Being Good Enough,Pune based author Rohini Paranjpe Sathe’s first novel is a mature and competent debut. Equipped with strong characterizations,this drama fiction takes the readers along a roller-coaster of events, emotions, and experiences.
The graph of the story arcs the maturing of a woman in today’s world. Jyoti, the lead protagonist, evolves from adventurous yet trusting naivety to circumspect and responsible prudence. And along the way she dips throughthe fault-lines embedded in the social fabric of her milieu. She is swung like a puppet across religious divides, coerced to submit to the will of her dominating father, and victimised by the one she once shared amour with.
Opening with a seemingly innocuous market scene in present day Mumbai, the author swiftly plunges back into Jyoti’s past in Delhi, to the night more than a couple of decades ago when she is shown eagerly awaiting her tryst with her lover. Discovery of her relationship with the Muslim boy and the ensuing havoc in her staunchly Hindu family, propels the story through a slush of threats, a forced bizarre marriage, an unusual partnership, and an even more unusual sequence of events. And so, her life unfolds, through successive criss-crosses from present to past and back again. At every stage as a little moreof the past gets revealed, the present marching relentlessly forward, there is suspense, intrigue, drama, andexcitement, all underscored by intense emotionality.
There is enough grey in each of the characters to make them real and believable. The writing delves intoa woman’s emotional vulnerabilities with empathy. The nuances of pain, fear, anxiety, relief,attachment, love, joy, and hopeare etched in delicate detail. There are questions asked about religion, the affiliations it gathers, and the divisions it cements. The chapter with Jyoti watching the sun set in the Lodi Gardens in Delhi and letting questions of life and mortality pass peaceably by without definitive answer, sums up her approach to all questions spiritual.
The descriptions of time, space and their trappings are also visually evocative. The nitty-gritties of life in the Mumbai chawl where living spaces as the author says end almost where they begin, the bonding between neighbours, the common yard as the chawl’s social hub, are drawn with care.
“Rohini’s strong voice and powerful narrative in addition to realistic characters made us say an instant yes to the book. And with her book doing great sales post release, it is a reaffirmation of our belief and trust in her work, said the happy publishers at Locksley Hall Publishing LLP.
Rohini Paranjpe Sathe has, as she says, donned a few hats. Trained to be an economist, she returned to classical music. The wealth of emotionality in music is reflected in her writing as well. In her words, she sees ordinary people, peels away their obscurityand imagines their lives, their challenges, their resolve, their loss, their endurance, their triumphs. All this and more are on offer in Being Good Enough.
So, if you are looking at a poignant and emotionally enriching read, we strongly recommend ordering Being Good Enough, published by Locksley Hall Publishing and represented by The Book Bakers Literary Agency, today.
Disclaimer: No Asian Age journalist was involved in creating this content. The group also takes no responsibility for this content.
