BOOK REVIEW: A TOUCH OF ETERNITY

A TOUCH OF ETERNITY

By Durjoy Datta

Throughout my life, I have heard and read stories about reincarnation and soulmates. In fact the first YA book that I read was soulmate-based. To me, love is an emotion that staggers you, tears down all your defenses, terrifies you. But is this really true? Is this really my own perception? Or is this is a perception that I've formulated over the years based on the type of content I consume - or the type of content that I've been exposed to via my gadgets.

 

'A Touch of Eternity' by durjoydutta follows the age-old trope of two soulmates, Druvan and Anvesha, born on the same day, at the same time. Though, that is not all. It further expands into scientific fiction. Damodar Acharya, a multimillionaire businessman tries to carry out his dream, and pulls out all stops to do so. A dream that a lot of us think about in real life, but it feels like a far-fetched and laughable concept. The dream of reincarnation and soul transfer. However, Damodar is able to do so, and thus this marks the onset of a major scientific breakthrough.

 

Though the plot of the book is interesting, the story didn't sit very well with me. The love between Druvan and Anvesha really, really appealed to the die-hard romantic within me. But the fact that the fate of their love was guided by a man's desire to control the cycle of birth and death, was something that I didn't like very much. The second half of the book was a bit fast-paced for my liking and failed to capture the essence of the story for me. The nitty-gritties of the scientific process of reincarnation failed to interest me much, though it might interest someone who is into the workings of the human brain and the complete science behind it. The book ends with the two lovers uniting for eternity - literally. At the end I'll leave you with this - we've always heard about 'Do Jism, Ek Jaan' (Two bodies, one soul); but have you ever wondered about 'Ek Jism, Do Jaan' (One body, two souls)

BOOK REVIEW: THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS

THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS

By Arundhati Roy

Being one of the best protest novels ever written, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness talks about war and death, power and control, the marginalized and the oppressors. If you read it, you may come to notice that the plot lacks subtlety, and instead prefers to take the bull by its horns.

The author has not written the book with the purpose of indulging its audience in drama. She pushes her readers to think and to realize the resistance movements embodied within and outside each character. All the characters in the novel have varied lives and struggles, but somehow they intersect and fit together perfectly.

Roy depicts India as it is, a raucous community of beggars, nationalists, anti-nationalists, protestors, transgenders, kashmiris, oppressors, naxalites, dreamers, idlers, scammers.The novel is weaved around the people in our democracy, who watch the events go by from sidelines, the misfits. It takes us through the story of Anjum, a woman trapped in a man's body, and Tilo (S.Tillotama). Tilo is one half of the couple that forms the love story that is braided into Anjum’s narrative. The love story takes us 30 years back. Three men fell in love with Tilo, while they were all working on a play production. The four of them are as different as they could be, however their lives are intertwined in mysterious ways, which they would only get to know many years later.

The most important part of the novel takes place in Kashmir. It sheds light on the identity of individual people in Kashmir, their want of freedom, and the twisted tales of power toxicity and the dirty game of politics.

 

All in all the book is a medley, a mehfil of distinct narratives. I never thought that a single book could contain so much of everything. It will make you feel joy, sadness, pain, but above all it will make you feel human.

BOOK REVIEW: THE INTERPRETER OF MALADIES

INTERPRETER OF MALADIES

by Jhumpa Lahiri

"There are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination."

 

Do you understand the concept of love? Not the love that two romantic partners share, but a love which accepts you, understands you, fights with you, and above all challenges you. In Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, each character seeks just one simple thing - love. A love beyond societal conventions, a love for your habitat, which perhaps only immigrants can understand better. As the Pulitzer prize winning author of this beautiful work of art said, "Love, I think, asks no questions: there’s no why, you just love, and loving is enough."

Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of nine short stories, and each story will leave a profound effect in your heart. All the stories portray nuances from Bengali culture, but are not overly imposing. My personal favorites are 'A Temporary Matter,' and the title story. A Temporary Matter talks about the remorse for what could never be, a crumbling marriage, and of two people who have lost their way to each other. The title story, Interpreter of Maladies, means literally what it is, a man translating people's illnesses to a doctor of another linguistic background. Maladies, poorly interpreted can't be ignored.

The author's simple description of life as it is, the quirks and distinct nuances of every personality, will keep you hooked to the end.  Every story leads its solitary, independent life, not meant to coexist, but regardless of that, sharing the empathetic storytelling ability that Lahiri possesses. 
 

Book Review: The Forty Rules of Love

THE FORTY RULES OF LOVE 

by Elif Shafak

I am beguiled, enlightened, pleased with myself. I am depressed, rapturous, empty. I am all these things at once, and cannot begin to separate one from the other.

These were my thoughts as I finished reading 'The Forty Rules of Love' earlier today. As I was only halfway through the book, my mind was already wrapped in the cocoon of verses from Rumi and Shams of Tabriz. I'll admit that initially it took me quite some time to get my head around the story, mostly because it has been a long while since I picked up a book so deep and presenting a number of point of views throughout the story. Though the different POVs help to paint a more expansive picture of the plot, they might pose a challenge to new and infrequent readers.

 

The book is a contemporary love story of a housewife, Ella and a writer, Aziz Z. Zahara, narrated across the backdrop of the excruciatingly beauteous tale of love between Shams and Rumi. Ella reads a manuscript, named 'Sweet Blasphemy', about the Sufi poet Rumi and Shams of Tabriz, and sets off on a journey of finding herself, and discovering love in the most unexpected of ways. The book is divided into 5 parts - each depicting the 5 elements of Sufism - earth, water, fire, wind, and the void. We are aware of all these elements, all but one - the void. The void depicts things that are present around us through their absence. The inexplicable and uncontrollable divine element that we as human beings cannot comprehend and yet should always be aware of. As Ella continues with her literary assignment, she can't help but realize the similarities between hers and Rumi's stories. Just like Shams made ripped apart Rumi's personality, and transformed him into an advocate of love, we see that Ella too, is liberated of her old, unhappy self by Zahara's compassion.

 

Elif Shafak wrote in a segment 'Dreaming In English' (this is separate from the novel) that absence is actually a bond and distance can help you to look closer. Though she wrote it for her love and connection with the English language, I can't help but connect this phrase to the story of Rumi. Rumi was a scholar, a preacher, a faqih, but when Shams, a wandering dervish, came into his life, as his spiritual instructor, a guide, a companion, and much, much more, Rumi transformed into a rare ruby. Shams challenged all that Rumi held dear, broke him down to nothing and built him again. Throughout the book, Shams preaches about the 40 Rules of Love, which I think, we all already know in our hearts, but are too ignorant or wrapped up in the materialisms of the world to realize. Rumi was no poet, but the death of his love, his Shams, filled him with poetry. Rumi says, 'My chest is a cave where Shams is resting. Just as a mountain keeps an echo inside itself, I hold the voice of Shams within.' 

 

The rule that resonated with me the most was, "Fret not where the road will take you. Instead focus on the first step. That's the hardest part and that's what you are responsible for. Once you take that step let everything do what it naturally does and the rest will follow. Do not go with the flow. Be the flow."