Part growing-up story, part metaphysical exploration of the human-nature relationship, Amrita Mahale’s Real Life wows with its clarity, poetry and depth.
An absolutely engrossing read, the book is unputdownable from start to finish. Lucid language, poetic metaphors and evocative storytelling elevates what is an extremely topical story.
Told from the perspectives of three millenials - Mansi, Bhaskar and Tara, the novel spans out in interconnected segments. You are first drawn into Mansi’s life as voiced from her perspective, then into Bhaskar’s and then Tara’s. Primarily though, this is the story of Tara, the feisty and brilliant scholar on a mission to study the dhole or wild dog habitating the upper mountains. A fierce animal lover, zealous researcher and a maverick of sorts, she's the one who takes up the path least trod.
Real Life centres around the themes of friendship, individuality, love and boundaries. Tara’s childhood friendship with Mansi is the basis of the story, the one that also brings it to its denouement. Through her closeness to Tara, Mansi comes to terms with the emptiness in her own life, while Tara realizes how much she needs Mansi to keep her tethered to normalcy. It’s a symbiotic relationship, much more powerful than marriage or romance. It is the life breath of both the girls.
A running thread in the novel is the dependancy we share with our planet and nature. To heal, we must return to nature, to the trees, the streams and the mountains. Here, shorn of all frills, we are forced to face our worst fears. In the case of Tara, it is the fear of conforming to social niceties, for Mansi it is the fear of losing her identity.
Bhaskar, the third wheel in this trio, is a complex product of our Indian patriarchal society. Led to believe in his uniqueness and specialness from childhood, he struggles to deal with rejection and failure. His character is so familiar in our societal context - the nerdy quiet introvert nursing a giant-sized ego, trying to get even with the world for all the unfairness he believes he has faced. That he creates a personal Chatbot named GoTara (personifying the woman he hypothetically loved and lost) to solely pander to his ego, speaks a lot about him. Faced with any kind of rejection, he literally snivels and sobs, lashing out afterwards with venom.
I particularly liked the author's writing style - direct and fuss-free, with a touch of humour, veering into philosophical and surreal in the dream-like sequences during Tara’s self-chosen isolation. The narrative moves back and forth, highlighting incidents from Mansi’s childhood to her present, shifting between the years of Tara’s research project, and between Bhaskar’s USA stint and his travel to Jora.
Mahale takes us on a scintillating trek through the quaint hill town Jora’s natural rugged beauty. The pines, the Mahamaya river, the Himalayas towering behind, the crags and the rocks, all become vibrant and real. I could almost smell the scented pine, feel the cold rushing through my veins, the current of the river coursing under my feet. And Chunnu and Munnu, the guardian angel dogs are more human than most people out there. Tara's obsession with the dholes, her tracing them diligently and finally realising that to be one with nature, she must lose herself in it rather than analyzing it scientifically.
If I have to crib, its about the slightly unidimensional portraits of Bhaskar, Sid, and most of the men. They exist only to take the story forward, which is about Tara and Mansi, and their mercurial friendship.
I would give this book a 8 on 10 for story, 7 on 10 for characterization, and 9 on 10 for relatability. Go for it!
#reallife #amritamahale #relatablethriller #booksIread
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