Gifted and Chowringhee

Few days back I finished 2 beautiful books – Gifted by Nikita Lalwani and Chowringhee by Shankar.

Gifted is a poignant story of a kid who is gifted (in terms of her Mathematical ability) and her relationship with her father who almost pushes / trains her like the Russians used to create Olympic champions….How she rebels, how her teenage insecurities come into being etc etc. The beauty of the book is in it’s poignancy…..

I liked it because I too have a kid who is 8 years and could relate to the rebellious streak portrayed in the book. Many times what seems very superficial to you as a father or mother actually has a very deep rooted belief in the daughter’s mind. When my daughter keeps saying she wants to see TZP day in and day out instead of a Barbie movie …..you can sense there’s something amiss. After a lot of cajoling I realize that TZP is the hot topic of discussion in school and my daughter can’t participate because she has not seen it. In our mind ……it’s just another movie but for her that 10 mnt discussion in canteen / bus is the highlight of the day…..

The beauty of the book is in it’s poignancy…..even if you are not a father or a mother read it and you will relate it to your growing up years…

Chowringhee on the other hand is a beautiful book. The obvious question is scenery / painting / drawing can be beautiful - how can a book be beautiful. I don’t know I felt it that way….being a Bong and reading about Calcutta, the description of the places where I have been (when I was staying in Cal) the Bengali characters, the tumultuous relationships. Its story telling at it’s best. If you are a Bong ….who wants to experience Calcutta….read it.

I loved the book so much that I am hunting for the movie version of the same, starring Uttam Kumar.