Book Review #104: Uttarakanda By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

Title: Uttarakanda

Author: Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

Publishers: Sahitya Bhandara

Genre: Mythology/General Fiction

Pages: 350+ (Hardbound)

Source: Personal Copy

We all grew up by reading and listening to the stories of the Hindu epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata. We have a sculpted belief that a certain character from certain epic will behave like this and there won’t be any misconduct or any character deviation from their original ones. At times, these beliefs can be shaken to the ground when you come across certain books. At the same time, certain books make you question the reality. This is the very essence of the book “Uttarakhanda” penned by my favorite author, philosopher and a great human being, Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa. He finished writing this book in just 3 months of duration, but took whole 8 months to re-draft each and every chapter before sending it for the publishers. That’s typical SL Bhyrappa’s flavor.

Coming to Uttarakanda, this is the retelling of the Ramayana. But what makes it different from other writers is the theme of the book. This Ramayana is entirely from the viewpoint of Sita. How she sees the entire Ramayana as an event? What was her thought process when she decides to accompany Rama to the exile for 14 years? What were her thoughts when Ravana abducted her from the forest? Etc… The entire narration belongs to Sita in this book. How she endured all those years along with Rama and his brother Lakshmana is pictured vividly, brilliantly. This is one of the hearts wrenching narration of the Ramayana I’ve come across in my entire life.

One thing I must mention in this review, there are no gods in this version of Ramayana. Each and every character is human. Rama is as much of a human as a normal court maid. There are no flying chariots, no 10 headed Ravana but one, no curses, no divine arrows, and Hanuman is a normal 50 year old person, who believes that he belongs to the clan of the Lord Hanuman. I must applaud the brilliance of the author here for keeping the Gods as gods and making this story that touches the nerve of his readers.

As the story progresses further, we get to read the normal tale of how Rama and Lakshmana accompanied sage Vishwamitra to kill couple of rakshasas and eventually reaching the Kingdom of King Janaka, the Mithila, and breaking the Shiva’s bow to win the bride Sita. But a little twist here from the author makes it even more human. The actual plot of breaking the bow, was a setup by the King Janaka who was under the impression that, if any prince would tie the bow string with their bare hands would win over Sita, so that, the actual birth details of Sita would be negligible, since she was won in a challenge!! It is just brilliant to have this thought. It makes us to ponder for a few minutes. The after events keep Rama in high regard. Dasharatha actually learns that Sita is not the biological daughter of Janaka and she was actually found in a land while tilling. He raises an objection to the marriage and decides to cancel the wedding. By the timely intervention of Rama, this was avoided and Rama marries Sita, so does his brothers and Sita’s younger sisters.

The plot carries further in a regular manner but with a humane touch. The promises that Dasharatha made to his 3^rd wife Kaikeyi has been written in an entirely different perspective which I am not going to include in this review. This must be savored from the book. One thing the readers must keep in mind that, Rama was a staunch follower of Dharma even in this version. He learns the ill motives of Kaikeyi and decides not to become Prince. As per Kaikeyi’s wishes, Rama prepares to leave Ayodhya to the exile for 14 years. The event after that takes an entirely different approach where the human nature of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita will begin to unfold.

Now the real story of how Sita tries to analyze Rama and Lakshmana and herself begins slowly. Soon she realizes that it is difficult to adjust to the forest life. Also, she learns that without Lakshmana’s assistance, she and Rama both wouldn’t have been survived in that forest. Rama was a recluse in the forest life. He was enjoying the nature with a least concern to check on his wife and her comforts.

The climax of the book will keep your mind occupied and haunts you like anything. Ravana will abduct Sita, but not by himself. He sends his troops across the sea border to bring Sita via boat. His men will do just that by tying Sita to a boat and rowing across the sea. Ravana abducts Sita for the sole intention of avenging his sister Surpanakhi who got insulted by Lakshmana. Surpanakhi instigates Ravana by narrating the events that took place when she confronted Rama and Lakshmana in the forest. She describes Sita as a beautiful lady and he should abduct her at any cost and rape her. Being a womanizer, Ravana was all prepared to get Sita to his city of Lanka. Once after the abduction, the scene was written in an entirely different fashion, where Sita confronts Ravana and asks him to win the battle over Rama. If he wins, then he can marry her. But Sita was all prepared to immolate herself if the unthinkable happens.

Once the battle was over, the real test for Sita begins when Rama doubted Sita’s chastity. He wasn’t sure whether Sita was raped by Rama or not (sic). Having spent more than a year in another man’s supervision, Rama doubted whether to take back Sita or not. This is an eye opener scene for the reader. When Sita questions the same thing to Rama about his chastity for spending more than a year away from her, Rama didn’t have any answers. Sita’s questions are a mirror test to the present society. Is chastity applicable only to women? Who made this rule? Won’t men also fall under this category? Why women are termed as spoiled when she was raped or abused? Why the same things do not apply to men? Are men not under the purview of rape? Won’t they get raped by women? All these questions of Sita hits the bulls eye to the present society that questions that chastity of a woman or term her as raped when it wasn’t her fault? Rama’s unwillingness to answer these questions denotes the situation of every man in the present society.

The final confrontation of Sita with her husband Rama was a true testimonial of how bad the decisions that Rama took against Sita. When she confronts Rama asking him about his conduct with sage Gautama, asking him to forgive his wife Ahalya when she committed adultery 25 years back, and why he can’t he do the same? When Rama can bow down before a low born woman Shabari and consider herself as his mother, why he went ahead and beheaded a low born man who was doing tapas and reciting Vedas? Rama’s reason was like low born persons shouldn’t do the tasks that belong to the higher born persons. What kind of Dharma he is following? For all these things, Rama was not able to answer anything.

Overall I believe that book showcases the patriarchal society of Rama’s era and why it hasn’t changed even a bit in the 21^st century today. Questioning a woman on her every move is still prevalent in the current society. Rama was no exception either. He just behaved the way he believed it was according to the Dharmic principles. He didn’t even shown the human side of him to the world. Though we revere and celebrate his life and keep him in high regard as the epitome of the justice, but how he wronged Sita will remain as a black mark on him till the earth survives. A must read book. You can go back to the earlier writing flavor of S.L. Bhyrappa. I would definitely rate this book beyond 5 stars and recommend it to every reader.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #55: Jalapatha By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

This is a short book with full of wisdom and full of philosophical thoughts. This book “Jalapatha” by my favorite author, philosopher and a great human being Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa has created a much debatable platform of the subjects like birth, marriage and procreation. The protagonists from this novel are a mere representation of the current society. The thought that runs in these minds is way beyond imagination and it gives us the right amount of information to ponder over and makes us to churn for answers. Jalapatha can be translated to English as “Water Falls”.

