Home by Manju Kapur

A very simple and ordinary story! You will feel it as a story of yours or some neighbour/relatives. Very much realistic story, written beautifully. Every subtle event is elaborated to an extent which makes reading a real joy. Ms. Manju's writing style is different, liked it.

Its a story of Lala Banwari Lal (yes, its my name ;-) ) and family. They have migrated from Lahore to Karol Bagh, Delhi. Lala Banwari Lal runs a cloth shop here now. He has two sons, Yashpal and Pyare Lal. Both the sons help their father on shop and the family has a perfect balance. Everything goes smooth. The first dramatic event happens when Yashpal falls in love with a girl came to their shop to buy cloths. Sona! She belongs to a very ordinary family, not by far close to Banwari Lal's status. Yashpal anyhow convinces his parents for the marriage. Pyare Lal undergoes arranged marriage. Sona is very beautiful while Sushila (Pyare Lal's wife) is a girl with ordinary looks. Sona has a sister too, Rupa, she too is not as beautiful as Sona. There is a sister of these two brothers who is married in Bareily. Her terms with her husband are not pleasant and she dies in the starting of story. Her only child Vicky is brought back to Delhi and starts to live with Banwari Lals. Sona gives birth to her first offspring after ten years, Rupa is not fortunate enough for her entire life. Nisha comes in the Banwari Lals family. Sushila gives birth to two children, Ajay and Vijay, Asha (Vicky's wife) to one child and Sona to another child Raju. Problems arise when children grew and became adult. They started to dominate in decisions being taken for family, business and all.

As I told, story is that simple and realistic, it virtually fits to maximum middle-class Indian families. It shows reality of life of middle-class families. How girls dream about their future husband to be a smart, intelligent, worthy, caring, loving and all and what maximum of them get is entirely a different person. A girl who is beautiful that she deserves a prince gets a widower as her husband, on the other hand a girl who doesn't deserve even a common guy gets far more than she would have ever expected. Its the life. What you dream and you desire may not be realized in the real world or what was too good to be true becomes reality the next day.

Author's way of telling is very good, very amusing. Overall a good book. 7/10.

Book Details:
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Home by Manju Kapoor,
Publication: Random House
Binding: Hardbound
Pages: 337
Price: Rs.350/-
ISBN: 81-8400-000-6

Mrityunjay by Virendra Kumar Bhattacharya

I have a Gyanpith (Jnanpith!) book catalogue with me, so whenever I run out of books I choose a couple of books from it and buy them. I am choosing the books that have won Gyanpith or Murtidevi Award. I found this book in this catalogue only and I am very happy after choosing this book. Again, its Gyanpith awarded novel.

The novel was originally written in Assamese language but I read the Hindi translation. The novel's background is of 1920s when India was struggling to become free from English rule. The book depicts role of Assam in freedom fight. This is not a comprehensive book on freedom-fighting but covers merely one scene.

The scene is about derailing a train of military. Very limited characters came into the scene and tried to accomplish the task. Dhanpur, Roop Narayan, Bhibhiram, Gosai ji, Dimi, Shayikiya etc are the main characters. Among them Roop Narayan is the youngest and most intellectual guy. Dhanpur is very hard-working and straightforward person.

Story is written beautifully well. However I didn't read the original book but Hindi translation was flawless and enjoyed it. The book gave me a fair idea of assamese people and their way of living as well. Overall I liked the book very much.

Book details:
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Mrityunjay (Assamese) ,
by Virendra Kumar Bhattacharya,
Pages: 264
Binding: Hardbound
Publication: Bhartiya Jnanpith
Price: Rs.145/-
ISBN: