Book Review #42: Nirakarana By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

This is a short book that captures the rollercoaster ride of a man that stuck between family life and renunciation. Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa has marveled once again in this book. He has gone inside a man’s mind and written this novel as if he is narrating the story of that man’s life. “Nirakarana” can be translated to English as “Denial”.

The story seems to be very simple at the beginning. The protagonist of the novel, Narahari a moderately educated man, married twice, but both of his wives are dead long ago. Along with 5 kids from 2 wives, Narahari seems to have lost the capability to lead his life. He was struggling every day to take care of his kids with his low paying and overworking job. He is a stenographer in the leading English daily in the town.

So, he decides to give away his kids for adoption. He publishes an ad in his newspaper with the help of his editor. He decides to give away his kids for adoption for well settled families. He also decides that, he gives each kid to a different family. At times, he felt that he is doing something wrong. But, he gets this strong feel of guilt whenever he looked at his kids. He is not able to provide them the proper childhood that they've rightfully owned. Therefore, he decides not to waste a minute or two. Within 6 months of his publishing ad, he was approached by various families from different cities across the country. Within 1 year, he gave away all his kids for adoption to different families.

What follows later is a true mastery of art work by the author. Having got ridden of his kids, he decides to renounce his working life and decides to become a hermit. He informs his editor about his decision and leaves his city forever. Initially he wanders around many holy places and meets many sages and saints. He somehow started to like his way of learning the life and its oddities. He starts to learn meditation, at the same time he decides to go to the Himalayas. There, he meets a sage who wore nothing, spoke nothing and ate nothing but a potato for a day. He was attracted initially in this way of renouncing the world. He tries to follow in the footsteps of this sage, but he failed miserably to cope up with the hard way. He was no longer able to continue living life that way. He decides to head back to the city and seeks a warden job in a local orphanage. There he befriends the accountant of that orphanage and narrates his whole life with him.

As the story further progresses, this accountant friend of Narahari informs him that he will go and see the conditions of kids that Narahari had gave away. Once this accountant was back, Narahari learnt that, his kids are not leading a happy life after all, except for 2 kids. Surprisingly, this accountant had brought a kid along with himself and informs Narahari that, this kid is his son. He had brought this kid only to save kid’s miserable life in the adopted house. Initially, Narahari was not happy to see his kid coming back to him. Later, he starts to get a liking for this boy.

As the story approached towards the end, a young girl would come to this orphanage and with an instant she identifies Narahari as her father. What follows after their long discussions gives a complete picture of the novel. I stop it at this point; this much would be enough for a review!!

What I liked about the novel is its immense detailed presentation of the renounced life of Narahari. It is just not about Narahari, this story reminds us of the hard times that may come up life and how one should approach it instead of renouncing and get rid of our responsibilities. Difficulties, hardships are all part of life. One should not get dejected by it; rather, one should face it with more energy and try to bring out the solution. There’s always a silver lining in everyone’s life. 

My Rating:
4/5

Book Review #41: 99 Thoughts on Ganesha By Devdutt Pattanaik

We all love this elephant headed god, aren't we? He is by far the most loved and respected God throughout India. He is worshipped by each and every one without any religion hindrance. His stories would always fascinate anyone. Probably he is the cutest God that was loved by everyone regardless of the age or gender.

Pattanaik, by now, one of my favorite mythology story tellers, had done ample research before penning this book. His anecdotes are very impressive pertaining to the information he has provided in this book. Though it’s a short book spanning over 160 odd pages, it has everything to know about Lord Ganesha.

Even after having known so many tales and information about Ganesha. What makes this book unique is the extra mile that the author has gone to garn more interesting details and connecting the dots together. Who is Ganesha? What is his background? What makes him so special among the Indians and particularly Hindus? What are the tales behind Ganesha getting the elephant head? What occasion made Lord Shiva to behead Lord Ganesha? Why he has been referred as the obstacle remover? What’s the story behind people chanting Ganapati Bappa Morya? The questions never stop right? Well, if you are finding it hard to get all these information, then this book is the one stop solution to all your doubts. It is rich and resourceful to know about God Ganesha. I must admit that, I had come to know many tales which I never came across all these years.

Like his many other books, Pattanaik has juxtaposed the modern day rituals that can be directly linked to the mythological tales and symbolism with respect to Ganesha. I liked how he had narrated the details that go from India, Thailand till Mongolia. We all know the regular tale behind Ganesha’s elephant head. But Pattanaik has given us few other tales and folklore beliefs behind this story.