As a philosophical buff, I adored this book very much. Though this book might not be one of the popular novels of SLB sir, but, it doesn’t mean that, it lacks the USP of SLB. It has everything that one is looking out through a philosophical mind. This book mainly explores the idea of marriage, explores the idea of having kids and also explores the idea of creating an art that stands on a platform of morals. After all, who doesn’t like to debate about the right time to having kids or when will be the right time to get married? 

These are considered to be taboo among the conservative orthodox Indians. For them, these kinds of debates or discussions must confine to the 4 walls of their bedroom.

The protagonist of this novel is a freelance artist named Sripati. He had his own set of ideologies about life and its oddities. He was living with his wife who is a graduate. They were living in a small town like area in Bombay. They both had a son who was going to school. They often wondered about their respective lives. Sripati always used to wonder, whether his wife should work to support his family or she should stick to take care of the household chores and help in bringing up their son in the right way. They often used to discuss about extending their family with one more child, but, with an instant, their idea itself seems very dirty and ambiguous. Sripati had a colleague where he used to submit his art works. She was attracted towards Sripati and often expressed her interest in him. Initially Sirpati was not so interested to go for this extra marital affair. But, later, he gets attracted towards this lady and he begins to go her house every alternate days.

In another track of the novel, the neighbor family of Sripati, a doctor by the name Nadagowda living with his wife. He is more of a scientist than a doctor; he was specialized in animal science. This doctor had a special notion and belief within himself that, whoever is bound to have children whether its humans or animals, will have to adhere to the best of breeds. He used to explain in his own terms that, only a strong male and female must have sex in order to conceive children. If anyone of them is weak or their ancestral background seems to be weak, they must abandon having kids, because, this will get resulted in the birth of weak children. This is the reason that the doctor had never indulged in sexual intercourse with his wife. He believed that, his diabetic background will result in a child that is prone to diabetic diseases. He discussed this topic with Sripati on various occasions. Having a weird feeling towards this thought, Sripati used to ignore him.

During one fortunate or unfortunate incident, Sripati decides to break the vow of celibacy with his wife and invites her to have sex with him. This resulted in Mrs. Sripati to become pregnant for the 2^nd time. During this time, both Sripati and his wife decide to visit a water falls and there they encounter something which is beyond the explanation for both of them. They thought their act of having one more kid is not only a noble cause but it’s a natural phenomenon. They both visits the same water falls on numerous occasions. Sripati decides to draw an epic piece of art that captures the pregnancy of his wife every month. He draws a piece of art that not only makes them both happy but also made them realize the secret of birth. Sripati dedicated this painting to his wife and said that they must not get feared for having another child. This philosophical dialogue exchange between both of them is a treat to read from the book.

In another track of the novel, the doctor who was living next to Sripati’s house will commit suicide. The cause of the suicide is never known. But, this doctor leaves his personal diary with notes about his thoughts of marriage and birth. Sripati reads this script from start to end and feels awe for the doctor who just died. The doctor’s wife will also commit suicide by jumping off from train. This has deeply moved both Sripati and his wife. They decided to cease their city life and heads back to their ancestral village. There Sripati will face the hardships like never before. He even starts to sell his belongings to make the ends meet. Having no money to treat his newborn daughter from a rare fever resulted in the death of his daughter.

Deeply disturbed by all these events, Sripati decides to head back to his former job as an artist. But, what he realizes by witnessing the events in his life is beyond the imagination. After reading the novel, I was left with numerous questions than answers. Is sex and marriage are both linked together? Or is it altogether a separate decision of the husband and the wife? Is having kids is the only aim of a successful marriage?  

I recommend this novel to everyone.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #53: Doora Saridaru By Dr. S. L. Bhyrappa

After all, when it comes to philosophy based books, I will not be able to put down that. This book "Doora Saridaru" of Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa sir is a bundle of philosophical thoughts. Each character that the author created is a mountain of philosophical thinking. This novel mainly explores the idea of marriage, or we can put it as inter caste marriage and it also explores the requirement of right thinking or we can say as bonding between a girl and a boy before getting married, how this will affect a marriage etc... We can call this book as philosophy of marriage or literally philosophy of life. 

 

I really liked the philosophical ideas that the author has imbibed in all the characters. “Doora Saridaru” will be translated to English as “Moved Away”. Yes, this novel speaks about the couples who are yet to be married, but they decided they would get married. However, some unfortunate events will make it not happen. Reasons look very trivial for a normal novel reader. For a philosophy student this novel looks like an absolute profound experience. The thought that runs between each protagonist and the dialogue exchange between him and her is an awesome thought process.

The plot of the novel seems like a regular college love story. Sachidananda a studious young man who was studying English (Hons) degree finds a girl called Vinithakumari from his class who was very good looking and like him; she was pursuing her interests in literature and poetry. Soon, they will find interest in one another and expresses their love interest and it goes on like regular love stories. 

In another parallel story, a student called Vasantha a philosophy pursuing graduate and senior to Sachidananda. This Vasantha is a very introverted person. However, when it comes to debates and argument about philosophical subjects there is no one in the college who can match him except for a girl called Uma. She is Vasantha’s junior in the philosophy degree course and she was the one who can match to the qualities of Vasantha. As expected, some favourable incidents will make Vasantha and Uma to be another couple in the college.

As the story further progresses, there is a regular parental opposition to this marriage, there is disappointment, there are resentments etc... However, what I really liked about the novel is the after effects of the incident where their respective parents will oppose to these marriages. Vinitha’s mother rejected Sachindananda and Vinitha was not strong enough to oppose her mother. Sachidananda tried to convince Vinitha for a registered marriage. Even here, Vinitha was not strong enough to make a decision. She believed in philosophy of pain. She often told Sachidananda about how her suffering and pain will help to change her mother’s mind. Dejected by Vinitha’s decisions, Sachidananda will become a maniac, he loses his interest in life, he wanted to become a hermit, so, he leaves his house and goes to some hill station and tries to find solace for his burning soul. There he meets a sage or a person who renounced his life. This person has an important story in later stages of the novel. There he learns something better and decides to stay strong and he heads back to his home and concentrates more on his studies.

In another parallel story, Vasantha and Uma will participate in a debate about philosophy of truth and philosophy of marriage. There in one occasion, Uma humiliated Vasantha. She made his every argument very trivial and stupid. Vasantha decides immediately that this idea will not work in his life. He tries to convince Uma that, she would never argue with him once they get married. For which, Uma slowly said that, it is not possible but she will try her best. Therefore, Vasantha decides to postpone their marriage for about a year.

The real magic of the novel appears now, the huge philosophical thoughts of each protagonist comes into picture. Sachidananda decides to study like there is no tomorrow. He starts to pursue his master’s degree. Whereas Vinithakumari decides to drop out of college and she starts to work as a schoolteacher. Vasantha decides to pursue his PhD and Uma decides to work for an NGO. Will these couples get married or what role the fate will play in these lives? I stop at this point and let the readers go through the book and find out the answer! 

