Life Inspires

Woven around the turbulent Punjab of the 1980s and London and Mumbai of 1990s, The Opium Toffee, in spirit, is a love story. Shabnam Singh, a supermodel from India, chances upon the boyfriend of her teenage years, Ajit, in London, begging in the streets. What is most surprising about this encounter is not just Ajit’s decline, but that he had gone missing almost a decade earlier from Chandigarh, and was presumed dead. During the process of rehabilitating Ajit, Shabnam unravels the story of their past, in the process bringing to light tragic events involving violence, drug abuse, oppressive patriarchy, and malevolent politicking. The author’s keen eye for details makes the fields of rural Punjab, the schools and houses of Chandigarh, and the opulence of luxury London hotels come alive in vibrant colors. After living through a realistic portrayal of the pastel-hued world of young romance juxtaposed against times that were getting more and more unpredictable with each passing day, throu...

Title: Shimmer Spring: prose and poetry Edited by Kiriti Sengupta ISBN: 9788194853848 Price: INR 2500/- | USD 31.99 Page: 124 Published by Hawakal Publishers (New Delhi | Calcutta) in November 2020 Reviewed by Vibha Malhotra (Review first published on Kitaab.org ) Hope, the entity we desperately try to hold on to in these unusual times of loss and repatriation, is light, some would say. And yet, the light also reveals the desolation and destruction. What is light then? Is it the beacon, or is it the whistleblower? In this context, Shimmer Spring , published by Hawakal Publishers (New Delhi & Calcutta), is an extraordinary collection, embracing both the temperaments of light. This hardbound volume—presented by recognized poet and editor Kiriti Sengupta, designed by Bitan Chakraborty, and embellished with vivid and fluid paintings by Pintu Biswas—is as enticing to the mind as it is to the eyes. In his introduction to Shimmer Spring , Sengupta states, “ light is a com...

Even though the book is categorized under short stories, it has a very strong central narrative that runs through these short stories and connects each to another. All tales in the book pivot around the narrator's crumbling life in the backdrop of the seemingly inevitable disintegration of the entire realm of existence. The drunk narrative sucks the reader into its hallucinatory vortex and relentlessly makes one confront the very real questions one would rather avoid. The imagery used is powerful, disturbing, and beautiful at the same time.  The themes that the stories and the central narrative touches are at the core of many problems plaguing the world today. Without being didactic or preachy, the author effectively makes the readers stop in their paths and wonder about where the world is coming from and where it is headed. Even though the book is a serious work and deals with serious topics, the author's matter-of-fact vocal tone is refreshing and provides a much-need...

When requested by his publisher to write a sequel to his award-winning book Skellig, David Almond chose to write a prequel instead. And what a prequel it has turned out to be. The book is beautifully fresh, both in appearance and content. Almond uses it as a device to challenge basic beliefs about almost everything in a playful, light-hearted way. The book is unusual. The peculiarity starts right from the beautiful cover, which is gold and white with some words from the beginning of the book embossed on it. It continues inside where a variety of fonts and layouts are used without any inhibition. And it does not stop here. This is a book in which “nothing barmy happens at all”. In the name of plot, there are only a couple of mild twists, the first on the day of SATS and the other towards the end when Mina, the lead character, goes up to say hello to the boy whose family has just moved into Mr. Myers house. This sets a very nice tone for Skellig. The best way to describe Mina is to use...

We always assume that we are going to be around for years. And as every step takes us closer to our own respective deaths, we philosophically ponder about what awaits us after death. In the process, we often forget about the present. Jenny Downham’s first novel, Before I Die, successfully shocks us out of this pointless reflection and brings the focus back to life before death rather than after it. Though the book is targeted at young adults, it lingers on in the readers’ thoughts once they have read it, irrespective of their age. The book does not advocate stoicism, it does not set rules, instead through the eyes of terminally-ill, 16-year old Tessa Scott, it sets out to reflect on Tessa’s and her family’s constant struggle to hold on to the time that is slipping away. Tessa Scott, the novel’s central character is perceptive and analytical, wise beyond her years. This is most evident when she reflects upon her father’s unique position and surmises that “his shambling protecti...