Book Review : Oleander Girl

Title : Oleander Girl

Author : Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Publisher : Penguin Books India

ISBN : 978-0-670-08673-3

No. of Pages : 288

Korobi (named after a beautiful but deadly flower) is brought up by her grandparents in Kolkata, after her parents expired in a car crash. Though very strict and righteous old man, her grandfather Bimal Roy showers love and affection on Korobi. Grandmother Sarojini is warmth, gentleness and wisdom personified. The story begins on the day when Roy household is buzzing  with joyous activities as Korobi is getting engaged to Rajat Bose, the only son of a high profile business family of the city.

On the engagement party night, Korobi's grandfather dies of a sudden heart attack. Sarojini understandably feels a big jolt post the disappearance of that strong anchor - Bimal Roy, from her life. But readers are subtly introduced to the underlying liberating feeling that she experiences for the first time then. She clearly wants to atone for the sin that Bimal Roy had committed by creating big secrecy surrounding Korobi's birth. Exemplifying an individual with mind of her own, she feels it to be Korobi's right to know about her parentage.

When Korobi comes to know about some part of the truth, she decides that she needs to find her true identity first before building a new life with Rajat. For that she needs to embark on a journey out of her sheltered life of Kolkata, to a new world - the United States of America, where her mother had spent some years as a student. The combination of - ticking away of the limited time lease that she had committed for, the threadbare budget and the burning desire to find her identity - keeps the readers glued to the narrative. As she progresses in her pursuit, her sincerity, commitment, conscientiousness and her experiences mature her into a confident individual who does not want to shy away from the truth of her parents.

Though the plot is not entirely unique yet the sensitive handling, which is distinctly Chitra's style, makes it a great read. The way she portrays the poise, grace, vulnerability and strength in a woman, be it in Korobi, Sarojini or Rajat's mother - is commendable. 'The Palace of Illusions' penned by her was a masterstroke and the glimpses of the same excellence are visible in her other writings too, including Oleander Girl.  She painstakingly etches each character beautifully which makes the narration a little slow in the beginning but then the pleasure of reading a well thought through tale increases manifolds.

The story is narrated from the viewpoints of various characters throughout - Korobi, her prospective mother-in-law, her grandmother, the Muslim driver and some others, bringing in extra layers to the proceedings. Chitra Banerjee yet again enchants the readers into a story brimming with mystery, intrigue, heritage, romance, familial ties, revenge, forgiveness, emotions and much more. In the end, Korobi's character rises above, triumphant over all obstacles.

MySmartPrice, thanks for sending me a copy to review.

fabric painting...

Book Review : The City of Ember

Title : The City of Ember

Author : Jeanne Duprau

Publisher : Random House

Another gem of a book introduced to us by my sister and her children. 

There is something strange about the city of Ember. It is night everywhere but no twinkling stars and no moon in the sky. There are no plants and animals except for bugs and insects. It is dark all the time except for the yellow lights that flicker from the lamps in the houses and on the streets. Since there is no notion of day or night, the activities happen as per the specific timings. The lights are put out at certain hour every day indicating bed time and the lights are turned on after specific passage of time every day. Everywhere everything seems to be bathed in an ominous yellow glow but still the brightness is missing. Beyond the area that is lit by these floodlamps there is a black scary world that no one has dared venture into. In fact, some people did try exploring that part of the city but were not successful in finding anything after just a few steps in the pitch dark unknown world. The life has been going on in the city as a rhythm, or is it so? Though people have been living here for more than 240 years, it is becoming more and more noticeable that the storerooms are running out of supplies, things are getting scarcer by every day and the city is plunging into blackouts more often now, bringing everything to standstill. In short, uncertainty is looming large over the future of the city and its inhabitants. This underlying fear is getting reflected in the gloominess that is writ large on the faces of citizens of Ember.

One more school term is over and twelve-year-old Doon Harrow and Lina Mayfleet have been assigned their life jobs - Lina as a messenger, and Doon as Pipeworker. The lifeline of the city - the pipeworks are underground where a river roars and a generator works untiringly, illuminating the whole city. Doon believes that he would find something there among the pipes which could possibly change the doomed future of the city. Lina happens to find an old document titled - 'Instructions for Egress', (Egress means exit) in a torn state and along with Doon she decides to solve the puzzle to find the new world. These happen to be the instructions that were written by the builders of the city some 241 years ago to lead the people out at the right time. But clearly something went wrong in the way it was supposed to get passed on from one generation to another.

While on their mission to find directions out of the city, they stumble upon some unflattering secrets about the mayor of the city and his guards. Doon and Lina now face a prison sentence for spreading false rumours. Time is ticking, the guards are looking for them, Doon and Lina have to decide fast and act fast. They have to decipher the mysterious instructions and the task becomes even more difficult when they do not even know what do things like matchsticks, candle and boat mean. Will they every see any light at the other end of the tunnel?

'The City of Ember' is full of fear, mystery, adventure, and desire and determination of two pre-teens to save the people of their city. The narration is engaging and it is interesting how the strangeness of the city is unraveled slowly chapter after chapter. While smoothly weaving the flow of the story, the author very subtly talks about the 'want' in a person which often plagues any logic or reason that comes in its way. Lina experiences this feeling once when on seeing the colour pencils in the store which she so desperately desired, she finds the 'need' of a coat for her grandmother fading away. It was perhaps the same 'want' which had cast its spell on the mayor and his trusted people too, including one of Lina's friends. 

If you want to know what happened to the people of Ember, you need to read the sequel of this book - The People of Sparks. 

Some Quilling and Warli art

and here are a couple of book themed bookmarks...

Bedspread with Warli Design

India Decoded Through Foreign Writings

If there is one place on the face of earth where all dreams of living men have found home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India – Romain Rolland

India is not, as people keep calling it, an underdeveloped country, but rather, in the context of its history and cultural heritage, a highly developed one in an advanced state of decay – Shashi Tharoor

Reviewed five books which capture the diversity and chaos that is inherent to India here at Spark. 

Book Review : Our Moon Has Blood Clots

Title : Our Moon Has Blood Clots

Author : Rahul Pandita

Publisher : Random House India

ISBN : 978-8-18400-087-0

Rahul Pandita brings the ugly yet true story of Kashmiri Pandits who endured the torture from time to time since 1947 because of their faith in one way of reaching the almighty. In an ideal world, this reason for such brutal behaviour sounds so senseless and shallow but oft man has managed to put even animals to shame by his lowly actions.

Rahul was 14 years old in 1990 when his family was forced to exit their home in Srinagar during ethnic cleaning by Islamic militant. This was the time when the threatening calls for 'Azadi' from India by Kashmiri Muslims were getting louder, aggressive and violent against the minority population of Kashmiri Pandits. People were tortured and killed and were forced to leave their homes and spend the rest of their lives in exile in their own country.

As the author reminisces his personal story full of incidents of torture, violence, looting, exodus and unhealed scars, many policies and politicians stand disrobed in front of truth and revelation. While narrating his personal experience as well as those of others in the similar situation, he talks about the fictional mask that has conveniently been given to the facts to suit the needs. The narrative reflects the pain and suffering of the author - who witnessed everything first hand at a very tender age, who saw his parents mourning the loss of their loved ones, who saw a big part of their being dying when they became refugees in their own country, who still yearns to go back to his roots someday. This heart wrenching tale brings in front the ignored plight of a big section of Kashmiri land.

'For me, exile is permanent. Homelessness is permanent. I am uprooted in my mind. There is nothing I can do about it. My idea of home is too perfect. And home and love are two intertwined.  I am like my grandfather, who never left his village his whole life. It was deeply embedded in his matrix, too perfect to be replicated elsewhere.' There is yearning, there is hope and there is pain when Rahul says, 'We will return permanently'.