I recommend this book to everyone and for those who are students of philosophy or interested in learning about philosophy. It is a classic attempt by my favourite author. 

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #51: Gruhabhanga By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

A book that is full of tragic events. A book that is full of emotions. A book that is full of family problems. A book that is full of foul language. Yet, this is a book that speaks about a woman. This is a book that speaks about the hurdles overcome by a strong woman. This is a book that speaks about what it takes to live life. Finally, this is a book that speaks about strong will.

Gruhabhanga is a stirring, emotional and tragic novel from my favorite author Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa. The title “Gruhabhanga” can be fairly translated to English as “Destruction of a house”. Well, this is a literal translation. The real meaning or the crux of the novel speaks about a household. It speaks about various people from this household and their little stories. This is one of the epitomes of Indian Novels. This novel has been made into a daily serial or popularly called as sitcoms. It was such a huge hit at that time and even today this book marks as the only few books that got translated into all Indian official languages. This novel was originally published in Kannada language.

The entire story of the novel takes place in somewhere between 1920’s till 1950’s spanning close to 30 to 35 years. Due to the backdrop of village in this story, this novel strikes a chord with its readers. The main theme of the novel can be considered as a mere family story. But, the stirring images of each and every character are what make it as a class apart.

The main protagonist of the novel is a woman called Nanjavva.  She was fairly educated girl and her father Kanthijoyeesa is a well learned Brahman. In one of the unfortunate events, Nanjavva will get married to a person called Chennigaraya. Chennigaraya had a mother Gangavva (A widow) and a younger brother Appannayya. Chennigaraya was a village revenue collector. His job was to collect the revenue from the farmers, counting the number of acres that each farmer is cultivating, and type of the crop they are cultivating and amount of the crops that they grow each year. He has to sum up all these calculations from across 40 other villages and should submit these records to a nearby government office. He will be given commission based on this records collection.

During Nanjavva’s initial marriage days, everything was going smooth and happy. In just few months, her mother-in-law Gangavva, a bad mouthed woman will unnecessarily interfere with the affairs of Nanajvva and Chennigaraya. This intrusion has become worse day by day as such, one day, Chennigaraya who is a momma’s boy, will start beating Nanjavva and he even stopped going to revenue collection. This was the turning point in this novel.

Having learnt all these things, Nanjavva decides to take care of her family. Now she is a mother of 3 children. She begins herself to go for revenue collection and she starts to write all the records and only she would get the signature from her husband. Few learned members from the village will be aiding Nanjavva in her quest towards raising her children. During all these years, Gangavva, the mother-in-law of Nanjavva will be badmouthing her and often tries to link up illicit relationship with other men in the village. These events made Chennigaraya to abandon Nanjavva forever.

Later part of the novel is simply mind blowing. Author SLB has made this Nanjavva a role model for all the working women out there. Nanajvva slowly build her identity in the village. She often begged for few days in order to feed her children. She stayed in racks of an old abandoned house and making leaf plates to make the meets end. By this time, her elder son Ramanna was about to finish his school and his elder daughter is the age of marriage. Due to the help of few kind hearted villagers, Nanjavva was able to conduct her daughter’s marriage in a simple ceremony to a school teacher Surya Narayana. Surya Narayana, who is a school teacher in a neighbor village, will inform Nanjavva that, he will find a house and then he will take his wife there. Till that time, Nanjavva’s elder daughter will stay at her mother’s house.

Here, the fate plays an unfortunate incident in Nanjavva’s life thorough the author’s imagination. The entire village was attacked by plague epidemic starting with her house. Unfortunately, both her elder son and elder daughter passed away on the same day in a span of 3 hours who was suffering from plague. This incident made Nanjavva to lose faith in god. Fearing the same death for her younger son, she sends him off to her brother’s house and starts to live alone.

Nanjavva had always dreamt of her own house in the village. She works very hard to save the required amount of money and buys an old house and she starts to reconstruct the house. But fate was planning something else for her. As soon as she finished the construction of her house, there was another tragedy that struck in this household through the death of Nanjavva herself. She was attacked by the same plague epidemic and now the entire novel takes it turn towards climax.

In all these events, Chennigaraya the good for nothing husband of Nanjavva was seen with no emotions at all. Brainwashed by his mom, he expresses no grief over the death of his wife or children. He didn’t even bother to check on his younger son who is staying at Nanjavva’s borther’s house. He ended up visiting prostitutes on a daily basis.

What happened to Nanjavva’s younger son? Was he living peacefully in his uncle’s house? To know the answer, one must read the book. I think there was no better climax given to this book than this.

The above synopsis seems very simple. But, the vivid story described in this book will make anyone weep while reading this novel. The choice of words seems very daring. Since, no other novelist was dared enough to write such foul language in any novel. These words include Bastard, Son of a Bitch, Fuck You; Fuck your mom, Slut, etc... Etc… as I said, this is a village backdrop story, hence, the foul words is an apt choice of expressing one’s anger or resentment.

Overall, I feel this novel will stand tall as one of the greatest novel ever written in the history of Indian literature. At the same time, this novel will make the readers understand about the cultural practices, traditions, caste systems of a 1930’s India. I recommend this book to be read by everyone. It’s like a once in a lifetime.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #47: Bhitti - An Autobiography by Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

I was not at all ready to write up a review for this book. This book, Bhitti is the autobiography of Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa, the ace novelist, the philosopher and a great human being. Bhitti is a Kannada language word. It can be translated to English as a WALL or a PORTRAIT, where one can post their picture. Evidently, this is an apt title for this book. He has written his life story as a picture on the wall. It is so thrilling and one will feel profound whilst reading this book. I am quite inspired by this book, at the same time; I was saddened by reading his life journey. For sure, Bhitti is a masterpiece narration and it stands as a lesson for those who are writing their autobiographies.

What made it more special about this book? It was the sheer brilliance of SLB sir and the way he narrated his account of life in this book. He has not crossed the limits of boundaries while describing events and not derided anyone who directly or indirectly was the cause of sabotaging his earlier childhood and his teen years.

He started his book by describing his childhood when he was aged 4. He went on describing the social status, surroundings, events, the neighbors, his family members, his relatives and most importantly his mother who played a crucial role in bringing up him in the righteous way. He also writes about his father who was good for nothing and describes him as an aloof. His father was directly responsible for all his miseries that he went through as a child. His mother was the sole responsible person in his family who was taking care of the daily needs of all the family members. He has grown up in a situation where there were not even proper meals to eat. His family often slept without eating anything except for his father who happened to be the revenue collector from the farmers around the village and he used to spend most of his earnings for his amusements like eating in hotels, travelling for days, etc…

He has written in detail about his early childhood, his teen years and his college days and till his retirement age that spanning over 70 years. He tells us a riveting story.  His great shock came in when his elder brother and sister who died on the same day in a span of 3 hours due to plague epidemic. This was literally a shock to young SLB. After this incident, his mother sent him to his brother’s house so that he can get a proper education. SLB describes his stay at his uncle’s house as one of the devastating years of his life. He literally became a slave for his uncle doing cattle work, temple cleaning during the day with little or no food till noon. Even here, life was cruel to him, he received a message from one of his villagers that, his mother too died of plague. He was barely 11 years old at that time.

