Reminiscing the days gone by and pondering over my future, as is my won’t, yet again, I have lost track of the present. The past was bliss and carefree and the future holds so much promise for me, well the present, what?s the big deal, that?s just life for us, right. Does that make me a dreamer, an idealist, a wishful thinker or did someone say, a romantic.
I am a believer, a philosopher and at times nothing more then a wanderer. That?s me and my life, the story of me, the shepherd who cares for nothing but the fun of traveling, or the charmer who knows not the name of the people he meets, but yet he doesn?t stop from charming. As I walk down the isles of ideas and the past groping for a hang of my present and fantasizing about my future I realize my idea is lost in the haze of today. I brush aside those thoughts and languidly almost lazily walk into my today, which welcomes me back with a dreary eyed salute.
For those of you who are wondering what is it that I am talking of, well to be honest, even I don?t know, but then don?t we more often then not, talk aimlessly when we want to talk and sit mum as a turtle if we don?t want to talk. Well that?s the story of life, a life that belongs to you, which radiates in each one of us. The life that is sometimes neither here nor there, a life which just seems to crisscross like wrinkles on the face of an aged lady. That?s the life that Pankaj Mishra captures so vividly in his book The Romantics.
Romantics, is poetry of life put down effectively and succinctly in prose, it is not just a play of words; to me it?s a collation of a journey called life. More so because I can relate to it as I amble thorough my childhood abandon to the effervescence of the youth to an age, which places me in the sensitive mature bracket. It is a book, which will appeal to the romantic in each of us, as it doesn?t talk about the hardships of life and make you, think hard on it. It is a book, which makes u, walk down memory lane. Each one of us, who has seen facets of life, and have said ah, life thy name is bliss would associate with it.
Romantics is Pankaj?s second fling with prose after Butter Chicken in Ludhiana. It is a book which might be boring for some and very riveting for the others, it all depends on the kind of life one has lead, and also the kind of mood one is in when reading this book. For someone who has lead a disciplined and structured life, it will be like an aimless meandering tome which goes no where and for someone who takes life as it comes, this is the story of his life.
I for one fall in the latter category so it appeals to me and sometimes I am almost amazed how did Pankaj know so much about me (sic). The book is a rugged and crisscrossed pattern of the protagonist?s life, a life to which so many of us would relate. While reading it sometimes you get the feeling that it is an autobiographical one where Samar is none else but Pankaj himself, well maybe he is after all, who knows.
Romantics is the story of Samar and his travails with life as he meanders from one place to another. He is like an aimless gypsy who just travels from one place to another stopping and taking stock of his life as he encounters one thing or the other on his way. I have always thought if I were to write a book on my own life it could become a bestseller and this book boosts my confidence no end. Well I may not be a womanizer like our protagonist Samar is, but then yes I have seen life through close corners much like him. Well let me stop the me connection with the book here itself.
The romantic is one who won?t let life dominate his way of living and that?s exactly what Pankaj has for us in this book. He says life is short, don?t ruminate and fulminate about the way it is, just enjoy each moment as it comes. And he says this through the life of Samar, how he travels from one place to other, sometimes in the quest of truth, sometimes to run away from himself and sometimes just to meet himself in some corner, like a one to one with his soul.
Romantics is not a book heavy on ideas or philosophy, but it?s a book rich in literature and stylish in content, when one considers that it entertains and it makes for a light reading, without having you scratch your brains too much a la AynRand. I read this book a long time back when I was in my college and I liked it as I felt it was the story of most of the students who move and shift from one place to another. Who find pleasures in small meaningless things and who revel with the little opportunity life affords them.
This is a book which for some reason would appeal more to my male friends, the ladies might find it a tad too disorganized and shoddy at times. Not because of the kind of things he says but just the way the story moves. It is the story of an unorganized man, of a man who doesn?t know how to keep his room clean and how doesn?t care much about naïve things like discipline, timings and cleanliness. Somehow I have always been of the theory that the ladies are more organized then the men, and this book just confirms to that notion.
Whose read is this book? This is a light read for the traveling soul who is being bugged by that snoring uncle on the next seat, it is a fun read for that student who is stretching lazily in his hostel cot, it is a must pick for those teenybopper executives straight out of college as this is like a hitchhike to those college days. And it is an equally joyful read for all those souls who have been ravaged by the vagaries of life in form and in substance. Last but not the least all my AynRand tortured buddies you cant let this go, if Ayn was food for thought, Mishra would be the proverbial cappuccino after the heavy mouthful.
P.S. Short and crisp like the book, my review is, I hope all those people battered by my long reviews would like this. Please meet me in the comments section, all you literature lovers, I am one of you!