Book Review of 'Brahmahatya'

BOOK- BRAHMAHATYA
AUTHOR- RAJIV MITTAL
FORMAT- E-BOOK

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A story of revenge and redemption and deeds shaped by forces that humans believe they have defined through mythology and scriptures but still struggle to understand.

A woman employee of a retirement home is shocked to discover that a new resident is in fact the son impersonating his father. The son is seeking revenge. She, by her past actions, is unwittingly complicit in his being there and now tries to thwart his peculiar plans. A senile woman-resident and an enigmatic founder offer him sage advice. The samudra manthan (a major episode in Hindu mythology), a slightly dim secretary and a sinister boss play their part in ensuring justice is finally served but in an unexpected manner.


MY TAKE ON THE BOOK-

“Brahmahatya” as the title reveals it is the act of killing a Brahmin.

Ravi Narasimhan referred to as Ravi in the content is the son Naru sir (generally used in the book)

Ravi works in Dubai and is the only descendant of his family. His father is a lone man staying in an apartment connected to his son through a mobile phone. His father was quite old and remained ill most of the time. The hospitalization of his father brought Ravi Narasimhan back to his hometown Chennai from Dubai. After reaching his hometown, he went directly to meet his father. His father’s condition was unstable and meanwhile, he needed to go back Dubai soon to attend a meeting. Since time was less, he thought of enrolling his father in a retirement home so that someone would be there for taking care of his father along with helping him in certain activities.

He got information about GMR, which was a retiring home, from a doctor who was treating his father. He tried to enroll his father there, but to his fate, the admission of his father in GMR wasn’t possible because of some medical regimen. His father wasn’t stable and that was the reason he had to take his steps back from GMR.

With the last hope, he went to “Blessing” which was yet an old age home where old people are taken care of. Somehow Ravi did his father’s admission there and went back to Dubai for his work.

One day, a sudden call from “Blessing” gave the news of his father’s death.

Ravi was fired from his job. And on that very day, he received a parcel informing that his father’s admission is approved by the committee of GMR.

Ravi was lost and didn’t know what to do.

Dr. Chari was the person who refused the admission of his father in the medical ground at GMR due to which he blamed Dr. Chari for the demise of his father.

Bhavna was a nurse at GMR, who used to take care of the people admitted in GMR. It was due to the fault of Dr. Chari, her daughter, Laxmi was born with cerebral palsy, which ruined her family and her husband.

Ravi, with no hope in life, acted the role of his father and took admission in GMR.

Mr. Kasturi was the founder of GMR, who was also a regular visitor in Ravi’s room. Kasturi handed over a book to Ravi which once was given by someone to him. What was that book about? To know more, read the book.

P.S.-The story has many turns and twists which eventually keeps a person engrossed in the story.

What happened at the climax was totally different from the initial chapters. Go through the book to resolve the tangled mystery in the book.

Overall rating- 4/5

Book Review of 'The Forty Rules of Love'

BOOK- THE FORTY RULES OF LOVE

AUTHOR- ELIF SHAFAK

PAGES- 350

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Ella Rubinstein has a husband, three teenage children, and a pleasant home. Everything that should make her confident and fulfilled. Yet there is an emptiness at the heart of Ella’s life—an emptiness once filled by love.

So when Ella reads a manuscript about the thirteenth- century Sufi poet Rumi and Shams of Tabriz, and his forty rules of life and love, she is shocked out of herself. Turning her back on her family she embarks on a journey to meet the mysterious author of this work.

It is a quest infused with Sufi mysticism and verse, taking Ella and us into an exotic world where faith and love are heartbreakingly explored…

MY TAKE ON THE BOOK-

Firstly, the cover is really gorgeous and beautiful.

Secondly, if you are lost, looking for answers or if you want to read some philosophical writings I will suggest you this book

The Forty Rules of Love is a book full of wisdom and knowledge. It is a novel within a novel. Looking at the title of the book one may mistake it simply about rules of love between partners but it is something beyond that. It explores the love in friendship, family, religion and life.

