A hitherto undiscovered world of ministry officials and their inbuilt gender competition opens up. The forbidden topic of male slavery forms the crux of the plot. The language is simple and uncomplicated. Characters are human, flawed and believable. The cover pic is unpretentious, clean and evokes curiosity.

Pages: 220

Price: Rs 195/- (I got a free copy for review)

Publication: Shrishti

Genre: Fiction

Book review: Shakuntala the woman wronged by Utkarsh Patel

Tags

book review, dushyant, independent, legitimacy, Mahabharata, mythology, shakuntala, strong women, utkarsh patel, vyas and kalidasa

A confession – I’d totally forgotten that Ved Vyas is the original writer (inspite of being an ardent adorer of his work). It’s Kalidasa’s romanticized version that was ingrained into my mind since childhood.

Yes, Shakuntala used to be my most-wanted bedtime story. Of course, it’s not the Vyas version that Mom narrated to me – and finally I know why. Vyas was a hardcore realist. No illusions, no lovey-dovey hackneyed sentiments. No blurred vision. Just cold, brutal realism. A huge hug of gratitude to Utkarsh Patel for re-introducing us to Ved Vyas’s Shakuntala. A woman, in so many ways, a worthy predecessor for Vyas’s Draupadi.

Kalidas’s Dushyant had the convenient excuse of Durvasa’s curse to forget Shakuntala after the secretive Gandharva marriage. Vyas’s Dushyant seduces, uses and discards Shakuntala.

Twitter review – A tale from abandonment to abandonment, culminating in liberation. An emphatic and empathetic female pov.

Shakuntala is the love child of Kshatriya-turned–sage Vishwamitra and the heavenly nymph Menaka. Rejected by an furious father & forced into abandonment by a reluctant Menaka, Shakuntala is adopted by sage Kanva. Shakuntala nurtures an independent mind, curious queries and clarity of thoughts as she questions men, power,dharma, laws and politics around her.

She gets an opportunity to practice what she preaches, when King Dushyant weds, beds and then dumps her. Shakuntala cuts through the riff-raff to reveal his ugly self to Dushyant. She ensures her son Bharat’s royal heirloom before she walks off into a lonely horizon with her pride, values & dignity intact.

Pros:

• An opportunity to revel in Ved Vyas’s original genius and his consistent homage to fiercely independent women.
• Kudos to Utkarsh for writing so tenderly & heartfelt from a woman’s pov, whether it’s about  Ahalya, Menaka, Shakuntala or Madhavi.

His reply: I think all of us have a woman in us and all women have a man within them. Its the theory of anima and animus which works. In my case, the understanding of the women’s psyche is probably more defined and I have never shied away from accepting this factor.

My Q: Did Dushyant have other marriages in the 6 years between his 1st and last meeting with Shakuntala? If so, what would be status of Bharat vis-a-vis other royal heirs and the heirarchy?

His reply: Majority of the versions are silent about Dushyant’s other wives. It could just be a guilt factor which did not allow him to remarry. I have brought his angle about his guilt, when the minister suggests that he get married but Dushyant demurs.

• Utkarsh also neatly juxtaposes Dushyant’s hunter views ‘ He did not like to hunt if there was no chase.’ It fits in perfectly with Dushyant’s views on feminine conquests.

Cons:

• First few pages have dialogues of 2 characters crowded into one paragraph. It’s wholly unexpected from a Rupa publication.
• I found it self-defeating when Shakuntala extracts a pre-nuptial promise of legitimacy for her son. She however extracts none for a daughter, thus making a daughter as vulnerable to subsequent slurs as herself. Given her feminist tirade, it seems out of character. But that probably, is a query targeted at Vyas rather than at Utkarsh.
• The title should have read ‘A woman to be proud of’ instead of ‘A woman wronged’. The latter gives Shakuntala a victim tag, which she vehemently refused to become.

Verdict: Timely & time tested, well researched (Utkarsh does hold a degree in Comparative Mythology from Mumbai university) and well presented woman’s perspective by a male author. Recommended for admirers of mythology, Ved Vyas and fiery women.

Genre: Mythology/ Fiction

Publication: Rupa

Author contact: www.utkarshspeak.blogspot.in

Price: Rs 295/-

Pages: 269