'Our Moon has Blood Clots'  is a sad yet compelling story about the open wounds of numerous families which became homeless and refugees in a matter of hours and days because of some mad fundamentalist  fervor. Rahul Pandita has taken it upon himself to bring the names and numbers of every person who bore the brunt of this brutality. "I have made it my mission to talk about the 'other story' of Kashmir. I have reduced my life to names and numbers, I have memorised the names of every Pandit killed during those dark days, and the circumstances in which he or she was killed. I have memorised the number of people killed in each district. I have memorised how many of us were registered as refugees in Jammu and elsewhere." This is his way of making people aware of the forgotten chapter in the history of Kashmir.

It is heartening to read that in spite of such extremely harsh circumstances, the humane traits can thrive if one so desires and Rahul Pandita owes his thinking to his upbringing when he could confront an army chief by saying, "I have lost my home, not my humanity".

A great book to understand the real blood-stained history of the 'Paradise on Earth'.

A brief timeline at the end summarises the events in chronological order for reference.

Book Review : A Short Walk In The Hindu Kush

Title : A Short Walk in the Hindukush

Author : Eric Newby

Publisher : Picador India

ISBN : 978-0-330-46267-9

Travel writings are slowly climbing their way up in my preference list these days. Perhaps they have discovered the fact that I will never venture into some of the places that are being written about - the wilderness of Alaska, remote places in Afghanistan, scaling Mount Everest and the likes. So they entice me even more and to their delight I am letting them to.  In keeping with the urge to read more of these, I requested MySmartPrice for 'A Short Walk in the Hindukush' by Eric Newby. It was a good choice.

In his frank and humorous way, Eric Newby has managed to compile a writing piece guiding potential climbers on what not to do in order to be a successful mountaineer. A wonderful and exciting book, interestingly written, 'A Short Walk in the Hindukush' is also recommended by Lonely Planet.

Giving in to his discontent while being in high-profile haute-couture industry, Eric Newby embarks on an amusing journey to one of the remotest places on Earth. He has his old friend, Hugh Carless, as a companion on this expedition. Though completely inexperienced and ill prepared, they both are brave and determined enough. They decide to set out to climb Mir Samir in the Nuristan Mountains of Afghanistan. In 1956, they decided to begin their trip with a crash course in basic climbing at Snowdonia in Wales so as to get a feel of the rigours that await them ahead.

They trekked through Nuristan, a region in the North-East of Afghanistan and then 'almost climbed' the challenging Mir Samir(6,059 m). They had to turn back just 700 feet from the summit because of their continual dysentery and altitude sickness. However, three years later in 1959, Mir Samir was successfully scaled by a German mountaineering team.

As expected in such wanderings, Eric Newby and Carless had a brush with wide range of adventures and experiences which range from nerve-wrecking, bone-chilling to thrilling. They passed through various big and small villages, met many people, peeked into the lives of some locals, came to know about peculiar lifestyles of many and had many (un)pleasant encounters. Along with reporting about these things, the author has beautifully sprinkled his narrative with light humour and wit. As they progress on their expedition, we also get to read a lot more about their loose stomachs and about the hostile natives of those regions. The overall picture that gets created after reading about his sojourn in the most beautiful wilderness on Earth does not speak very high about the locals. The description of natives often slips into being derogatory and author's conceitedness comes through in the open. To be fair to the author, this could also be just his honest portrayal of what he felt and experienced. And we must not forget that this book was written in 1958, when how the book would be received was less of author's worry. So I feel what he felt is what he has reported without trying to smooth-en the edginess of his comments. 

Towards the end of their trek, the author writes, "I had the sensation of emerging from a country that would continue to exist more or less unchanged whatever disasters overtook the rest of mankind." I wonder what the author would have said about the country now. 

