Riding by Cassia Cassitas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The sky is beginning to turn dark.
Night is soon going to spread its wings to cover the globe.
A star has surfaced on the canvas of dark- then a second-then a third……
Soon there will be million zillion diamonds spreading the depth of the sky.
The mother asked her son-‘let’s have food.’
The innocent child asked his mother-‘where’s dad?’
Perhaps-thousand miles away- his father was looking at the same sky-at the same instant-perhaps thinking of his wife….perhaps thinking of his son….perhaps thinking something other.
That’s how the life flows!
Riding by Cassia Cassitas is a coming of age story of the dream and aspiration of a boy-a boy who has learnt the lessons of life from the nature, the people and from experience. The book itself is like a garland of story stories- every story blends some unique aroma of life and sewed together to form the symphony of life- life that always flows overcoming boulders, stones that comes into its way!
It is a silent spectator of many rise and falls- many tears and smiles.
It saw a divided nation proudly marching under the same banner in a true testimony of human brotherhood.
It saw the comeback of a nation torn by claws of apartheid celebrated by victory lap of a black and a white-hand in hand –shoulder in shoulder!
It saw a wounded man with a dislocated knee to stand on the victory stand symbolising the finest of human sport-a performance that truly gives dignity to sport.
It witnessed the planting of bombs by a psycho to injure spectators gathered to cheer the men who performs.
It witnessed sports under the threat of terrorism- a heinous crime that even demons would not have committed.
It has seen many a tears of success and smiles of failure!
it is the Olympic arena- the greatest sporting event on earth-a sporting event that is as eventful as the life itself- challenging the boundaries of human endeavour-extending the perimeter of life- to the milky way- perhaps to the galaxies!
Citius ,Altius, Fortius- faster, higher -Olympics are festivals of life-when city states stopped fighting-eagerly waiting for peace to take the rein away from the war.
Amid the backdrop of this saga of life has been plotted.
Mario and Elizabeth- two individuals working for the cause of the noble game has been united by destiny. Both their characters have been drawn with artistic ease-from childhood innocence to present –presenting a complete transformation. Life takes both of them to new heights and they embrace life to its fullest-her visit for example to South Africa had such an deep impact on her mind-that
“A few days after her visit, Elizabeth described that place to Mario as ‘an immense slum where you can breathe in the tradition, the twelve official languages and the soul of the South African black community hanging in the air. Once you’re in that place, you can no longer ignore how three million people have been precariously living in the middle of the twentieth century,’ she took a deep breath before completing’ you could only ignore if it you stopped breathing.’ at that moment, a tear rolled down her face to conclude her report.”
Moments of emotions have been created throughout the story- moments that define life-give it a new perspective altogether. As the queen of the wonderland had said to Alice- you have to run as fast you can in order to stay where you are now-so is the race of life. But still there are moments when you have to walk down the memory lane- moments when you may prefer to have a glimpse of your past. Equally touching is the description of Mario coming back to his parental home-the boy who comes home after so many years of walking on the great earth
“Can’t slept? His mother rescued him from his thoughts.
‘Sorry, did I wake you? I was just thinking-I didn’t even notice the swing was creaking.’
-on windy nights, we can still hear it creaking, so we decided not to fix it.
‘Just to hear the noise?’
-So we can remember the little boy who used to make that noise.
Mario smiled-unsure.
‘I didn’t have mush time for you two, right? Things started to happen, time flew by.. .’
-It happens”
Lovely narrative- is not it?
Life was too much a race for both of them-somebody has to make a compromise with their work after little Andre came to earth- and
“From then on, Elizabeth would be André’s roots until he could grow his own branches. Together, she decided, they would smile at the world and make the most of life over the wet grass under the morning sun. They would be as loud as the ducks to their heart’s content. ‘Everything‘s goanna be alright’ she told herself.”
And then started a quest of the parents- for the tomorrow of their son- a purpose of their life has born!
Yesterday’s child slowly turns into today’s adolescence and tomorrow’s youth-time marches on-as did the Olympics grew in stage.A transformation was visible as he started to take the challenge of life-mom’s spoiled boy slowly turned out to an intelligent lad- his irritation towards school had transformed to an intense love for study-perhaps in his unconsciousness-surfing on the wild sea become the love of his life.
And he slowly dreamt of touching the rainbow of his life-cycling became his passion-in pedalling the cycle he started t discover the dynamic life. Persons who came in his life taught him valuable lessons- doctor Eureka who is passionate about robots- a retired athlete-all slowly made him realizing his dream-to get an Olympic gold medal at Para Olympic.
Where will destiny take Andre? Can he triumph over his obstacles?
An amazing story – unique plot- and crafty storytelling is enough to make you feel you are in the drawing room of the couple- just sensing their emotions-feeling happy in their joy-feeling sad in tier tears. Description of Olympic events in different cities and unique revelation of cultural diversities will make you read the book-again and again! Because we all love to embrace life! And this is the story of life!
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