He has given an account of his childhood and his young teen years in 2 of his novels “Grihabhanga” and “Anveshana”. The stirring images and characters from both of these novels is a true incident happened in the life of SLB. He had faced some of the brutal tortures by his uncle, his aunt and importantly from his father. So, he decides to run away from home and goes to a different town where he literally begged every day for food. In those times there was a concept called “VAARANNA” that means “WEEKLY FOOD”. This concept is not existed in recent times. But, this is a concept where a student that begs in each house will come to an agreement with them that, he will be given a day’s food. Like this, he arranged in 7 different houses that agreed him to provide food.

He was not agreeing with himself for begging during his teen years. So he does odd jobs during his school breaks to make the ends meet. He works in a small hotel as a cleaner and waiter, he sells incense sticks during evening, he even worked as a gatekeeper for a cinema hall, and he went to every village as a story teller and amuses the villagers by his story and accepts whatever the gifts the villagers will offer. By all this means he manages to complete his schooling. While describing these events, SLB never forgets to remember all those kind hearted teachers that helped him a lot in his education.

SLB has struggled in every walk of his life by managing to keep him alive and educated. With a “vagabond” father, his life should’ve been finished long ago. But, some divine force was keeping him alive all these years so that he can win the hearts of millions of people that he has won today.

Despite undergoing such hardships in his life, his quench for reading never stopped. He was reading almost anything. By the time he reached his 20’s, he might have read at least 200 odd books. That’s what made him a good story teller. With all the blessings from every good person that he met in his life, he went on to complete his M.A (Honors) in Philosophy and managed to stand out as a gold medalist in his final years. He has written his first novel Bheemakaaya when was just 18 years old!!

Very early in life he realizes the correctness of defeating an opposing view by logical and knowledgeable argument rather that brow beating it by raising the voice. This comes through in his books which are very well researched. We see his views on religion and rituals evolving, his philosophy of life taking root and the awakening and evolution of his creative genius. Tips for new writers are strewn throughout the book.

SLB has seen life from very close quarters and is very well travelled. He has travelled all across the globe (may be 3 times overall) not to mention large swathes of India. SLB writes as he preaches with a detached air but is forthright. He never hesitates in calling a spade a spade; we see this in him even as a young boy.  He has always stood up for truth and justice and is a fighter and a survivor. A survivor because all the bitterness, the pain and betrayal he has seen  would have broken the spirit of an ordinary human being but it has not made SLB cynical. He has internalized it all to reach great heights. The success and heights that SLB has attained is testimony to the triumph of the human spirit. The autobiography is written in a linear chronological manner. The language is succinct and the book gripping and not able to put it back.

What I feel is the childhood and his student days of SLB sir’s autobiography must be made mandatory for all the new generation kids for reading. They will realize the importance of education. They will get a new perspective in life and will develop a respect for their life, their education.

I feel very underage to judge the autobiography of a great human being. At the same time, I made a point clear in my mind that, whatever happens in life, I will fight it till the end. The silver lining is a birth right of every human being on this planet. I recommend this book to be read by everyone. I prostrate my head at the feet of SLB sir for giving me a lifetime treasure of books. What one can only imagine in their life is a fact from SLB sir’s books.  

My Rating:

5/5

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Book Review #45: Anveshana By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

This book is a sequel to SL Bhyrappa’s highly acclaimed novel Grihabhanga. The story starts from the point where Grihabhanga has been left off. It is such a nice attempt of SLB sir in this novel that, we can easily remember all the stories, characters from the novel Grihabhanga.

For those who haven’t read Grihabhanga, let me tell you the crux of this novel. So that, readers can actually relate to this novel Anveshana. A small fictitious village in Tumkur and a poor farmer family was living in that village. Nanjamma the main protagonist in the novel Grihabhanga was married to a loaf called Chennigaraya. She faces many hurdles and difficulties in her life throughout the novel. She loses two of her children who were suffering from plague. Her husband is a good for nothing man, who wanders day and night around the village doing nothing and spends the money eating in hotels and other illegal activities. So, it was Nanjamma who takes care of her family and starts earning money so that she can build a home of her own. The only surviving child of her, Vishwanatha, who grew up with a monk leaves the village once his mother dies. Vishwanatha has a maternal grandfather called Kanthi Joyisa who stays in the outskirts of the village doing black magic and other stuffs.

In Anveshana, the story picks up from the phase where the grandfather Kanthi Joyisa who became terminally ill, wanted to see his grandson Vishwanatha for one last time. He wanted to leave his belongings, money and other stuff to his grandson. So he sets out on a journey in search of his grandson. This epic journey is called as Anveshana.

Kanthi Joyisa wanders many neighbor villages, town and other cities to know the whereabouts of his grandson. He meets many acquaintances of Vishwanatha and follows the route information that he gets from them. On his final voyage he meets a childhood friend of Vishwanatha. He is a tailor in a small village. He informs Kanthi Joyisa that, the last time he saw Vishwanatha was near a movie theatre, where Vishwanatha was working as a ticket collector. And the journey of Kanthi Joyisa continues.

Here author introduces the character Vishwanatha and his life journey in subsequent chapters. Vishwanatha who leaves his village settles down in a town and works as a hotel waiter for some time. Later, he moves to the house of a lawyer and works as a cook for some time. He leaves that place and travels to Mumbai and works as a Tonga Walla for some more time. And he continues his journey leaving no trace of him for his friends or relatives.

The magic of the novel is in its immense detailed explanation of Vishwanatha and his way of living life. Author introduces us to a phase where Kanthi Joyisa, the grandfather of Vishwanatha loses all his hopes of finding his grandson. He informs the tailor friend of Vishwanatha and goes back to his village and dies in isolation. This scene closes the curtain to the character Kanthi Joyisa.

Author introduces us to various traits of Vishwanatha throughout the novel. His love interests, his marriage, his college life etc… the vivid description of Vishwanatha’s love life, married life and college life and renunciation is a treat to read from the book. From this novel, we will come to know that, Vishwanatha has a habit of writing diary. As he leaves his final destination to the renunciation life, the school teacher of Vishwanatha discovers this diary and starts to read it and tries to understand the character Vishwanatha in a better way. This marks the end of the novel.

The striking gesture in this novel is the character Vishwanatha never appears in this novel as a first character person. He was often remembered, described, referenced but never in any way appears as the main protagonist of the novel, yet, he is the hero of this novel. All credits to the magical writer SLB sir. He has marveled in each of his novels. I have no words to explain more about this novel.

