Book
Review
Colorful Notions: The Roadtrippers 1.0 by Mohit Goyal is a unique
novel insofar as it combines masterfully travelogue with fiction. The novel tells the story of three people in
their twenties who give up plush jobs and secure life in order to embark on a
three-month long journey across India covering 25 historic destinations. Their personal stories are intertwined with
the journey and present dramatic scenes making the novel a gripping read. The reader also travels along with them from
Delhi to places such as Ladakh, Kanyakumari and the Sundarbans.
Abhay,
Shashank and Unnati are the travellers.
Abhay hails from a broken family and there is little love lost between
him and his parents. He longs for
relationships. The massive Shashank is a
businessman whose weakness is food.
Unnati is his fiancée and the journey offers her a few occasions to
rethink her romantic attachment.
The personal
stories of the three characters appear at relevant places and times in the
narrative which mostly speaks about the journey which brings in its own
characters such as Mutthuraman Swaminathan Unnikrishnan aka Unni who is shown
as a shrewd swindler. He is a tourist
guide in the Corbett Park and can create a tiger where there actually is
none. He drinks all along though
drinking is prohibited and gets out of the vehicle during the safari though
that is prohibited too. About a hundred
pages later we’ll meet a few other South Indian characters in Mysore who are
also slightly caricatured as lungi-wearing, non-Hindi and non-English speaking
country bumpkins. Does the author carry
some prejudices against the South Indians?
The reader may wonder. Mercifully,
the stereotypes don’t last long and the journey continues.
The journey
has its own adventures, risks as well as thrills. There is romantic rivalry as Abhay gets infatuated
with his friend’s fiancée and plays a nasty game to drive in a wedge between
them. But quarrels are soon made up and
the characters prove to be people with sophisticated hearts and
sentiments. At Bodhgaya the two men (Unnati has had to take
leave of them due to an accident in the Sundarbans) encounter a Buddhist lama
who teaches them the secret of happiness.
This part of the novel is at variance with the others as it turns mildly
philosophical if not spiritual. The
author succeeds in giving his work certain required depth.
In a novel
which takes the characters from place to place, we can expect diverse
experiences. There is adventure in one
place, horror in a place like the Bhangarh Fort or awe in another. The author succeeds in creating those
sensations in the reader while telling a credible and delightful story.
Young readers
will find the book absolutely delightful while the older ones will find it
amusing.
Read more
about the book and the author at http://www.theroadtrippers.in/
Buy the book from Amazon India
PS. I
received a review copy from The Tales
Pensieve http://thetalespensieve.com/ as part of Reviewers Programme. Register at http://thetalespensieve.com/r eviewers-sign-up/
for lots of book fun and activities.
Looks like an interesting read!
ReplyDeleteInteresting, no doubt. I finished it in two days. Reader's interest is sustained.
DeleteNice Matheikal. Thanks for being generous (and kind to a debutant) in your review. Hope i have a chance to get 2.0 reviewed by you as well (its a roadtrip/travel through Himalayas and its never-ending secrets).. rgds, Mohit Goyal
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading the sequel.
DeleteGotta grab a copy.
ReplyDeleteGo ahead, Anupam, you won't be disappointed.
Delete