BOOK REVIEW: A BAD PLACE – MAYUR DIDOLKAR

The first thing that impressed me about this spirit-ual thriller novel was the organization of the book into small chapters without breaking the flow of the narrative. It’s a boon for a modern reader who is usually pressed for time and keeps postponing the reading on that account. I could easily read a few chapters every time I sat down to read it and even if I restarted after a few days break, the story reconnected in my mind seamlessly.

The calm and happy life of the Shah family comprising of Suchitra, Aniket and their little daughter Reva is like a dream and suddenly the reverie is rudely jolted by the strange happenings at the Gardenia Estate, row house number 49 that shows how fragile life truly is. And the danger is unseen that makes it visible to different actors in different ways at a time of its own choosing.

Mayur Didolkar is a skilled craftsman who weaves a tapestry of words that are so silky that they almost slide and envelope you without you noticing and then its touch suddenly jolts you when you run into a dark corner of the story quite unexpectedly.

The happy ending to the book comes almost as a relief when the ghost who was tormenting the Shahs turns out to be a tormented and failed father who is suffering from a painful separation from his dear daughter who has gone astray in her life. The very humane confusion of a ghost who has created his own hateful and revengeful world of maya is weird and touching at the same time. The moment the veil of confusion is lifted he is released from the self created illusion causing him untold pain and so many lives- the Shah’s and the ghost’s surviving daughter and wife come back on track.

There is a message here for the living- the web of illusion based on selfishness and misunderstanding that we create has the potential to give us pain in this life and beyond. Let go.