Monday, May 20, 2013

Once upon the tracks of Mumbai – A Book Review

‘Once upon the tracks of Mumbai’, written by Rishi Vohra and published by Jaico, is the tale of an autistic Babloo Srivastav who is unable to connect with the rest of the world except Vandana. The story revolves around his love for Vandana and his discovery of his self as ‘Rail Man’. 

Despite the super-hero sort of build-up to the Rail Man part of the story, it is a largely a tale of relationships and a coming-of-age tale of Babloo Srivastav. Written for the most part in first person from the point of view of the protagonist, the author succeeds in bringing to life the different mental process of an autistic person – which is a major triumph for him. 

The author has also done a very good job of sketching the relationships between the various characters of the story. It is this ability to bring relationships to life which ensures that the reader can relate to the story more like it were something happening in his vicinity rather than an outlandish tale about unbelievable people. 

In addition, the author not only succeeds in bringing to life the railway colony of Mumbai but also sketches out the typical dilemmas faced by the average Indian woman in the form of his female protagonist Vandana. Both the major protagonists are well etched characters as is the antagonist Sikander. Other than for a slow start, the story is quite fast-paced and a very satisfying read. All the more satisfying to me because jarring usage of Hinglish was near-totally avoided, except where necessary in dialogues. 

The one problem for me was that the other characters were a bit one-dimensional. In a way, it could not have been otherwise since they are presented largely from the view-points of either the male or female protagonist. The author has, however, written portions of the story from various view-points so it seemed like giving dimensionality to other characters could have been worked in – and was probably necessary for a couple of characters to lend more credence to the way they act at the end. 

I also thought that the end of the story could have been more elaborately sketched. Considering that the persona of the tale had different attitudes to each other and there were some simmering tensions, a more detailed end – sketching different reactions of people to the way the relationship between Vandana and Babloo worked out – would have made the story richer. 

There are portions in the story where the author describes Mumbai and the behavior of people in India in general with a preface “Indians are like….” which gives the impression that the book was written primarily with a foreign audience in mind. These references are a minor blemish which could have been avoided at the editing stage when an Indian publisher accepted the book for publication. 

There is a minor editing problem too. The Srivastavs become Yadavs in one minor portion of the story. 

Overall, however, the tale works well and is a very good read.

20 comments:

  1. Nice review though I don't think I'll read this book.

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    1. Hmm! Yup everyone has his/her taste in books!

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  2. Nice review ! this is the first review, i suppose ,Suresh ji which pointed out the editing defect( the ones I have read ) .
    :)

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    1. I don't know about that - thought i was belaboring the obvious considering that I am late into the review.

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  3. Yes, Suresh; I was quite surprised to notice that this review came this late! Maybe, you have expanded the size and space of your library which can afford more books to be kept idle :)

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    1. Got the book late, Diwa! Since I have blogging friends - whom you know - who review books I save money by borrowing from them :)

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  4. I have read good reviews of this book everywhere. Something to keep in my line of sight.

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  5. Hmm... For once, Suresh is not impressed. That was a fair analysis of the book.

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    1. Mmm! Not impressed? In one way I have not been overwhelmed by any of the books I have reviewed so far, Uma. This book is, if anything, a cut above what I have reviewed thus far.

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  6. Wonderful review as always, CS! I like reading about relationships and this one sounds good as well. Might just pick this one.

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  7. Based on your review, I just might pick up a copy :) Seems to be a decent read!

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  8. It was really a nice review...and since i have also read and reviewed this book...i think the importance of Rail man that you gave in your review is very well justified...!!!

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    1. You interviewed the author too, didn't you?

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  9. I think this is the first book review I am reading on ur page Suresh . Nice review . Have read other reviews of this one as well . Seems to be a good one

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    1. I have done a few, Jaish! This, maybe, is the first you are reading.

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  10. Nice one. Maybe i will read a book some day. I als like to listen music while reading, specialy baga safri.

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