In quest of self-discovery
Rajdeep Bains

Beyond Indigo
by Preethi Nair. Harper Collins, India.
Pages 326. Rs 295.

Preethi Nair is an author who writes about, among other issues, identity. This is probably due to the fact that when Preethi self-published her first novel she had to masquerade as "publicist Preu Menon" in order to promote the book. Preethi won the Asian Woman of Achievement award for her endeavours and "Preu" was short-listed as Publicist of the Year for the PPC awards. Her success as "Preu" and with the book Gypsy Masala led to her discovery, and her intriguing true story, which rivals any plotline, unfurled.

Her latest book, Beyond Indigo, is a fictionalised account of this journey and has been released along with a reissue of Gypsy Masala.

In this novel, Nina, a girl from an Indian family now living in Croyden, is confused about her career, love life, faith and her future; she begins to have serious doubts about the choices she has made in life.

A disastrous day that begins with a spiritual guru who turns out not to have so much healing hands as wandering ones and ends with Nina finding her boyfriend in bed with someone else, with a quick detour via losing her job, brings Nina back to painting, something she had tried to give up as a child.

In the space of a few hours, her life has reached a crossroads. Nina has always yearned to be an artist, but her parents want a stable career—and a stable relationship—for her. Fearing their reaction to her giving up her job, she dresses for work every day as a lawyer, and instead goes to a studio where she can release her emotions through her artwork. Her first painting is dedicated to her friend Ki, who died of cancer, and signed "For U, Ki". This is misinterpreted as "Foruki", and the painting is taken to have been done by a Japanese artist of that name. Thus is created an artist who goes on to get international acclaim.

Meanwhile at home, she’s agrees to an arranged marriage to keep the peace. To add to the complications she finds herself getting attracted to someone associated with the gallery where the first "Foruki" exhibition is being held.

A sensitive portrayal of a warm-hearted young woman faced with very difficult decisions, the book gives us something at various levels. At one plane, it is a novel of painting, pretence and the strange ways in which truth makes itself known. On another more subtle level it is a novel about the fusion of the East and the West, about mothers’ conflicts with daughters that remain the same across the globe, about the need for self-discovery which is no longer just an "Eastern thing" and about faith in the beyond. A thoroughly readable book.

HOME