Mishi Saran
I completely loved Mishi Saran’s earlier work “Chasing the Monk’s Shadow”, an inner journey as much as an actual one. In some ways I could associate it a little with Asha’s journey in ‘The Other Side of Light’, a work of fiction. The blurb says she has written short stories earlier, but I have to wonder whether this contains autobiographical elements, like many first time works of fiction do. (just a thought)
The book is written in flashback mode as we get the current status of Asha’s life in the first few pages. We follow Asha’s life right from the time she was born – with a harelip. Childhood is zoomed through but college is an important part of the story – friendships and first love and the camera that, in many ways, defines Asha’s life later. The narrative is fairly linear, with Asha’s friends, love interests, parents and teacher playing important roles. History and events pop up every once in a while in the background and it’s almost as though the protagonist and the nation are being moulded by their experiences in parallel.
The only thing I disliked a bit was the stereotyped girlfriends – four paths, and circumstances and personalities that are a little too cliched. But what saves the book is the prose and the dreamy style of writing that conveys meaning and intent and lets the reader imagine just that little bit to identify with it. This, I felt especially in the last few pages.
A good read, especially if you like a bit of lyrical narration.
