“Chandramouli takes well-known stories… and retells them with great imagination and compassion”
NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
A few months ago, while walking alone in a newly inaugurated Mall in a city, unconsciously, under the impulse of an irresistible urge that usually occupies me very consciously, whenever I reach near a book shop, I once more entered into the shop in a temptation to know how would it feel to touch and see those new arrivals, and how would it feel reading a random page without any intention from those classics, which were obstinately placed on their respective shelves. Under the Indian author category, my eyes fell on the title Shakti: The Feminine Divine. After reading the blurb and a few paragraphs, knowing nothing about the author at that time, a thought came to my mind… …These crazy Indian writers! Every other guy is en-cashing on Indian Mythology nowadays. It seems it’s selling like sex here!
I put the book back in its place and after flipping through a few more books for the next half an hour, I came out with a Shakespearean tragedy in my hand. A few months later, when on one fine day I received this book and I strolled silently along with the story that began with portraying an emotional bond between two siblings Agni and Varuna, at one place I read, Varuna who wanted to be an author, saying this to her brother Agni about her book…
” But a little something about the book first…It’s about the Yama and Yami, the celestial twins. They have a few things in common with us (Duh! That’s why I picked them in case you were wondering and not because mythology is selling like sex nowadays) and I am sure you will learn to love them as much as I do! “
Wasn’t this an amusing coincidence? A fantasy writer explaining an unknown future reader, in a simple and straightforward way through the characters of her book, which this unknown reader never planned to read, solving for a quizzing thought that emerged within that ‘future-reader’s unknown mind on an unknown place! Who knows? A mythical fantasy author can have any sort of power these days!!
However, progressing through the plot slowly, I soon realized that Anuja is not just one more author selling those myths. She has something different in her craft that is distinctly her own. She has already made a place for herself with her first book Arjuna: Saga of a Pandava Warrior-Prince. I came to know her with this book based on the mythical Yama (The god of death). This book was a mighty writing dosage for me, a beautifully imagined story with a gripping narration and composition. I got very much impressed with the writing skills of the author, her potent and vivid imagination, spirited sentences and controlled flow in the story. In fact, I loved every single page from the writing point of view. Many a time I stopped and reread some of those paragraphs, thinking how effortlessly she has depicted her mental imagery with such an effusion.
Apart from the fantasy and thrill, An adherence was depicted in Agni’s association with his sister Varu that was in coherence with the relation between mythical characters Yama and Yami, and this pulled in some deeply woven emotions in this fantasy plot. Somewhere in the midway, more characters were introduced by the author, which elevated my interest in the story. The introduction of Minothi and Ganga’s daughter complimented the journey of Yama’s Lieutenant in fighting the evil forces. Some social issues have also been taken up by the author through her characters.
One major thing that I disliked as a reader was the binding constant pace of the plot. The story did not diverge in most parts of the book. What I mean by diverging is that every chapter seemed sort of complete in itself and as a reader I could not feel motivated many times to move to the next one, despite the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed each chapter. And what added to the strangeness of my reading experience was that this feeling of mine got reversed at last and I felt exactly opposite towards the end of the plot. I felt as if the author has left something to say and this book was not yet complete!
Overall I have enjoyed her wonderful writing more than anything else in the book and I am a fan of this prolific writer now, who has already written a bunch of mythical fantasies in a very short period. She definitely deserves the accolades and laurels she is getting. My final mandate is that if you have not yet read Anuja, just go and pick her book up. She won’t disappoint you!
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