The Department of Denials-A review
After a long long time, i read this book called "The Department of Denials" by Anurag Mathur, a week back. An internet habitué, I googled and found out that the book was great or so people said. I was getting all thrilled to read because this was the second or the third time i was reading indian authors. Earlier, i had read Chetan Bhagat's books and was kinda fascinated, if not overwhelmed.A voracious book reader that i am , i read any book that i pick and so far, i must say, i have read the best of books. Classics that make you go all dry-eyed and satires that make you laugh your heads out and philosophical writings that make you all rapturous and tranquil. As an experienced reader(whoa, what a term!) i guess i can very well give a clean review of the books i read. Well, this time, before i even started reading the book, a friend of mine borrowed it and was all praise for it. She went ga-ga over the book saying it was so realistic that she didn't want to return the book. And i was like "man, i'll start this book now" and there the problem started.Now, you would have gotten an idea about the review. While i am at it, i will also tell you how he could have made it interesting.Here it goes:
Babar Thakur aka Babs, as he is endearingly called by his friends, is an ambitious(or so he is portrayed at first by Mr Mathur) youth, who wants to become the PM(unfortunately, yes) of India. His extremely ambitious(uh,huh) friend Jeet , tries to help him by tempting him about Sushmita Sen's bum(damn, did i get the word right?yes, i have). But why the overly ambitious Babar never actually tries to do anything but thinking of ways to take girls to bed, i don't have the faintest clue. Or, perhaps, Anurag Mathur feels strongly that knowing these kinda things will help a politician.Or perhaps he feels even strongly that young people must try to get to know these stuff first and then about other things. How inspiring!I would say Mathur knows real well how to attract readers with his characters.Well , before i become over oleaginous , i must stop with this.The ambitious youth that our lead character is, he ends up becoming a philosopher at the last. He asks a question that every man or teen in the world must know:Are all women leg spinners? to which none can ever answer. It's a conundrum. The philosophy involved here is something that can't be understood by silly people. So, don't ever try to cogitate . You won't find an answer.Anurag must be acclaimed for his efforts at bringing up a new philosophy that should be followed by all.Or at least i perceive so!
Enough is enough. Satire isn't the solution to what is exactly happening in the case of Indian writers. They think they are all jocular and overly humorous. Bluntly putting, they are not. They are far from writing interesting, decent stuff. In the name of westernisation , they create characters that shriek vulagarity and stupidity. Why are girls often portrayed this way?To this, all the feminists out there, won't get provoked.I was appalled when i read in the book about a 17 year old girl making love(the goddamn author calls it so) with our hero. Where's India heading and what do the writers have in mind?Are they writing solely for the purpose of power?Do they know they are brainwashing and leading youngsters in a wrong way and make them feel "Are, yaar, this is not a big deal!"This is dangerous and might make people take it for granted that such things as what the author portrays are not bad after all. It all depends on how we take it. You might ask me why i read the book throughout. I was literally struggling to find the story line;the book didn't have any.It's like watching a film and laughing with all others while you are there and after it's over, you end up saying "man,the film was great, but it just didn't have a story". Well, what will the book evoke in teens who read it?I don't know;i really don't know!And i really wonder what made this friend of mine say that the book was realistic. What made her say such flattering review?Did she at all read the book or was she just trying to sound normal?Or did the idea of a 17 year old making love (bloody hell?) excite her and made her look on the issue as normal and realistic?Who should i blame?The authors or the people that read such books and praise them?Pray tell me the answers to these questions.
I have come to a decision as to not read any of this "hilarious" stuff anymore. i might as well go for books that are deadly serious. I am not blaming everybody out there:there are always exceptions but deep inside, it just pains. Humor in the name of lascivious writings is not to be encouraged.
Now, some advice for our Indian authors:Don't write crap in the name of humor and satire. Read John Grisham's books. As a westerner, even he doesn't go the extent of writing such things. His satirical words are the best. Go grab a copy of his book,"Skipping Christmas". You will feel like committing suicide once you read such clean, really laughter evoking words.Try to read books by Maugham, George Orwell and Thomas Hardy. ANd if at all you feel like turning to humor, try P G Wodehouse and Roald Dahl. Don't ever publish yellow stuff and ruin the young minds, just for the sake of power and money.
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