Book Review : Brady Needs a Nightlight

Title : Brady Needs a Nightlight

Author : Brian Barlics

Illustrator : Gregory Burgess Jones

Publisher : Black Rose Printing

ISBN : 978-1-61296-195-8

'Brady Needs a Nightlight' is an endearing tale of a little bat - Brady. Though Bats are supposed to be sleeping during the day, Brady likes to enjoy the day time - playing and staying awake. He does not like the dark caves where the rest of the bats sleep during day time. Darkness scares him and he is afraid to close his eyes to sleep. He spends most of the time staying awake and watching other bats sleeping deeply.

Nights are no better for Brady either when all other bats are up and ready to go out and play. The darkness all around, the spooky sounds of animals and insects at night add to his fright. Brady finds no peace anytime of the day or night, he feels like crying. But there are some tiny creatures who sparkle and glimmer in dark. Brady gets a brilliant idea. Can he use these glistening small flies as his very own personal nightlight? Will  he be able to win over the darkness that seems to be engulfing him all the time? Children must read the story to find out how Brady conquers his fears and how a smile returns to his face because of his new found friends.

I love such children's books where the information is very casually entwined in the story rather than making it the prime focus. Children are made aware of the physical features of bats, their nocturnal characteristics, their physical features, their sleep patterns and their unique sleeping styles.  Moreover, the story addresses an issue which is very commonly faced by young children when they are learning to put themselves to sleep without any aide. The issue of getting scared of dark and not wanting to shut the eyes close to fall asleep. The good part is Brady tries to find a solution to his problem and when he gets an idea he first goes to talk it over with his mother. All these are wonderful points in the book which very subtly convey the message to the young readers. Moreover, these are great places in the story where children can be encouraged to talk about their individual fears or the things that bother them without being judgmental. Children will be able to identify with the lovable character Brady.

'Brady Needs a Nightlight' is the first story from the series called 'Fundamentale', a collection of tales that are created to kindle the imagination of young readers. 

Book Review : The Hope Factory

Title : The Hope Factory

Author : Lavanya Sankaran

Publisher : Hachette

ISBN : 9780755327874

  

The Hope Factory is a Bangalore based story with Anand Murthy as the main protagonist. He runs a small-scale auto components manufacturing factory and is at the verge of expanding his business by signing a deal with Japanese clients. He needs more land to set up a new factory and confronts many roadblocks on the path to acquire it. Having a dominant father-in-law who wants to impose his way on his daughter's life and family, makes matters more complicated for Anand. Vidya, Anand's wife is a typical society woman who wants to move in higher echelons flashing her designer clothes, throws lavish parties for friends to make an impression and talks about charity and fund-raising to sound like a concerned citizen. Though they both fell for each other during their college days which led to their nuptial but they clearly have different approach towards how they want to conduct their lives.

Another story which moves in parallel with Anand's story is that of Kamala and her son Narayan. Kamala is a house maid in Anand's home and all her efforts are geared towards providing good education to her son Narayan besides struggling to make both ends meet for both of them. She is a sincere and honest worker but still becomes the subject of Vidya-maa's fury many times.

The high point of the book is narration of situations and incidents from two very diverse perspectives with respect to two stories that are beautifully interwoven as one. Misery and anguish of Kamala, her resolve and determination, Anand's dedication towards his work, his interactions with his children, his father-in-law's eagerness in taking charge of things, and much more  - though sound very simple yet are handled expertly bringing the characters to life.

Through 'Hope Factory' the author has addressed current state of affairs in real estate, corruption and bribery, involvement of goons and politicians in high-order deals and feasible options available to people who want to carry on with their business honestly and sincerely. The characters are etched brilliantly and the narration flows smoothly. It is a little slow in the first half but gains momentum after that when more action is happening. Language is good, easy to understand and error-free and it deserves a special compliment because many new Indian authors falter on that account. Overall a simple story told simply which makes for a decent one time read.