Saturday, September 3, 2011

Kaleidoscopic reality


Lost and Found is about the truth governing our times: the violence of irrationality.

There is no dearth of books with Mumbai either occupying the centre stage or in the background. The city of perennial paradoxes goes on sending up anguished flares to attract the imagination of writers, poets, novelists and chroniclers. And, the latest catch is the poet-turned-novelist, C.P. Surendran's second novel, Lost and Found. But, Surendran's aim, obviously, is not to depict the incomprehensible entirety of the Mumbai life. Nor its mind-blowing contradictions. But to carve a complex but telling image out of its inner turbulence.

Narrative device
Lost and Found's story draws out its credulity to the limit. Narrated simply, it may seem a parody of a stereotypical Bollywood movie of a bygone era. But it is from this incredulity that the novel sources its strength and vibrancy.

The entire series of incidents start off with 35-year-old Lakshmi, now working as a content provider for an online firm, kidnapping Placid Hari Odannur, a freelancer who she believes was the man who raped her on the last train from Churchgate to Virar, 16 years ago. But the description borders on ambivalence as to whether it was in fact a rape or consensual sex.

Full report here Hindu

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