My Rating:

5/5

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 #39: Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

This book talks about the conflict between people who are traditionally grown up, holding up the age old rituals and cultural practices and with the people who are educated with the modern viewpoint of the world. So the story captures this essence of what is morally right and what is scientifically right.

 Author SL Bhyrappa is a true gift to the Kannada literary world. His tales varies from social issues till modern space science. He is the only author that doesn't conform to a specific genre. He writes on many themes and many beliefs. That’s what I liked about SL Bhyrappa Sir. He has surpassed his limits in this particular book ‘Tabbaliyu Neenade Magane’ which can be translated to English as ‘Son, You've become an orphan’.

 The story is very sensitive and controversial. It captures the theme of cow slaughtering versus cow protectors in a small fictitious village. An aged person Kalinge Gowda, who believes that cows are the representation of Gods that descended upon earth. Kalinge Gowda belongs to such a revered family, where a cow has offered herself to a hungry tiger willingly ages back. This cow is popularly called as ‘Punya Koti’. A breed which is believed to be sacred than all other cows. Kalinge Gowda has a grandson Kalinga, who was graduated in Agriculture from the University of USA. Kalinga has married to Hilda, a US citizen. Kalinga has a friend in his village, Venkatramana, a vedic scholar and a middle school teacher who believes in every traditional practices and rituals.

The entire villagers were against the slaughtering of the cows, whether it is aged old or a young one.  Hilda the wife of Kalinga was distracted initially to get adjusted to the villagers. She seems to have lost all her independent life of US after coming to this little village. She has to sacrifice her beef consumption. Married to an Indian man, she found it very hard to get adjusted. Kalinga who was very careful initially tries to win the heart of villagers and his friend Venkataramana. But to his dismay, in whichever way he tries to reconcile with the villagers, it was backfiring. One incident where Hilda killed a cow in her farm and ordered her cook to prepare beef, resulted in the severe repercussions from the villagers, which made Kaling to apologize in front of entire villagers.

The book has this kind of conflicting stories throughout. When Hilda questioned Venkataramana about the animal sacrifices juxtaposing it with the cow slaughtering, she won’t receive a convincing answer. All in all, Kalinga and Hilda felt that they were out casted from the village and felt lonely and rejected. All this made Kaling and Hilda to leave their village once and for all and go back to USA.

The climax part of the novel takes an unexpected turn and leaves it readers with surprise. I feel that’s the best part of the book. I will not reveal that in my review. It has to be read from the book itself. After reading the book, every reader will face with few questions that they couldn’t find answers. What is more important in a society? Upholding the age old practices and thereby respecting our culture and customs or compare every situation with the modern aspects and live according to them? Is banning cow slaughter solves every problem in India? Only time can answer.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #37: Naayi Neralu By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

A book that speaks about reincarnation and occult science. I think, this book is an example of what actually a reincarnation means. It speaks about Karma, the way of life. This book explains in a tone where modernists shall out rightly reject rather than discussing it. What is Karma after all? SL Bhyrappa explains this rare terminology in this short book that spans over 160 pages. The title of the book "NAAYI NERALU" can be translated to english as "DOG SHADOW".

A child (Kshetrapala) at the age of 3 started saying things that are totally irrelevant “I am married; my wife’s name is Venkamma. I have a child too”. Probably, these statements from a 3 year old don't in any way indicate that, this kid is planning for a con job in 15 years down the line. Then what is this? Has some devil spirit possessed in that little kid’s body? Or, as the author writes, he is a reincarnation of a man (Vishveshwara) that died 18 years ago.

The book begins with the plot that reveals an engrossing tale in future chapters. Does everyone have to finish his duties as per his birth? If not, does nature allows him to take rebirth? Author had brilliantly imagined the symbolism here, a dog, that represents the Karma of a man. We all know, Dog follows his master no matter what comes as an obstacle. The same way Karma follows every living being on earth. This is depicted even in Mahabharata as well, when Pandavas were entering the heavens in their last moment; everyone fails except for Yudhistira and his dog. Here, dog is just a representation of the Karma that indicates the good or bad deeds of a man.

In this novel, Kshetrapala (the re-born Vishveshwara) enters the house of Acchannaiah, his father from previous birth along with his dog. The dog doesn't have any name as such in this novel. When Acchannaiah’s own dog was skeptical about this new dog that has just entered the house, it never reconciles to its presence in the house, but the local dogs in that village was in acceptance mode, though showed some resistance in the beginning. This particular dog of Kshetrapala plays an important role in this novel.

There are some weird stories that you may read from the novel. This Vishveshwara (now reborn as Kshetrapala) often gets reminded of something is incomplete in his birth. As the story reveals further, you get to see that, Acchannaiah had cheated a monk by stealing his gold ornaments, replacing it with the iron duplicates. Here the story takes another turn that actually brings us to the 1^st birth of Vishveshwara who is none other than the same monk that gets cheated by Acchannaiah. Readers cannot believe these stories where a person reincarnates 2 times to finish of his karma. But, that’s the crux of the novel.

There are few sub stories of a monk that stays in the temple of a hill station, who often advises the local villagers regarding Karma, Moksha (Salvation), etc... Achyuta, the grandson of Acchannaiah, a college student and did not believe in all this re-incarnation stories. Achyuta, who believed that Kshetrapala as a con man and decides to lodge a police complaint and puts his re-born father (Vishveshwara) in jail for 7 years.  Venkamma, the wife of Vishveshwara, was in total dilemma whether to accept this reborn person Kshetrapala as her husband, who is actually 18 years younger than her. She suffers the most throughout the novel. Her own son, Achyuta admonishes her for accepting this new person (reincarnated person) as her husband. He mocks his mother in front of everyone.

Whether to believe in such occult stories or not is entirely up to the readers. As a novel, it strikes the chord with the readers by raising important questions regarding these reincarnation beliefs. This novel is particularly works a specific theme that you will certainly enjoy while reading. There are few village practices that author tried to bring up in this book, mainly, the grama-devathe (the village goddess) that answers people's questions in the form as a possessed priest. Acchannaiah recalling his tale that he has kept to himself for many years is one of those revealing acts from the novel, which actually gives a complete picture of the novel. Yet, there is no happy ending. But, that’s acceptable, since it is not a fairy tale to end in happy climax.

Overall, this book can be read once. A movie by the same name “Naayi Neralu” has been directed by Kannada’s renowned director, Girish Kasaravalli who made several changes to the existing characters that gives a new perspective to the novel itself.

My Rating:

4.5/5

Book Review #32: Daatu by Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

This is an another masterpiece novel from my favorite author Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa. Written in the early 70's with a backdrop of much debated caste system that was deep rooted in the country, makes this book as one of the excellent attempt by the author. The intricate explanation and detailed narration of each and every castes and cultures is a shellshock experience for the readers.

