Manish Prasad writes ...

Manish Prasad

Manish Prasad, Senior IT Analyst, Bank of America,
He is also my oldest buddy and greatest critic.

Here is his critical review : 

"I was glad that I was goaded into reading this book because it pleasantly surprised me. It was quite a good read and although not in the league of a classic, it was quite an impressive attempt at it.

The part begins with the author’s journey to America. He then goes on to describe his settling down into the new place and office. He describes his friend circle and his adventures with them. On the way he goes into soliloquy expounding his beliefs and outlook on life. He presents us with a matrix of interactions with the people he meets.

He dwells at lengths on his loneliness and his inability to ‘fit in’. While doing so, all the while, he takes us on a whirlwind tour of Southern USA, detailing each of the places he has lived in and visited. Mostly the part is about the author’s inner struggle with himself and also with the world around him.

The part ends with on poignant note with him about to meet somebody special in the alien country that he is in. The end has been built up to quite a hype and the reader does look forward to the third part. The moment he has stopped at is quite pregnant with possibilities.

So the moment comes now to review the work. Is it an interesting read? Does the author do justice to the work? Is the reader taken for a ride? Well let’s find out.

The focus of the whole book is the author, this being natural since it is an autobiography (of some sorts). So any person having aversion about reading biographies – be warned. This book is all about the author’s likes, dislikes, his beliefs, his friends, his family – you get the idea!

Considering that it so much about a single person, it is still a good enough prose. For what is a single person’s point of view other than the snapshot of the society, which he inhabits at large. Therefore, this book provides a window into the working of the human mind and through it reflects the state of the human consciousness.

Everybody will find resonance in the book, when they read the trials and tribulations of the author. For, who hasn’t faced rejection, exclusion, derision and separation at some point in his life.

This book brings out all these feelings beautifully in it. Through the mind of the author we are transported to the place where we can feel his hurt and pain. He takes us back to school when he describes his experience with the bullies. What I liked best about was that he stuck to actual conversation rather than give a more prosaic version of it. ‘Punch him, he won’t say a word’, ‘You don’t talk, are you dumb?’. These are some of the dialogues that he has produced verbatim that really makes feel his pain.

Throughout the book, you will find his inner feelings being projected onto you.

“

I wish I were always drunk, it was an exhilarating sensation, something that drove me to a different level, an echelon of reckless joviality. The fact that it does not last more than a glitch makes it a surreal experience; with it, I serenade my solitary song of life, a life as always, less ordinary. I wander with sheer vim and vigor, unfettering my verve onto the mass of humanity, eminently derisive of their pretentious demeanor. My victims were generally the odd balls, the likely lads, the elfish and the queer lot.

“

These paras provide you with the inner working of the author’s mind and also explains the incidents from the author’s point of view.

Although I quite enjoyed reading such parts, I often wished that the author had used less bombastic words to express his feelings.

The emotional quotient has been maintained throughout the book. Although it becomes tiring to read about emotions continuously, the author has maintained a balance by spreading the emotions out among the physical activities that he describes. Therefore, you have his views on his family (especially his mother), his views on religion and his views of arranged marriage interspersed among his descriptions about white water rafting, the ‘Gentleman’s ‘ Club and the ‘Little Vegas’ banter.

Most of his views are in the form of soliloquy, which often departs from the goings on in the book. In my views these are necessary incursions into the inner thought and I think everybody will identify with the thought process of the writer (if not with the thought itself.)

The most striking aspect of the book is the, description of the opposite sex. He starts off with the description of Air hostesses he meets on his flight to USA and ends it a point when he is about to meet a member of the fairer sex. In between is a posse of girls that he has met with, talked to and had fallen out with.

The author has pained to elucidate his points on women. The fact that he has been misunderstood most of the time by these ‘mysterious creatures’ is cause of pathos.
I mean who hasn’t tried to understand the opposite sex and come out unscathed?
By mentioning his encounters, the author has touched upon a nerve, which every reader will surely identify with. And there in lies the beauty of it. By letting us into his private world he has exposed his vulnerability. Rather than put up a bravado act, he has chosen to let the circumstances speak for themselves. He has not tried to be judgmental about any person and therein lies the honesty of his writing.

The other characters we come across in the work are rather sketchily etched. We do not have a total knowledge about the personality of the characters. For example – Devender comes across as a fickle minded person, hell bent upon making the author’s life miserable (intentionally or unintentionally). Jayanth is a calmer person who almost acts as the big brother to the author. Gauri is a mean girl (for want of any better expression), Vishal a hypocrite and so on.

We do not get to know any other aspect of these people or how they came across being such persons. But this being the perspective of the author, it is entirely justified. These are not fictional people whom he has to justify to the reader. Rather they are people from his slice of life. He has written about them, as he has perceived them. And even after that he has not been judgmental about them.

The most beautiful aspect of his writing is that he presents such a vivid picture of the place he is in, that the reader can’t help but visualize the scene. The author has painstakingly reproduced the catalogs and brochures of the hotel he has stayed in. Imagine the detail in writing!

Moreover, what takes the cake is the interleaving of poetry with prose. The chapter about the stay at the hotel ‘ESA’ has interludes of lyrics of ‘Hotel California’ among them. His stay at the hotel mirrors that of the song (Or that is how the author has spun the tale). This was an example of perfect marriage between prose and poetry. (Please also take notice the slight variation in the lyrics of Hotel California. Read it and you will notice it. It was a masterstroke).

There are several other songs / poems throughout the book. Some original, others borrowed. They do enhance the writing.

All in all I was very satisfied to read the book. It has all the elements necessary to make the readers interested. Most of all it is an honest book. And that is what touched me after I had read it. The hallmark of any book is that the experience of the book stays with you long after you have read it. Once you have finished this book, I am sure the experience will remain with you for quite some time to come.

Happy Reading.

Manish Prasad.