Reading, like writing, is a seasonal and cyclical activity for me. Either it's a deluge or a total drought
For the last many months i have hardly read anything of interest, rarely looked at my blog and rarer still - taken my car out and embarked on a long drive. To say i am growing older is loathefully true.
Yet, i managed to buy and read two books.
Avirook Sen's Aarushi and RaviSubramanian's The Bestseller She Wrote (TBSW).
Aarushi is an intense and incisive work - a real-life murder mystery described through its various stages of proceedings in the courts - by a journalist author. One would always be left with that enigmatic conclusion if the parents really did murder that innocent angel or if there is something not told to the outer world. The writer convincingly hammers down the point that modern India's legal system is full of ills and prejudices and on that count, full marks to the book. The fact that the parents are behind bars and nothing has exonerated them from the presumptions of the legal system makes the entire episode one of India's most sordid tales. This is one incident where everyone, everything is a loser. Gross loser.
TBSW is a typical fare from the fast-food joint of RaviSubramanian. His obsession with bankers, that too the criminally talented among them, is a consistent event and draws me closer to his works than any. As a banker myself, it is easy to relate to day-to-day dog-eat-dog life. After RK Narayan, Ravi is my most favorite Indian author. And that according to me is a huge compliment.
This book for a change has an over-dosage of sex and sleaze by RS's standards. He may possibly never make the grade as a pulp writer if i have to take his skills of writing porn any seriously. Like most of his other books, there is a rush to close all loose ends in the final ten pages. The prose is fluent and the narrative brisk. Another good one, to sum it up.
The book/script will look better as a movie - imagine someone like KonkonaSen Sharma playing Shreya's role!!
