Review | Men and dreams in the Dhauladhar

-

Title : Men and dreams in the Dhauladhar

Author : Kochery Shibu

Genre : Contemporary fiction

Publisher : Niyogi books

Rating : 3⭐/5⭐


Blurb


In a project site in the remote Himalayas where superstitions and religious beliefs are as important as the engineering Nanda, Khusru and Rekha come together through a series of twists and turns in their lives. The dreams and aspirations of people come alive as the story progresses. Each has a story to tell and a dream to realize. The fury of nature and the hardships of project life have no mercy for the weak and no time for the dead. Even Nanda who has seen death from close quarters and is hiding from the law is taken aback by the callous attitude towards life. He is the silent man of the project, the one who never talks. Intrigue and real life get mixed with the sudden appearance of Rekha, the lady doctor, at the camp site. Rekha’s quest for a man whom she can love and worship takes her on an unforeseen journey from where she has to choreograph her way out. The handsome Kashmiri youth Khusru is envied by all at the site. Little do they know that the ghosts of Khusru’s past are plotting to turn his world upside down. Nanda is torn between his love for his dear ones and his kalari code of revenge. He looks to the Dhauladhar ranges for answers to come to terms with his personal loss and a little more dignity for those who perish. Like an eternal spectator the Dhauladhar watches as men risk life and limb in their quest.

Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar is a novel inspired by the numerous years the author spent working on a Hydro electric project in the Himalayas.

Review

Men and dreams in the Dhauladhar is a story of 3 people who accidentally met each other in Dhauladhar range near the Himalayas, when a hydro electric project had passed and a dam was built.

The story revolves around  Nanda, Khusru and Rekha. All three of them with  a secret and unpleasant past working together on a hydro project .The story is about their dreams, aspirations and  fulfillment of those dreams. It is a complete package of love, pain,  poverty, misery, terrorism and above all dreams . The story is set in Outer Himalayas and the cover of the book describes it perfectly and the title too perfectly goes with the inside story. narration used in the book is good but it lack flow at some points and too many technical details used in the book make it confusing and boring. The characters are explained beautifully in this book. Language is simple and lucid. Overall a good book. 

About Author

Kochery C. Shibu is a retired naval officer. A graduate from the National Defence Academy he has held several important posts in the Indian Navy. Post his retirement he has executed hydroelectric projects in the Cauvery river basin in Karnataka, Beas river basin in Himachal and lately Teesta river basin in Sikkim. He holds a postgraduate degree in Defence Studies from Chennai University, and MA in English Literature from Pune University. Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar is his debut novel. The technical content of the novel, namely the setting up of a hydro-project is drawn from his experience in these projects since 2005, as are many of the characters inspired from those whom he encountered at the project site. Kochery C. Shibu was born in Kochi and now lives in Bangalore with his wife and daughter.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review | Smile by Roddy Doyle

-
Image
Title : Smile Author : Roddy Doyle Rating : 4 ⭐ / 5 ⭐ Genre : suspense Blurb Just moved into a new apartment, alone for the first time in years, Victor Forde goes every evening to Donnelly’s for a pint, a slow one. One evening his drink is interrupted. A man in shorts and a pink shirt comes over and sits down. He seems to know Victor’s name and to remember him from secondary school. His name is Fitzpatrick. Victor dislikes him on sight, dislikes, too, the memories that Fitzpatrick stirs up of five years being taught by the Christian Brothers. He prompts other memories—of Rachel, his beautiful wife who became a celebrity, and of Victor’s own small claim to fame, as the man who would say the unsayable on the radio. But it’s the memories of school, and of one particular brother, that Victor cannot control and which eventually threaten to destroy his sanity. Smile has all the features for which Roddy Doyle has become famous: the razor-sharp dialogue, the humor,
Read more

Review | How the Irish saved civilization by Thomas Chaill

-
Image
How the Irish saved civilization  Rating : 4/5 Author : Thomas Cahill Genre : non Fiction About Author  THOMAS CAHILL is the author of the best-selling books,  How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe,  The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels,  Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus,  Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter,  Mysteries of the Middle Ages: And the Beginning of the Modern World, and, most recently,  Heretics and Heroes: How Renaissance Artists and Reformation Priests Created Our World. These six books comprise Volumes I, II, III, IV, V, and VI, respectively, of the Hinges of History, a prospective seven-volume series in which the author recounts formative moments in Western civilization. In "The Hinges of History," Thomas Cahill endeavors to retell the story
Read more