What I really liked about this book is, Ganesha that riding on a peacock. Peacock is called “Mor” in Hindi. Thus, it makes clear for the readers that, why people chant, “Ganapati Bappa Morya”. He also mentions about the race between Ganesha and his brother Kartikeya. This race was set up Narada Maharshi to see who has more wisdom and who can think profoundly. Well, Ganesha having a Mouse as his vehicle couldn’t race with his brother Kartikeya who had a flying peacock as his vehicle. So, Lord Ganesha decides to walk around his parents Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati symbolizing them as the whole universe, thus displaying the profound thought. This was a good takeaway from the book.

At the end of the book, author Pattanaik has given a list of popular Ganesha temples across the world. He explained the probable reasons behind why these temples marked as a prominent place of worship. He also explained the different names of Ganesha and its meaning. One such example is “VINAYAKA”, meaning one who was born without the help of a male companion (In Sanskrit VI means “without” and NAYAKA means “male person"). Thanks to the author for explaining something which I was not aware of. The explanation for the Ashta Vinayaka is a fantastic section from the book.

Pattanaik doesn’t forget to mention about the freedom fighter Lokamanya Balagangadhara Tilak who made Ganesha Chaturthi as a public festival. This particular movement has combined people from different walks of life, thereby giving the required momentum for the India’s Independence movement.

I recommend this book to every reader that wants to learn more about Lord Ganesha. May the blessings of Lord Ganesha bestow upon you.

“Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha!!”

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #40: Train to Pakistan By Khushwant Singh

There are many stories that were told by many authors about the India’s partition in 1947. But, this one particular book "Train to Pakistan" by Khushwant Singh stands a class apart. It doesn't portray the gory details or the massacres that happened during the partition; rather, it takes a completely different route by the story of a quiet, peaceful village Mano Majra (in Punjab).

Mano Majra a fictitious village between India and Pakistan border, that was popular for its harmonious living. The villagers were living with tranquility and always co-operative to each other whether he is a Muslim or a Hindu or a Sikh. They lived happily without worrying too much about the partition or they weren't aware of happenings in both sides of the country, until the day the moneylender of the village Ram Lala was murdered on the suspicion grounds.

Of all the main characters, Hukum Chand the village magistrate, Juggut Singh a local gangster who gets arrested frequently for petty crimes and was the prime suspect in Ram Lala's murder and Iqbal Singh an educated communist who visit Mano Majra in order to bring in reforms that he has planned, plays the pivotal role in this novel.

In spite of the partition rift all over the country, Mano Majra seems to be an exception for all of it. Everyone in the village Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs lived in harmony. Like all the good things must come to an end, Mano Majra lost is peacefulness on the day a train arrived from Pakistan containing dead corpses of Sikhs that were supposed to get migrated from Pakistan to India. Later events unfold a tragic story that makes the life of Mano Majra people difficult.

The book ironically portrays the much disturbance that India's partition created. In spite of winning the freedom from the white men, the whole country put at stake things that should have been clearly avoided on amicable means whose consequence is felt even today among both the countries living as arch rivals. Nobody is blamed in the book but it explores on how innocent people's lives were thrown apart without any reason. Keeping that in mind author Khushwant Singh made the magistrate to order the village Muslims to leave India is as a disturbing one that makes one think on how people of that time would have felt leaving their home and place like refugees for the fear of life one fine day. It is traumatizing for these people to leave their belongings such as their household items, their beloved pets, and their happy little homes. What I liked was Singh has tried to bring the local pulse during the partition. People were subjected to number of trauma for no fault of theirs blood massacre is all through in terms of rape, murder and loot. The haunting memories are brought alive with Singh's detailing. Juggat Singh’s dialogues make a mark most of the times, his way of assessing things and trying to learn English is a little comic touch in the book. Plot is played to derail the train that carries Muslim to Pakistan, Hukum Chand overhears it and let Juggut Singh and Iqbal to rescue the people but Juggat is passed out. Ultimately, the plan of attacking the passengers that were leaving from India to Pakistan was somehow made to fail. The end is quite dramatic and the name of the person who saves so many lives at the cost of his own is not revealed.

Religious conflicts, hatred, love and responsibility are the points that Khushwant Singh tried his best to bring in this novel. This book proves to be a mentally spurring that will make you think on those hard times of partition.

My Rating:

5/5