So, she is determined to go!
She is not somebody in her teens who can be rebuked not to go or can be lured out of her mission!
She is a doting grandmother of a sweet girl who has already started thinking of romance.
Nothing worked. Arguments from her sons, logic from her daughter in law, emotional ayatachar from her granddaughter all have fallen into deaf ears.
But who is she?
Where is she going?
Why is she going?
That is how this sweet little romance novella has started, depicting a true picture of the middle class Indian house. The way the writer equated the stormy weather outside and inside the mind of Malini bears a proof of the caliber of the writer.
A small quote from the book to share the situation is presented below-
“Deafening thunder made Malini look up from her thoughts. The rain was coming down in torrents, and it was impossible to make out anything on the street.
The storm in her own mind, however, was much worse. It had been brewing for many years, and in the past few days, its intensity had increased manifold. It was probably as a result of this turmoil that even with the envelope in her hands now, she had not yet mustered the courage to tell her family. Malini let out a deep sigh to calm herself. She had to make her family understand and agree to her decision. There was no other choice. She needed to do this for herself.”
Where is there in the mystery envelope?
Is it some sort of a mystery thriller?
She is Malini, determined to perform an inbound journey to an old age home-in a city where she had spent her past-her childhood, her youth, and her dream! long time ago she had taken the reigns of her husband’s house-from then on she had acted in various roles-a dutiful wife, a loving mother, an adoring grandmother but forgot completely about the little girl who was lemon green to the world. Now she is grey-but is her mind is also grey?
Or is it still lemon grey-as it was fifty years ago?
And when she was permitted by her son ultimately, her joy is hard to behold
“Malini punched the air with joy mentally, feeling like a child who had just been presented with her favorite chocolate. She went to her room, a new spring in her step, and immediately sat down to fill the application form. Within an hour she was done. All the excitement had left her sleepless, so she began clearing her wardrobe.
She took out her possessions – jewels, saris and books, deciding what she wanted to take with her. She wouldn’t need the jewels and most of the silk saris anymore
.
She would give them to Geetha and Rumi. Her books would go with her though.
By the time she finished, it was well past midnight.”
She is determined to rediscover the identity of her own, that has been lost fifty years ago-intends to go to a path of self realization, realization that has long been covered with dust of being a daughter, a wife, a mother, a grandmother ……….
by self realization do not understand any type of spiritual connection-it is merely rekindling the memory, walking amid nostalgia through the lanes that she had used to walk fifty years ago.
In this old age home she has encountered a mini India-and witnessed the sorrow and the reasons hat compel individual to take refuge here.
She went in a discovery of her long forgotten town and long forgotten past-amid nostalgia, which took her back to her days of youth-losing her dear sister, her tutor Ranjan who first opened up her heart, their leaving of their home town………..
Memory-an amazing word, which can sometimes makes you happy, sometimes makes you sad.
Somebody then enters into the old age home who turns Malini’s world upside down and she discovers that life is worth living after all……
fifty long years may have been elapsed-but the persons may remain the same!
It is an absorbing story-narrated from a very different perspective of conventional romance. It reveals layers of human emotion-may it good, bad or ugly.
And yes, I am in love with both the protagonists of the story, who taught me the real meaning of love. Told in a simple yet crispy language all the happenings seem so real that you can visualize them all.
And yes the beautiful aroma of South Indian culture is manifested in this wonderful short novella, which is an added bonus to the readers.
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