“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced”. This is what Viraj J. Mahajan tries to convey through his debut novel Derivation of Life in which he has bring forth how life undergoes changes unknowingly with each and every incident that is happening in course of our life. We have no control over them and the only thing we can do is reacting to the situation accordingly.
The novel spins round a family based in the holy city of Ujjain which is popularly believed to be the city of Lord Mahakal, the Shiva. It is about a middle-class family, which like any other family, dreams of living a life very peacefully. They all were happy with their life. Arjun, the story-teller, reveals how life has been beautiful for his parents since his birth and that how much happy his mother has been. Everything was going fine for them and nothing could have changed that- that was all Archana- Arjun’s mother wished to have. However that was not to be. As we all know man proposes but God disposes, Archana and Vijay, Arjun’s father, faced a new challenge in their life when they had a new member in their family in the form of a baby girl. Archana always wanted to provide a perfect life for her family but the course of her life takes a drastic turn after Radhika was born for Radhika was not like other children as she was suffering from an incurable illness that has left her like an inanimate object. Now to know how Archana lives her life and manages to keep everything in the balance even after such a shocking experience you have to go through Mr. Mahajan’s well written piece of literary creation.
The great thing about Viraj J. Mahajan’s novel is that he never tries to preach anything yet the reader after finishing the novel will find something to take from it. His lucid use of language and flow of writing will keep the reader engrossed for the 205 pages and keep you guessing about what’s coming up next. Not for once you will feel that it’s a bit dragged for every next moment the characters face some sort of a challenge or the other. The art of characterization has also been classy enough as the novel throws light on each and every character involved in the story. Also the novel gives an idea of the fact that the author has immense knowledge about the preaching of the Bhagwat Gita as there is always a flow of an undertone of the idea that “One has to pay for their own karma, nobody in this world or the other is going to take a part in it and share the fruit of your doings, only you have to pay for your karma, good or bad as after all it’s your karma”.
Special thanks go to the author for taking up such a matter and making a Mother the protagonist of his novel. The way he brings up the life of a Mother is quite amazing. Not only that what sacrifices a woman makes in her life just to make life easy for her family is neatly portrayed by the author in his novel. It immediately reminds me of John Millington Synge’s famous one-act play Riders to the Sea where the protagonist Maurya suffers from similar kind of fate. It’s quite obvious that you cannot compare Mahajan’s novel wiyh Synge’s play but the portrayal of the sufferings and the sacrifices that a woman makes brings these two literary creations on the same plane. And for the readers all I can say is that just go through the novel and for few more times think of that woman in your life who is always there beside you in your good times as well as when your are facing the blues.
Book Details:
| Author: | Viraj J. Mahajan | ||
| Publisher: | Notion Press | Year of Publication: | 2014 |
| ISBN-13: | 9789384391997 | ISBN-10: | 9384391999 |
| Cover: | Paperback | No. of Pages: | 214 |
| MRP: | Rs. 210 | Buy From: | Flipkart.com Amazon.in |
My Verdict
4
The great thing about Viraj J. Mahajan’s novel is that he never tries to preach anything yet the reader after finishing the novel will find something to take from it.
