Of perfidy, wildlife and women

Balloonists by Rajorshi Chakraborti

Tranquebar. Pages: xiii+198. Price: Rs. 200/-

This novel spreads its canvas to include UK, Germany and India in its narrative. Its protagonist, Dev, is reluctant to get into permanent relationships as these entail concomitant commitments with inescapable consequences. After he breaks up with Heidi, his German sweetheart of four years since they were students, Dev shacks up with Jo – an American who chucks everything off to stay with him in his London pad, while Heidi transfers his affections to Rodrigo. But when Jo announces pregnancy Dev vamooses off to Germany in search of Heidi. In turn, Heidi disappears after meeting him, triggering off a series of funny and not so funny incidents.

Although there is an underlying fluidity in the narrative peppered with humour there are passages that tend to pall a bit – especially the longish and rather contrived exchanges between Dev and Rodrigo on their air journey to India. You begin to wonder whether you should skip further reading. Soon you meet Dev’s relations in Kolkata. His maternal uncle turns out to be the emblematic stereotype – out to cadge easy money from his NRI nephew. There are other familiar family scenes too. But soon the narrative takes an interesting turn when Dev and Rodrigo reach Shillong in search of the missing Heidi. Characters like Satinder, Professor Sharma and a taxi driver etc keep one intrigued; even Heidi’s persona takes on unexpected hues. The author leaves certain situations tantalizingly hanging to keep the reader guessing till the end. From page 175 onwards one remains absolutely absorbed in the narrative, as there is enough stuff to chew on. 

Sprint of the blackbuck edited by S. Theodore Baskaran

Penguin. Pages: xv+223. Price: Rs. 299/-

 

The health of wildlife indicates the state of environment in a country or region; in order to maintain a certain degree of sensibility among people at large awareness is a must. One of the ways this can be achieved is to generate interesting relevant literature. This volume deals with wildlife in South India. Although the title suggests it to be Blackbuck specific it, in fact, features a wide range of birds and animals. Various writers have provided insights into the behavior patterns of different fauna in varied conditions and situations. You (re)learn to love the Sloth Bear and understand how the Black Kite has adapted to the urbanized Chennai. If the Nilgiri Langur fascinates the beautiful “spirit of southeast Asia” Sambar leaves you enthralled. The primate Hoolock Gibbon’s earthy charms hold their own against the Cobra’s mesmerizing menace.  You will fall in love with this book as it easily envelops you in its folds through gripping prose even as it provides essential knowledge and doesn’t bore you with dry statistics. Gift it to young adults!

Feminine aesthetics of Indian women writers by Dr. KR Sujatha & and Dr. S. Gokilavani

Regal Publications. Pages: xv+199. Price: Rs. 780/-

For quite some time now feminine consciousness – described in the introduction as feminine aesthetics – has been a prominent motif in most of the writings by/on women. Indeed women the world over, but especially in India, have been facing various dilemmas regarding their roles and identities in the fast changing society. Although the past looks perfect from today’s perspective our classic literature has given enough evidence that Indian women – whatever their social status – had to come into conflict with the existing system in order to gain or preserve whatever rights and privileges they might have had. However, this volume does not investigate the Indian woman’s perennially ambivalent economic/social/political status in society but takes a look at the literary perspective by studying the writings of Shobha De, Chitra Bannerjee Devakaruni, Arundhati Roy and Bharathi Mukherjee. Thought provoking stuff.