#Book Review: Panty by Sangeeta Bandhopadhyay Translated by Arunava Sinha

I saw a lot of eyes staring at the book cover at the book shop and our society is such that people find such graphics titillating and pass stereotypical judgement. But I cared less and had reposed all my faith on my favourite translator Arunava Sinha. For me picking up this book was opening up the windows of my soul and gearing up my mind for something unexpected.

“Panty” by Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay is a collection of two novellas – Hypnosis and Panty and each of them is about unrequited love, longing and sexual desire. The two novellas kept me thinking for a long time after I finished the book. It was a feeling of disappointment after I finished reading them as I wanted to journey to go on. It was a feeling of bitter-sweet melancholy with a silver lining of hope. 

That   cannot explain it but I will try – the feeling of melancholy, of utter hopelessness and yet so much hope and positivity lined with it. That is how good books mesmerizes you.

Hypnosis is about a woman trying to delve into her past through the process of hypnosis, to confront her doomed love affair with a well-known musician. In Panty, we meet a woman who has moved into a guest house and finds a panty there – it is soft and silky in leopard-skin print. She thinks the woman who wore it must have possessed a wild sexual nature. A feeling of companionship enveloper her; the sexual lives of the two women begin to mingle and blur.

Sangeeta’s voice is courageous. It is distinctive and organic. It was extremely honest, daring and unflagging. It comes from a place which is transparent. The book is a page turner, but it also makes you stop and think about life in general and also bigger things like- falling in love, lusting for one’s body, love unconsumed. The book is beyond all differences and is only about raw, unadulterated experience.

 Arunava Sinha’s translation only makes it possible for readers in English to experience this rich and almost lush piece of Bengali literature.“Panty” is a book which should be read without fear of being judged or being ridiculed. It is most beautiful and a candid work of Indian literature.

Genre - Fiction

Publisher – Penguin

#Book Review: Tales of Fosterganj by Ruskin Bond

Ruskin Bond can never let you down. He tops my chart as my most favourite writer. Tales of Fosterganj is his latest bestseller. Set in a fictional hamlet near Mussoorie, this book reads like you are in a holiday in a bizarre place yet very happy. Bond has once again shown his creative brilliance in creating a host of characters who are quirky in their own supernatural way yet few characteristics lend association with the real world.

The story chronicles the adventure of a of writer from Delhi, who while exploring the beauty and serenity of Mussoorie passes through the quaint hamlet of Fosterganj and after liking the calmness of the place, he decides to spend some time here while working on his next book project. He finds himself a small place to stay which is not a very luxurious one, yet takes it up for the magnificent bathroom view. Slowly during his solitary walks he gets to know people living in Fosterganj and that each one has a story to tell.

He comes across Mr. Foster, a drunkard who always has sorry stories to rope in money from people to fulfill his alcoholic needs. Hassan, a hardworking baker, who rents out his place to the writer. Vishaal, a bank manager, who resides in a place considered to be haunted by the denizens of Fosterganj. A mother and son living in an old haunted palace; a pick-pocket who is trying to make it big but too bogged down by the habit of his picking pockets. Being part of their lives, the writer discover new stories and explores lot more being part of the unusual adventures which the people of Fosterganj get into; such as close encounters with a leopard, a night spent in a disheveled haunted palace only to add to his bizarre adventure list. Then, going after monster lizards and getting trapped in the horrors of an unpredicted earthquake.

 Another attraction point of this book is its jacket with the beautiful illustration of Fosterganj. I was more attracted by this colourful cover even before peeking into the book.This book is timeless, witty and charming.The beauty of this book is in its simplicity and once, you are done reading it, you would surely want to take the next bus in search of such a place. Who knows you might get lucky in finding your own Fosterganj.

Publisher : Aleph Book Company

Genre : Fiction

#Book Review: It’s Geek 2 Me by Francis Cleetus

This graphic novel definitely wasn’t my pick after browsing through the popular online shopping portals. Thanks, to my friend R who always gives me good suggestions and asked me to pick up this book. This book is surely the funniest, wittiest and craziest one, which I have come across in long time.

It’s Geek 2 Me is a collection of comic strips by Francis Cleetus revolving around the techie lives of some of the wackiest employees of a software company named Paradox Software. What makes it humorous and yet gives the sense of the bogged down lives of the techies is that Francis has coined them after famous programs, applications, et all and provided brief sketches of their profiles and glimpses of their characters. Linux Cooper, Mona Das, Emily Facebrook, Loginder Singh and Robert Cobolobo are some of the lovable characters who try to walk through their busy life and try to keep up with the ever-changing and advanced tech-savy industry.

The comics are short, mostly three panels long and drawn in traditional fashion, which are easy to the eyes. I still would have enjoyed it more, if they would have been made colouful. The interesting aspect of his comics are that they have been infused with the happenings of contemporary world of social media,  the programming sector , or just the tech world in general.

Overall, it’s an extremely entertaining book. The cartoons are well- crafted, brilliant, intelligent and funny. The situations are not exaggerated but are lame, which we face in our everyday life but often fail to laugh at them. This is one book, which one would be proud and satisfied to have in his/her collection.

It has been numbered as Volume 1, so I hope there are many more interesting ones in the pipeline.

Genre : Graphic Novel

Publisher: Hachette

#Book Review: A New World by Amit Chaudhury

Amit Chaudhury deftly portrays new worlds converging as a family rebuilds itself and Calcutta gingerly enters globalization. In A New World, he depicts three generations of Chatterjee family grappling with the aftermath of divorce and adjusting to retirement.

Jayojit Chatterjee arrives in Calcutta on holiday with his seven year old son Bonny after a divorce. He puts up with his parents, a retired Admiral and a housewife. This leads to two months of bonding within the family members.

Chaudhuri’s delicately nuanced descriptions of dislocation and the disorientation that comes with the adoption of the lifestyle of U.S.A while still held by memories set in another India touched my heart.

The loud traffic and busy streets of dense, urban Calcutta form the backdrop to the two month stint of father and son and unravels the emotional life of these protagonists.

The tight prose and cinematic approach of Chaudhuri, makes it worth a read.

This book reads like a long-short story and renders a touching portrait of a family in throes of change.