Try and You will know.

If you have never tried it you will never know.

When this book was offered to me I was looking at something of self help book that could help my patients. When it did, arrive I was a bit confused. It turned out to be a romance, with a half hearted coming of age and quartered suspense thrown in.

The story is of a boy Robin who is studying in VMS who falls in love with girl Aisha, he has a roommate Jordan a mother and sibling who are deceased, an estranged father. As the story pulls along you realize that the boy is a drug addict, delusional self sabotaging kid, who is doing civil engineering. His mother was on drugs, brother is dead and whether it is homicide or suicide is left open. Father is of course authoritarian and abusive.

What came across was that the kid was very confused, and prone to hallucinations. There author has a huge moral issue when it came to dealing with alcohol and premarital sex. I am sorry if I sound judgemental here but that was how it came across to me. yes there is a point where the protagonists tries to tread the path his father has paved.  But honestly if any of the readers who read this book empathize with the protagonist because their home scenario is similar I would recommend see a therapist immediately you are dealing with a dysfunctional family.

Sahil Mehta’s language is better than many of his fellow debutante’s though I would have enjoyed the narrative more if there were some more dialogues.

What I did like about the novel was the protagonist finding a space for his music in an ashram without getting holier than thou about it. he also uses YouTube to connect with his listeners which is also a very proactive step.

The theme however has worn thin oppressive parents, to me as a doctor,  it would be interesting if he had explored what  could happen in a frame work, that is the protagonist finding his space and expression within the larger frame work. This is not a myth, I could introduce you to at least half a dozen people right from Dr.Ra.Shivaram who was a flourishing doctor yet wrote PG Wodehouse kind of novels in Kannada. Dr.H.V.Hande, who was private practioner, health minister, and still found the time to re-rendered Kambha Ramayana from Tamil to English.

A good read on a journey incidentally I read it on way from Ahmadabad to Goa I had two fellow travelers inquiring about it. One of them picked the book off me, the other placed an order for it.