उषा प्रियम्वदा कृत अर्कदीप्त

 

Arkadipt by Usha Priyamvada
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An enchanting yarn about a brilliant but shy, introverted youth. The book describes Arkdipt's life and the love of his life, while he seeks existential answers from the works of the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard

A transcontinental story that begins in a lower-middle-class cramped neighbourhood of Delhi and continues on to Munich, Copenhagen, New York, San Francisco and a small anonymous town in Kerala. The warm and loving domesticity of a joint Indian family, a lasting friendship, the aspirations of young Indians and the wealth and success achieved in the promised land of USA. albeit with a cold impersonal touch is beautifully depicted.

कितनी बरसातें आईं, फूल खिले, मुरझा गए। त्यौहार, उत्सव, सब अपने समय से आये और रीते चले गए। परिवार ने खुशियां मनाना छोड़ दिया था। पृथ्वी अपनी धुरी पर घूमती रही, पेड़ कटते रहे, कूड़ा बढ़ता गया, जंगल आग से जलते रहे, पक्षी लम्बी तादाद में मरते गए, अमीर और-और अमीर होते गए, ग़रीब - और ग़रीब।

The angst of a lovelorn couple tends to go on and on interminably in the middle of the book (hence the four stars), but the concluding part is engrossing – overall unputdownable.

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