This book was way ahead of time if we consider the time of its publishing. As expectedly, this book has won the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in the year 1975. The title Daatu can be literally translated to english as CROSSING OVER. Crossing over the boundaries of castes and colors.

The subject with which the novel was based is an excellent one, yet dangerous. It would have easily flare up communal clashes around in the country. After all, though the government has abolished all the caste systems in public life to some extent, there is still this practice of upper caste, lower caste, untouchables or popularly called as Dalits, etc..

This novel describes the story of a small village called Tirumalapura, situated in Tumkur District of Karnataka. This village consists mainly of the Brahmins, followed by the other caste people. There is also a Gowda family, that was popular among the neighbour villages as one of the respected family, and this family stood as the flag bearer of the village, though there were many Brahmins who were silently opposing to such cult worshipping.

As far as the protagonists are concerned, there is a Brahmin family headed by Venkataramanappa and there is a flag bearer Gowda family, headed by Tirumale Gowda who became a Rajarshi after studying all the major vedic scriptures, that was reserved only for Brahmins long long ago. The main plot opens up, when, Satya a History Graduate, daughter of Venkataramanappa decides to marry Srinivasa, the grandson of Tirumale Gowda, the son of MLA Melegiri Gowda. What follows after this, is a family dispute that leads to fights among these 2 families, fight among 2 castes, fight among villagers, over which caste is better. Both families tries all their might to stop this marriage and eventually succeeds in it. Venkatesha, elder brother of Satya decides to make a pact with Melegiri Gowda and comes to a common judgement to stop this marriage, considering their reputation in their village and in neighbourhoods.

As the story progresses further, author tries to explain all the major reasons for the caste and cultures. He explains various causes and reasons for all these caste systems, thereby describing the misunderstanding of the of Purusha Sukta from Rigveda, in which majority of the people believed that, all the 4 caste (Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra) systems or VARNA systems are born out of mouth, arms, thighs and feet of Bramha. It was misinterpreted by every major translators throughout the history. This verse from purusha sukta describes that, the occupation of a man becomes his caste and not his birth. Through his protagonists, Author tries to explain that, everyone can attain the status of Brahminhood by just working towards it and there is no need of consenting someone for this.

In another part of the novel, author brings up the case for Dalits or untouchables through the characters like Bettayya an MLA and his son Mohandasa, who believes that only revolution and rebel nature brings out the justice for their caste. The interesting case arrives, when Satya decides to help out Mohandasa by writing a book on his request. This book helps all these Dalits or Untouchables to understand the injustice that they have faced in all these years. As this attempt became popular, Mohandasa decides to form a group of young rebels from his own community for a coup to enter the village temple that was banned for Dalits. He succeeds in his attempt even. But to his dismay, he became unconscious right after entering the temple. This incident made the upper caste Brahmins to scare away all those Dalits who were entering the temple. They scared them like, this is the wrath of god, and you people should remain  outside the temple and that is what has been practiced since time immemorial.

I stop it here.
I have just given a glimpse of the novel in my review. You will get to read so many cases like I mentioned above in the book. But for sure, it won't give you a concluding answer for which caste is first and which one is last, which one is upper and which one is lower, who is Brahmin and who is Untouchable. It just gives you a platform to think about what happens when one sticks to this kind of casteism. What one would even achieve by practising casteism?. It brings us to question ourselves much deeper, after all, what one would even gain by acting as if their caste is superior and others are inferior. Everyone must question themselves and start living life like a human. There is no upper or lower, no superior or inferior!!

I recommend this book to be read by everyone. It is once in a lifetime experience to read such novels.

My Rating:
5/5

Book Review #29: Vamshavruksha By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

There are few books that questions your own existence and the root of your family.!! Yes, S. L. Bhyrappa had written this novel in the year 1965 which is close to 50 years now and still it is one of the epitome of all his novels put together. Written long ago, this book captures the essence of transformation of families and persons from a traditional Indian background to a modern India and the ups and downs that they face while doing so. Vamshavruksha can be literally translated to english as FAMILY TREE.

In the year 1972 this novel has been adopted as a movie under the same title by one of the renowned directors and a great personality in Kannada B.V.Karanth in association with a popular kannada plays writer, actor Girish Karnad. This movie have won the best direction national award and southern Indian filmfare award. The story is so gripping and it is thought provoking.

As I finished reading this novel, several questions arose within me. Who am I ?, Who are my ancestors ?, What is the purpose of our family tree when we are not even sure of who was the first person from our family ?, Can anybody answer such questions ?, Certainly not. This book captures this very arguments through our protagonists and gives us an amazing literary journey.

This novel captures the tale of two families, Shrotri and Rao households, that captures their journey that spans over three decades. In first few chapters, there is introduction of the characters of these 2 families without any twist. Later what follows in subsequent chapters is almost a biographical journey of Srinivasa Shrotri, his wife, his young widowed daughter-in-law Kathyayini (she plays an important role in this novel) juxtapositioning against the literary journey of Dr. Sadashiva Rao, his wife Nagalakshmi and his younger brother Raja Rao.

The journey of Kathyayini and Dr. Sadashiva Rao from their own perspective is a way ahead of time considering the novel's publishing time, where modernism was not so encouraged by the traditional practitioners. This particular part of the novel explores the love life of Kathyayini with Raja Rao that stood on questioning grounds of morality and cultural impact. Whereas, Sadashiva Rao's tryst with Karuna Rathne a research student of him, whom he marries on the sole purpose of completing his research books, after realizing he alone cannot complete his books.

The essence that these stories are narrated by Bhyrappa is a treat to read from the book. Through his characters he explores the age old fight between social norms versus personal happiness, morality versus individual choice, cultural tradition versus modern aspirations, family values versus individual choices, etc..etc..

This book brings us, the readers, into a debate on what is most important in our life. Holding onto the moral values or just be happy with the way we wanted. The re-marriage of Kathyayini with Raja Rao is a phase, where readers will question themselves on what she did was right or wrong. It also brings us to debate on the moral policing by Srinivasa Shrotri, who questions his daughter-in-law regarding her marriage and why its against the traditional social pattern, he also questions her whether she should take the kid along with her to her new house, by citing a reason that, kids actually belongs to the family first and then to the parents. Kids alone can represent the continuation of the family tree and when these tree breaks by a non-acceptable marriage, then it will be a bad name on their family and not on parents. Hence, it is left to Kathyayini's choice whether to uphold the accepted social pattern or to continue with her own decisions.

The ending is a true realization. The realization of Srinivasa Shrotri about his true birth and he himself doesn't belongs to the right family. Kathyayini realizes that, she shouldn't have remarried again just for the material pleasures that has no purpose after sometime. Whether Shrotri is right in terms of his traditional upbringing or Kathyayini is right in terms of her wishes is a never ending dilemma. Imagination left to the readers. Readers can introspect themselves which one is more important.

