Before the book review, I feel there is a strong overlap between the concept of the book - A journey and my own book reading journey. In the recent past, my reading was heavily tilted towards English books / translations and I used to read the originals only when I had to refer something I may have read earlier. This is perhaps my first Kannada book in last couple of years that I have read cover to cover. Starting with a doubt if I will be able to transcend this peak of reading such wonderfully written book to actually enjoying the journey and completing this today, it has been a journey worth remembering. When I was nearing the end of the book, I realised the theme of the book landed up being reflected in my own case.
Aparoksha translates to direct inference rather than indirect or perceived knowledge or experiences. To summarise this book into a sentence - This is a philosophical journey of a human who embarks on a journey to discover herself. What is so special about this self-discovery? What induces the protagonist to embark on this journey?
The book is about flawed humans and modern lifestyles. We have an overachiever who doesn’t believe in the age-old wisdom and we have a romantic who believes there’s more to life than just corporate achievements. Providence gets them together as a Live-In couple where the pair of contrasts sustain 7 years before certain challenges arise. The book is about their backgrounds, their objectives, the said incident and how the same acts as a catalyst for one person to embark on this life altering journey. I am limiting the review to this limit to ensure that I don’t spill the beans much.
I would like to comment about the metaphors used in this book and the choice of names of the characters and how they reflect in modern life today.
First, Bengaluru as a city is a character with Silk Board junction acting as a boundary between modernity and cultural antiquity of the magnificent city. More often than not, the areas become a symbol to represent the mind space of the individuals or the utopian thought of melancholy of the life that one desires, but is not to be. The yearning of a soul to be closer to the cultural roots is very apparent and the author has brought this out so eloquently and quite impact fully.
Ramayana, specifically the beautiful relationship between Rama and Sita is another character in this novel. Their complex relationship, specially the extremely difficult decision of Sri Rama to send Seeta mata to forest while she was pregnant is a recurring character. Through layered nuances and detailed discussions, the author brings out the cold realities of life while using the same to debunk insensitive half-baked theories being promoted in the name of modernity and liberalisation.
The mighty Himalayas - The ultimate destination is perhaps the most important character of this novel beyond the human ones. The tall monoliths serve as a metaphor for divinity or spirituality or life (however one wishes to look at the same). There is a profound phrase in the concluding sections of the book: Unless one surrenders to the mighty ones, we can’t climb their peaks and succeed in our endeavours. There is a lot of spiritual depth to the discussions around this point and merits a huge applause for this very subtle, layered writing by the author.
Next the characters: The author has taken a lot of care to ensure that characters names are not just mere nouns, but representative of wider philosophical aspect of the narrative. Prajna as the younger, but the wiser one with emotional and intellectual maturity. Saakshi as the mirror to the soul. Silvia as the spirit or catalyst who provides an outsider perspective. Madhuri as the sweet talker, but… Fittingly, Radha is the one who imparts the transcendental wisdom with such clear thought process at the bosom of Himalayas. The pure, touched but untouched relationships of Radha is reminiscent of the pure love of Radha-Krishna.
This brings us to the main characters: Shantanu - The soul. When I started reading, I felt this was similar to Shantanu of Mahabharata. The same melancholy, the same search for a child, the same helplessness. He is definitely one of the best characters written in recent past.
Lastly, the protagonist : Prama. The book is about her discovering the meaning of her name - right cognition. This book is her journey from a career oriented high achiever to one who discovers her true calling.
Sahana Vijaykumar is one of the best authors in the recent past. In this book, her immense knowledge in Indian Knowledge Systems is apparent in the way she has crafted the characters and their intertwining stories. A big shoutout on a magnificent book.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READ !!!
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