 This book consists of two parallel narratives. The first one is Ella. A bored housewife who feels stalled despite her gracious suburban life in Northampton, Massachusetts. Her teenage children are growing away from her and her husband is distant and unfaithful. Ella’s new job as a reader for a literary agency introduces her to Sufism through a manuscript she is sent to read which had a life changing impact on her. And the second one is ‘Sweet Blasphemy’, set in 13^th century, which is about a wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz, a mystic Sufi who thinks he should find a companion to whom he can deliver his knowledge.

(Let me tell you the meaning of Blasphemy- here you can take it as disrespect or something that is wrong)

Building her whole life around her husband and children, Ella lacked any survival techniques to help her cope with life’s hardships on her own. She was not the type to throw caution to the wind. Even changing her daily coffee brand was a major effort.

Love came to Ella as suddenly and brusquely as if a stone had been hurled from out of nowhere into the tranquil pond of her life.

As the story unfolds, Ella finds herself mesmerized with the tale she is currently reading. She felt so engrossed with her work that she wanted to know about the characters more and more. That’s when she googled ‘A. Z. Zahara’ the author of the book she was to write a report on. And to her surprise a personal blog appeared. The blog was titled ‘An Eggshell Named Life’ she found pictures of different places and underneath one photo it read:

No matter who we are or where we live, deep inside we all feel

Incomplete. It’s like we have lost something and need to get it back. Just

 what that something is, most of us never find out. And of those who do,

even fewer manage to go out and look for it.

Ella scrolled up and down the webpage and that’s where she got the e-mail address of Aziz. She noted it down and after a few days of exchanging e-mails, it became more frequent. It was obvious from the novel that both of them were in the same page of love. But you never know what life is going to bring isn’t it?

Baba Zaman was the one who taught Sufism to Shams of Tabriz. Baba Zaman got a letter from a person which said he was looking for a companion of Rumi(Maulana Jalal-Uddin).

(At first I thought that Rumi is a female character in the book, but then I was wrong :D)

 Shams believed he had a special mission in this world, and to this end he wished to enlighten an enlightened person. Thus, when he got the permission from Baba Zaman if he could go for the mission, without thinking of any consequences he went forward to an unknown land of Konya.

The author nailed it narrating the ‘sweet blasphemy’ the way it was shown in many perspectives of Shams, sometimes a beggar, the zealot, Rumi, the prostitute or even the family of Rumi. The novel beautifully portrayed the love of Rumi for Shams and the hatred of the townspeople and Rumi’s family towards Shams.

Kimya didn’t deserve the sorrows. My heart really bled while reading her part. Kerra too was annoyed and not satisfied with the change that Rumi was having in him due to the influence of Shams.

Ella later abandons her family and follows the path with Aziz. But that happiness didn’t last long. Aziz died after almost two years and his body was buried at Konya, where he wished it would be.

What happened to Aziz? How did he die? You have to read the book to know the details.

Some of the lines I liked the most in this book-

•       The past is a whirlpool. If you let it dominate your present moment, it will suck you in.

•         Life is temporary loan and this world is nothing but a sketchy imagination of reality.

•        Love cannot be explained. It can only be experienced. Love cannot be explained, yet it explains all.

•         The past is an interpretation. The future is an illusion. The world does not move through time as if it were a straight line, proceeding from the past to the future. Instead time moves within us, in endless spirals.

•         In chess, just as life, there were moves you made because they were the right thing to do.

This book is something that will make you feel good. But again, it depends on the choice of your reading.

P.S.- This book won’t make you feel sad or low. Instead, it will make you stand in the sea of reality and teach you things that will provide you a sense of realization of everything that relates to you and your life.

 And yes, forty rules are there but they aren’t just the rules of love, it includes life, religion, patience and God.

Overall rating- 4.7/5