For sure, author SL Bhyrappa focuses on the moral decisions that people make or the social implications of the same for others. This is a must read book for everyone including the new generation of people. And must read for those, who justify the moral policing based on traditionally accepted societal patterns!!.

My Rating: 
5/5

Book Review #26: Yana By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

For the first time S.L. Bhyrappa tried a science fiction based novel.!!. Published just 2 weeks ago, has attracted thousands of his loyal readers, making this book as one of the bestsellers in Kannada in recent days.  As a first timer to this genre, there are slight mistakes and scientific inaccuracies and there were space to improve in the writing. Nevertheless, this book didn't disappoint me. As a regular reader of SL Bhyrappa's books, what I read is an expected. There is nothing unexpected or extra super stuff that he wrote. He just carried it in a simple but elegant manner.

What it seems to be the most secret phenomenon called Black Hole has been studied in this novel in a somewhat possible way. But, it is beyond a science fiction, it explores the regular SL Bhyrappa's flavor of human relationships, bondage, philosophical aspects, etc..

The story is very simple as it seems to be. Two Astronauts, a female fighter pilot Uttara and a male scientist Sudarshan, who sets out on a epic journey into a far away galaxy leaving our solar system. They set out to travel to the Proxima Centauri which is several light years away from our solar system.

The intention of this journey was kept a top secret by the central space research agency. The mission was supposed to test the human generation growth in a space. These two astronauts were supposed to procreate and their children were supposed to marry (Yes, you are reading it right!!) and should procreate and this cycle must continue forever. As the intention of this experiment is kept top secret, the central space research agency selected fighter pilot Uttara for her right attitude towards serving the country and Scientist Sudarshan who is capable of building modern space shuttles. They were instructed clearly by the space research station that they will never return to earth. So, these two sets out on this journey or YANA leaving behind the earth forever.

As the novel progresses further, Author had done little damage while describing the space and its intricate details. Though he described the space shuttle in somewhat possible way. The space station that has facilities to grow even vegetables. It has been proved in recent times about the facility to grow vegetables in space stations.

As the novel continues, we find that, pilot Uttara had already covered a space travel program of 100 days previously with her pilot husband in a similar journey. When the 2nd time was announced, her husband declined this offer, whereas, Uttara accepts this offer. Hence, their relationship was ended abruptly.

With the clear instructions from the space research agency, these two protagonists, Uttara and Sudarshan were supposed to procreate. But, somehow, Uttara loses her interest in this idea and she starts to avoid by becoming pregnant. And, Sudarshan tries all his might to explain the duty that she was supposed to carry out in this mission. But, he fails. As their journey continues, Sudarshan also loses interest in this mission and he tries to find solace by surrendering to meditation. The ideas and the thoughts that Sudarshan gets while he starts practicing meditation is a treat to read from the book. I will not be explaining those things in my review.

After a while, Uttara changes her mind and approaches Sudarshan. But this time, Sudarshan declines and suggests her to get pregnant with the sperms that was given to them by the space research agency before their travel. Somehow, she gets pregnant and gives birth to two children a boy Akash and a girl Medini. These two children were supposed to get married in few years and carry out this YANA. But this idea itself is somewhat creepy. I know some conservatives/orthodox people will hate this idea of brother marrying his own sister. But this is fiction right, author have every rights to let his imagination go in any direction.

As the novel progresses towards the end, the two children were supposed to marry. But, they starts getting doubt about this marriage. So, they approach their parents with all the questions they have on their mind. By studying their parent's life journey, they comes to a conclusion that, this journey has come a long way and there is no possible way of going back. Hence, they also decides to serve their mission and thereby serving their country. This marks the end of the book. Were they got married ??. Imagination left to the readers.

The writing style of this novel is lucid and it did engage the readers. If you expect a typical SLB writeups in this novel. There are two answers for that, Yes and a No. Yes, because you can read the conventional human-human relationships, whether its an illicit or a time bound relationship doesn't matter, the spiritual thoughts that runs through in the minds of protagonists, the philosophical experience, etc, etc.... And No, because, you get a feeling that, this is not even a science fiction, but a regular book that has a backdrop of space station. THAT's ALL.

Overall, can be read. Not a must read though. Author would've taken a different approach for a science fiction genre than his regular writing style. A new try will always have some loopholes.

My Rating:
4.5/5

Book Review #25: Tantu By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

Yet again, I am here to give you all a review of Dr. S. L. Bhyrappa Sir's another magnificent novel Tantu. Tantu can be meant as "Links" or a much sophisticated close meaning as "Relations". This book reveals the various facets of a life and how the bad decisions can affect one's own life and their surroundings. I can say, this book is more or less similar to Anchu in terms of the characters, feelings and relationships are concerned. But still, it makes altogether a different impact on its readers. Much have been talked about the capabilities of Dr. SLB sir and his magic while creating a psychological view of every character.

Tantu is a journey of individual souls that judge things from their own perspective. The protagonists are mere mirror image of a modern society. The reality is, Tantu captures the minute details of a person that you and me see in everyday of our life. This book is a fight between, honesty, bravery, cunningness, illicit relations, upbringing kids in the right way, money, meditation, music, school, government, politics, politicians, journalism, etc, etc..

Spread across 900 pages. This book captures many stories that are interlinked with each other. Author had brilliantly connected each story to the next and previous one in order to achieve the full effect. A complete package of a typical Indian life in a typical India during the time of Indira (the then prime minister of India)!!!.

There is no single protagnonist in this novel. Each character has the same depth of a protagonist range. A Resident Editor of a popular english daily Mr. Ravindra, who sticks to his principles and known for his honesty and integrity. A shrewed woman, wife of the resident editor, Mrs. Kanti, who is least cared about living the life in a right way, she rather believed in living life in all possible way. And, a teenage son of this couple Anoop, who falls in the wrong companionship of wealthy kids, and starts to steal things from his school, steals money from his dad's pocket. Later stage of the novel witnesses Anoop being convicted by police, when raiding a brothel cum nude dance bar.

The story revolves around these main characters. But, the other events and stages of the novel feels as important as these 3 peoples. As the novel further goes, Mr. Ravindra came to know that, his son is going in a wrong direction. He decides to get him admitted to a different school, that runs on the principles laid down by Mahatma Gandhi. The speciality of this school is, it doesn't take any support from the governmental agencies, even, the teachers are mostly celibate and they stays in school forever. The vivid description of this school must be read from the novel itself. Here author introduces us to the scene, where Mrs. Kanti was not at all happy about getting her son admitted to a school in a faraway village. This event had led her to have a spat with Ravindra.

