BOOK REVIEW OF “THE HOMING PIGEONS”

A NOVEL BY SID BAHRI

About the author:-

Siddartha Bahri, a Ranikhet based author, is yet another example of an ex-banker storming the Indian literary world. With his approach towards writing, deep down I could imagine this guy coming into discussion, whenever a bunch of book bugs in any part of this country, delves into discussion about Bhagat and Tripathi.

Apart from being into banking he is a hotelkeeper by education and a senior executive in the outsourcing industry. As of now he is someone who had just stunned the literary industry with his maiden attempt as an author of a full length novel and is engaged in brushing his skills to be a successful entrepreneur someday. In short, Siddartha Bahri at present, is a happy writer and a struggling entrepreneur.

What I shouldn’t miss out on his introduction is, one doesn’t simply be a hotelier without having knowledge about the ingredients of a typically north Indian chicken curry. What I mean is, apart from his innate desire of writing, he has the traits of a dream hubby of any Indian women. He loves cooking. J

When I skimmed through the pages of THE HOMING PIGEONS:-

The Homing Pigeons is a tale of how love, which is known to be the colossus among all human emotions, crumbles down to a deadliest sin whose aftermath takes its committers to every possible by-lanes of digress and monotony that life can offer.

The story opens us with its central character Aditya Sharma, a dignified banker whose flourishing career had been put to death by the choking stench of something called RECESSION, drinking at bar in Chandigarh. In non technical terms, Recession is what draught is to farmers.

Having lost his job, Aditya has now become a frustrated soul living off his wife’s earnings. At the bar he meets a hardly attractive, rich, middle-aged woman, Divya. She buys him his drink and as alcohol starts filling up his system, the ice that normally exists between strangers melts away and Aditya starts to divulge. He had no idea that Divya could be the one to help him come out of his threadbare situation. Above all, Aditya had been caught as the farmer who finally saw rain on his parched lands but had no idea that the rain will be so acidic that will turn his lands infertile forever.

Soon after their meeting Divya, Aditya finds himself stripped of his morals and beliefs as he turns into a male prostitute (gigolo) satisfying middle aged woman in exchange of breathtakingly high amount of money. In situation when he was penniless, wads of currency was a welcome change for him. He decided to anaesthetise humanity in him and went ahead to accept prostitution as his career. His marriage with Jasleen never really worked and both of them wanted to get rid of the other. Aditya moved to Delhi to pursue a profession that fetches him more money than any other profession can bring him. After all it was one such profession where apart from lending your service you come to terms with selling your morals as well.

The book, continues to narrate the tales of two different personas in alternative chapters. While Aditya Sharma was making money by blotting his skin, Radhika, a thirty two year old rich widow, whose second husband Vimal has just died is all set to enjoy the liberty that has come to her. She has been a sadist all her life till date. Being given away by her parents to her uncle who never had their own offspring, she has only seen the done up side of affection. True love and care never really reached to her plate of craving. Detested by love and failing at two attempts of marriage, she is more than just a confused person. She lives in a palatial house in Delhi that her husband Vimal had left for her with her servant Laxman.

Aditya in Delhi continues to satisfy carnal desires of rich women and Radhika stuck to the symphony of a monotonous life.
It is when the author takes the protagonists into bouts of remembrance being fed-up with their daily routine, that the readers starts connecting the dots to build a connector between Aditya and Radhika.

Radhika and Aditya share a past whose revelation with the progress of the stories leaves the readers awestruck. The way author slowly revealed the connection between two fateful lovers is highly commendable.

The conclusion of the book aptly justifies the title. It is said that if you set free the homing pigeons anywhere on the face of this earth they always return to their mates. Same is with love, if your love is true, irrespective of how far complications take you away from your lover, destiny will always bring you close to your beloved.

What I felt after I finished reading THE HOMING PIGEONS:-

Things I loved about the book –

1.       The narration is very intelligent. Its dark humour and logistical takes on human feelings makes it an interesting read.

2.       Good use of words. Standard English. Unlike most debut authors who produce a book in a language a fifth grader writes essays on ‘My aim in life’.

3.       Chapters alternating between Aditya’s life and Radhika’s helped the readers raise in their minds two parallel stories. Two parallel tracks appear to meet when you observe them with a stagnant vision. But the author has done a commendable job in keeping two parallel stories distinguished.

4.       Emotions of the protagonists were very realistic. One can easily connect with them.

5.       The character of Divya had been used very intelligently. She behaved as a catalyst through the entire book. With her limited appearances she managed to change the lives of two parted lovers for good and for bad as well.

6.       Despite the onstage commotion, a strong captivating aroma of love could be felt all through.

Things that I didn't like –

1.       Excluding the selling of morals to live an earning on part of Aditya, the story had nothing new. It was a straight forward love story, where lovers meet, detach, cry-crib and then meet at the end and live happily ever after. I mean the author could have put forward strong reasons for the parting of Aditya and Radhika. Families not accepting is so stereotype a reason.

2.       At places the narration of a protagonist’s personal life seemed dull and the reader thrives to finish that chapter and move on to the next one where something interesting is happening. Emphasis should be laid on making both the characters life equally interesting, so that readers read every chapter with equal concentration. I personally felt Aditya’s rise from a failed salesman to the Assistant Manager seemed uninteresting. In those chapters I was more interested in knowing what was happening in Radhika’s life.

3.       What the author’s intelligent narration did was to make the protagonist’s emotions too mechanical. I didn’t feel like crying with the characters.

On the whole THE HOMING PIGEONS by SID BAHRI is an amazing read.

I rate this book with 3.8 out of 5.

I wish Siddartha Bahri all the very best for his future books. J

Reviewed by -- Sobhan Pramanik

This review is a part of The Readers Cosmos Book Review Program" . To get free books log on to www.thereaderscosmos.blogspot.com