Waterboarding – the second of the many to come published books by Brags.
The title might have come into prominence, post the war on terror initiated by the Americans and more specifically on the torture “treatment” meted out to the Guantanamo bay prisoners. The title is an allegory to the mental trauma of the hero, Ved.
The story is told through diary entries of the three main characters, Ved, Sara and Maya. The story opens with Ved, who meets with an accident and suffers amnesia. The missing pieces of his life are filled in by Sara and Ramesh, who hide the details about his girlfriend (ex) Maya. Maya texts Ved enquiring about his condition and seeing a text from an unknown number induces curiosity in Ved, who goes about figuring, who is Maya and why is she not in his life anymore. He also finds out the reason why Sara was not revealing the details and as he comes to terms with the reality and realizes what he wants from his relationships, his health condition has other plans. His indecisiveness in deciding on the course of his relation results in him losing out on few and the story ends in an melodramatic finish with an open ended closure.
One disadvantage of reading stories of authors whom you know in person is that, it robs off the sheen of novelty. The story is a generous mix of fiction based on real life events and when the result goes against what happened in reality, at times it’s an inspired and welcome result and sometimes it doesn’t quite add up. Leaving aside the personal link, if one looks at the story as an outsider, I felt, the start and ending were sort of abrupt. Ved, being the character around whom the story revolves, has major running portions dedicated to him, yet you would end up feeling not knowing him better. May be it was intentionally characterized as that is one of the reason for his messy relationships. Despite Sara having the second most running space, its Maya’s character that has more depth and is impressive. Probably the only rounded off character that has a change and maturity about it. But the reason why she breaks the relationship despite being such an intense and physical one is not clearly told. The character deserved a bit more detailing in justifying her decision. The other character that I felt needed more space or at least a dairy entry of his own was Ramesh. He comes across as a loyal foot soldier, who despite knowing that he is not in the top list, continues to remain a faithful friend with almost no expectation. The title waterboarding would be as apt to such people, who are often taken for granted.
Considering the previous books, 300, by the same author, I felt reading this book was more like its immediate sequel. Probably it might come out as a good marketing strategy as well (??!!) if the names can be edited to be in synch. Despite its short size, just over 200 pages, the book feels bigger than its printed volume of pages. Probably because of its dialogue intensive format, may be. If there is one common thread that unites Ved, Sara and Maya, it’s their indecisiveness about their relation with each other and the impulsion with which they jump into a new one. But for this, it’s a pretty heavy storyline with lot of melodrama, which makes you wonder on some of the chaotic phases and choices of our own life. Whether to make a waterboarding exercise out of it or surf over it is the choice of the individual.
The title might have come into prominence, post the war on terror initiated by the Americans and more specifically on the torture “treatment” meted out to the Guantanamo bay prisoners. The title is an allegory to the mental trauma of the hero, Ved.
The story is told through diary entries of the three main characters, Ved, Sara and Maya. The story opens with Ved, who meets with an accident and suffers amnesia. The missing pieces of his life are filled in by Sara and Ramesh, who hide the details about his girlfriend (ex) Maya. Maya texts Ved enquiring about his condition and seeing a text from an unknown number induces curiosity in Ved, who goes about figuring, who is Maya and why is she not in his life anymore. He also finds out the reason why Sara was not revealing the details and as he comes to terms with the reality and realizes what he wants from his relationships, his health condition has other plans. His indecisiveness in deciding on the course of his relation results in him losing out on few and the story ends in an melodramatic finish with an open ended closure.
One disadvantage of reading stories of authors whom you know in person is that, it robs off the sheen of novelty. The story is a generous mix of fiction based on real life events and when the result goes against what happened in reality, at times it’s an inspired and welcome result and sometimes it doesn’t quite add up. Leaving aside the personal link, if one looks at the story as an outsider, I felt, the start and ending were sort of abrupt. Ved, being the character around whom the story revolves, has major running portions dedicated to him, yet you would end up feeling not knowing him better. May be it was intentionally characterized as that is one of the reason for his messy relationships. Despite Sara having the second most running space, its Maya’s character that has more depth and is impressive. Probably the only rounded off character that has a change and maturity about it. But the reason why she breaks the relationship despite being such an intense and physical one is not clearly told. The character deserved a bit more detailing in justifying her decision. The other character that I felt needed more space or at least a dairy entry of his own was Ramesh. He comes across as a loyal foot soldier, who despite knowing that he is not in the top list, continues to remain a faithful friend with almost no expectation. The title waterboarding would be as apt to such people, who are often taken for granted.
Considering the previous books, 300, by the same author, I felt reading this book was more like its immediate sequel. Probably it might come out as a good marketing strategy as well (??!!) if the names can be edited to be in synch. Despite its short size, just over 200 pages, the book feels bigger than its printed volume of pages. Probably because of its dialogue intensive format, may be. If there is one common thread that unites Ved, Sara and Maya, it’s their indecisiveness about their relation with each other and the impulsion with which they jump into a new one. But for this, it’s a pretty heavy storyline with lot of melodrama, which makes you wonder on some of the chaotic phases and choices of our own life. Whether to make a waterboarding exercise out of it or surf over it is the choice of the individual.
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Enna semma reading spree ya ?