Indogene by Sriram Devatha (Book Review: 3.5*/5) !!!

1846th BLOG POST -->>

16th Book of 2020!

In the time of pandemic situations, getting any kind of delivery for paperback books was out of the question until recently hence I thought of going through a short e-book. I found this book named “Indogene” written by Sriram Devatha. This is his 2^nd book. The book also has the tagline which says “Stories of Indians Across the Globe”. The book is a kind of an anthology which consists of 10 short stories – each speaking about an Indian-originated protagonist who is settled somewhere out of India and is still somehow tied to their roots.

This Kindle read is all about maximum 2 hours and you shall enjoy it as the content is altogether distinct – something that I have not read until recently. Author has tried his best to ensure that he covers the characters whom we generally don’t hear about. The book doesn’t talk about the usual NRIs that we read or watch in movies but about the personalities who are either going through some sort of dilemma, trauma or are still thinking about how they landed up where they are today being so grounded. The stories speak flavours that talks about communism, politics, religion, blind faith, spirituality, God, business, lust, values, legality, love etc.

The diversity in the story makes you go through each story one after another as every chapter presents you something new. The 1^st story begins with a taxi driver noticing a small observation between a couple whereas the 2^nd story about Nair is all about his post-life and view on communism. “Extradition” speaks about what a man goes through before knowing that he shall be in Breaking News within sometime whereas “Love’s the Idea” is all about how love is interpreted differently in different cultures. The latter chapter is also a good break from the seriousness of topics that were discussed in 1^st three stories.

Another story is about how a Gujarati family does a great business in a country like Uganda is nicely portrayed with the concept on regionalism whereas “Sanctum Sanctorum” is all about Vinayak’s spiritual and religion devotion which he himself starts questioning after what happens with his fellow devotees. One of the last chapters that I enjoyed reading was “#sinetronscandal” which was about how a cultured and traditional wife is expected to behave as per husband’s command in private and later she comes to know about his involvement in external affairs in which she becomes a key to save him from embarrassment.

How each story is vivid and unique is evident from the above descriptions. Now talking about the drawbacks of the book: - I believe author has chosen very difficult vocabulary in some of the chapters where it shall become difficult for people who must be picking this book for light-read. Similarly, I feel that author could have re-ordered the stories starting from the ones which are based on simpler concepts than the critical ones. It ends up giving a sense to the user that all the further stories are going to be on such complex issues only. Furthermore, I wished if author could have mentioned Indian culture little more deeply in every chapter – it would have been an eye-opener for every one of us reading this book regarding how we have forgotten or ignored most of our beautiful culture even when staying in India.

Overall, this is a light read if you are looking for an anthology. I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5.

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Thanks.

WRITING BUDDHA