As the novel further goes, Mrs. Kanti decides to go to her hometown for her father's birthday. But, she decides to stay there forever. Reason being, she meets one of her childhood friend, Mrs. Sheetal, who works in external ministry department. She gives Kanti an idea of starting her own cloth export business, for which, Kanti agreed instantaneously. Later events, proved that Kanti grown as one of the successfull business tycoon.

The real twist in the novel appears now. In Anoop's school there is a music teacher by the name of Mr. Hemanth Honnatti, that left his high paying job and decides to pursue his career in sitar music and runs away from his house and was practising in Anoop's school. Fortunately, Kanti knew the parents of Hemanth, she decides to meet him and persuade him to go and meet his parents. As the events unfolds, Kanti realizes that, she is attracted to Hemanth, she slowly shows her intersts in him, for which, Hemanth reciprocates equally. Within no time, their relationship had grown beyond imagine and they started seeing each other almost daily.

As the novel approaches towards the end. Anoop had joined an engineering college to pursue his engineering. Here author tries to explain the grave realities of the problems of a young adult, who is curious enough to try his hands at relationships, but not adult enough to sustain those realtions. Anoop tries his luck with many female students from his college. He also visits brothels, that leads to him in a bigger mess in the later stage of the novel. Finally, he decides to pursue his career in USA for an administration degree in Business. Here, due to Indira Gandhi's emergency declarations in the country, Ravindra decides to quit his resident editor job as he feels that there is not enough room left for fair, honest practice for journalism. His newspaper investors asked him to not to cover any governmental decisions and to stay out of reporting those things. This was the phase, that whole of India was in ultimate shock by witnessing the dictator style of governance from Indira Gandhi.

In climax, Ravindra will come to know about the illicit relationship that his wife Kanti had with Hemanth. He tries to question her, but he gets admonished from Kanti. Even Anoop knows about her mother's illicit relatioship, for which, his mother tactful response makes him silent. Here Kanti had grown out to be a good successfull business icon, but, failed as a wife and a mother. She had suffered a massive heart attack and passes away in isolation. Ravindra was put behind the bar for writing against the Indira Gandhi's government, Anoop marries his girlfriend and decides to stay in USA. The final scene marks, where Ravindra and few other were shouting slogans against the government for its decision to arrest common people. This marks the end of the book.

As though my review seems to be long and very simple. It's not the case, I didn't even revealed 20% of the novel in my review. It is such a huge novel, and it is difficult to write a conclusive review after all. It exposes those persons that lives in each one of us who are after material desires than relations and responsibilities. As we witness in this novel, Kanti failed as an honest wife and a loving mother. Anoop failed as an honest son, Hmeanth failed as a trusted friend, Ravindra failed for being an honest man!!. Their relationships or TANTU with each other seems to be just on the papers, and it has broken long ago.

We all must appreciate the hidden meaning in this novel. Don't just think it is a work of fiction, it gives all of us some lessons on how to maintain our relationships. If we go behind just material desires, our relationships, for sure, goes in a different direction. We wouldn't even realize it. By the time we realize, this TANTU or RELATIONSHIP will be beyond the stage of repair. A must read for everyone.

My Rating: 
5/5

Book Review #24: Anchu by Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

This is yet another masterpiece novel by my favorite author, Professor, Thinker, Philosopher Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa sir. It is amazing to think that, how he could possibly be able to capture such thinking and ideologies under a single book. Then it struck me like a jolt, this is the theme of all Dr. SLB sir's books. No wonder, the immense feeling I got while reading this book is beyond explanation.

This is a profound book, making the readers to go beyond the material relationships and arrive at a conclusion. Detractors can always bang their head against the wall, but, they can't deny the fact that, this book makes everyone, literally everyone, to think for a minute or two about their own lives.

This book mainly revolves around only 2 persons. Though there are other filler characters for the sake of the novel, readers are not much bothered about those characters. The protagonists of this novel is enough to carry out the story. This book is certainly unputdownable. It takes the readers on a ride, the psychological ride that anyone could imagine. It takes only a man like Dr. SLB sir to write such books.

The plot of the novel introduces us to the main protagonists of the novel. A well educated woman, Dr. Amrutha, a Ph. D. scholar and a lecturer in a college. Though she had a good job to support her, psychologically she is a woman of suicidal tendencies. She was deceived by her own family members, by her husband and her aunt. By their dubious coup, she lost all her properties and she was thrown on the road along with her two small kids Vijay and Vikas. She and her kids lived alone in the house that was left by her father years back.

Another protagonist of the novel is Somashekar, an Architect by profession, who is well settled and came to Mysore from Mumbai in search of expanding his Architect business. He is good at heart and an honest person, but, he is too weak to express his feelings. That leads him to a bigger mess in his life. Having lost his wife and a daughter, and a failed relationship in his mumbai days, he had no plans of another relationship and was quite happy with his job.

The phase that connects these 2 protagonists is a situation, where Dr. Amrutha calls Somashekar for an urgent repair of her house. He finishes of this repair job and finds himself attracted to this woman. She also had the same feelings towards him. As the story continues further, these two persons were found out that, they love each other and finds a new ray of silver lining in their respective lives. Their love story continues just like any other love stories. But, her suicidal tendencies and mood swings makes both of their lives difficult at many stages.

Author had brilliantly imagined the psychological imbalance state of Amrutha. She is happy at sometimes and in split seconds she gets this immense feeling of loneliness. Everyday she decides to take her life and writes suicide notes and takes her revolver and heads to a hill station and within no time she decides not to do so. These events had made her traumatized everyday. Somashekar feels that, he needs to take care of her and he supports her in every possible way. He changes his timings of work just to be with her. At some point in the novel he was succeeded in changing her mind to concentrate on future rather than taking life.

There are few stages in the novel, where both of them quarrel and decides not to see each other again. Later, they finds their lives are even more empty and dull, which leads them to concile again. As the story further reveals, Amrutha finds out that she is carrying the child of Somashekar. For which, She felt very guilty and again she decides to take her life. But due to the intervention of Somashekar, this plan was failed. Later, she decides to get aborted and still she finds her life pointless, aimless and meaningless.

As the book reaches its climax, Somashekar encourages Amrutha to file a lawsuit against their Aunt and relatives to take back all the properties that was belonging to Amrutha. Also, he gives timely suggestions on how to handle this case. Amrutha slowly recovers from her traumatic stage of her life and finds a new hope for her life. She fights the case with all her might and wins the lawsuit against her aunt and relatives. As the climax approaches, Somashekar feels that, he should marry Amrutha and accept her two kids as his own kids. For which she agreed.!!

The story seems very simple and straightforward. In reality, it is impossible to express how does one feels when someone was deeply wounded psychologically and how their behavior will affect their loved ones and surroundings. This is the crux of the novel and one should read it to experience it. Readers are hard pressed for words to describe the state of Amrutha and her waves of thinking in the book. It is best not to mention in this review. Overall, a must read book, it actually changes one's behavior and thinking.

My Rating: 5/5