It was a lazy Saturday afternoon when I and my
wife were roaming around streets of South Mumbai after having a wholesome meal
at Café Mondegar. There was a book launch at Kitab Khana, a popular book shop
in the vicinity and I had half a mind to attend the event for which I had
received an invitation via facebook. There was also another reason why wanted
to go there, I had happy memories of that place where I had last visited when I
attended the book launch of my younger brother about 4 years back for a similar
event .I was filled with pride when I witnessed the 20 year old brother of mine
delivering a speech where he was describing his experience of authoring his
first book. The train of thoughts was disrupted by my wife’s question directed to
me “What next? I am tired”. I told her why not got to a book launch to a nearby
book store. She nodded in agreement and said that at least we can get away from
the sweltering heat and spend sometime in the book shop which was air
conditioned. As we were walking towards the book shop my wife asked how well I
knew the author to which I replied that I hardly knew the author and I had seen
an invitation in the Alumni page of my alma mater. She stopped in her tracks
and asked me if I really wanted to gatecrash the event of someone whom I was only
distantly acquainted to. I brushed her objections and walked into the book shop.
Once inside I instantly recognized the author from
his profile picture in Facebook. As I walked to him I was in a dilemma as to
how to address my Senior from school he had passed out from my school almost 3
decades before I graduated from school, in a way he belonged to a different generation altogether. My wife cringed when I
addressed Shibu, the author as Chetta(big brother in Malayalam) she said to me
later, you should to have addressed him as “Sir” being very junior to him. I could see the glint in his eyes
when I told him that I was a former student of Loyola School Trivandrum and was
delighted to meet him in person because I had already heard about his book
earlier. He said there was another Loyolite from his batch somewhere in the
venue whom I met later in the course of the evening. My wife’s initial
apprehension disappeared after she saw with how much warmth we interacted, I
guess that is a feeling only Loyolites will understand.
During his Introduction the author attributed
his decision to pen a book to the strong foundation in creative writing that
was laid on him during his School days. The spark that was ignited in his mind
as a child grew into a burning desire to write a book decades later. This made
me proud and I felt that I was indeed privileged to have studied in the same
school as him. It was this strong bond that all of us shared with our school
that brought me as an audience to this very event even though I hardly knew the
author. The author went on to describe
his experiences that he had in the foothills of the Himalayas where he was
based due to his vocation which formed the basis of his book. The various
people whom he had met during his stint over there have contributed a great
deal in mounding the characters of his book. There was something he said that
deeply touched me “No matter who you are everyone has a dream and how you live
the rest of your life is structured around that dream”. I managed to sneak in a
question during the Q & A session where I asked the author what would be
his advice to the wannabe writers out there, to which he gave a well-rounded
reply. He said you need to have loads to patience and a strong desire to single
heartedly follow your passion of writing. He explained that it was only because
of his perseverance that he was be able to complete his book. Many a times he
had started off to write a book but somewhere down the line it was lost and the
book died its natural death in its initial stages of its development.
As the event drew to its close I caught hold of
a book and got it duly autographed by the author. Finishing of the book was to
be my main mission the following Sunday. I was really excited by the thought
because I was once again the boy who loved to read the entire book on a single
day without doing anything else. I guess every serious reader would relate to
this feeling once you stumble upon the simple pleasures of reading somewhere
during your childhood. Off late due to the paucity of time and also because of
my laziness I haven’t had the luxury of reading a book for quite some time now.
Also I was curious to know what a fellow Loyolite had come up with after
burning a lot of midnight oil. I wasn’t disappointed I should say I devoured
the whole book of around 400 odd pages within a single day which stretched out well
into my Sunday night. As I went through the book I could visualize how
painstakingly the author had constructed the plot page by page. How he had
interwoven the characters’ lives with the strokes of a master craftsman, ultimately
it culminated into a gripping climax. I was greatly impressed by his attention
to detail where he explained the nitty gritty of a Hydro Electric Project which
formed the back drop of the story. Just imagine the quality of the book if it
caught the imagination of a person who hasn’t read many books in the past year or
so. The only literature I used to get to read during this time on regular basis
was e-mails, power point presentations, excel spreadsheets, reports and the
like. Boy it was such a wonderful book that when I retired for the night my
mind was buzzing .Thanks to my author friend Shibu I rediscovered the ecstasy
that one experiences after reading a brilliantly written book. As a small time
writer myself I could very much understand the pains and tribulations that the
author might have undergone during the time he was engaged in the painstaking
process of writing the book.
autograph
During the course of the event I remember
someone asking a question if the author would allow this book to be made into a
Bollywood movie owing to the many characters it has. The author gave a tongue
in cheek reply saying that he won’t himself make a movie based on his book. He
further added that he was not stopping anyone from making a movie to which the
crowd broke into an applause. At that time it didn’t make much sense to me as I
had not read the book at that point of time .Once I completed reading the book I
couldn’t help but notice the depth in which each of the characters of the book
had made an imprint in my mind. It never crossed my mind that I was reading the
debut novel of an author. Hats off to my new found author friend for coming out
with such a masterpiece of a book .I am eagerly looking forward to his next
book. I have got to say this, you are a brilliant writer and greatness beckons
you in the Indian Literary scene in the days to come. All the very best Shibu Chetta.
Another Monday morning while peering into the
laptop reviewing the emails that had piled up during the weekend my mind was
fresh and singing a happy tune thanks to “Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar”
a question to the author
about our alma mater
