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SHORT TAKES Good Heavens! For a theatre enthusiast the stage is the only reality and the outside world an illusion. For perpetuating this sentiment one has to give credit to the dramatist. In India, theatre is a niche art at best, whereas children’s theatre barely registers on one’s mindscape. That’s why Sengupta’s effort is laudable. There is humour in the plays like Good Heavens! and a bit of reflection and sensitivity in others. For example, in The White Elephant, two kids decide to colour a white baby elephant to help get a suitable shelter for it, because they believe that nobody wants a white elephant. The author has added great value to the book by detailing the various factors that go into making a successful production. A must for your kids, and aspiring playwrights. Riptide by Rajesh Sakhuja Unistar, Chandigarh. Pages 209. Rs 205. One can’t take anything for granted in life. If tranquility prevails at home and prosperity at work, and things look rosy in one’s personal and professional realms, there is a great need to guard against destabilising factors. But, what if a tidal wave of destruction rips through one’s utopia? Some such thing happens in this novel’s protagonist, Mohan Deshmukh’s life. Hence, the title Riptide. At home he has a painful face-off with his son, and at office his benign employer dies and is succeeded by a domineering one. Mohan goes to pieces mentally as well as physically – and even pleads for euthanasia. How does he come out of it all? Read the novel. Of Winds and Chimes by Mayank Bisht Sanbun, N. Delhi. Pages 156. Rs 150. To become an IAS officer is the Great Indian Dream. Aspirants from varied backgrounds try their luck to get onto this bandwagon of power and pelf. This novella is an account of one such aspirant. The story starts off well but is punctuated with so many vague descriptions and metaphors that one gets confused. The author has tried to do too much on a small canvas, thus rendering the final picture a big kaleidoscopic but hazy blob. Me, Myself and I by Tanya Robinson. Youthful exuberance is a wonderful sensation. You look at the world in a manner that the more experienced, or should one say cynical, had stopped doing long ago. Robinson’s verse is energetic, but it needs to temper down. As a first attempt it is good, but in the long run the gushing will have to give way to more thoughtfulness. She articulates her feelings well, words do conjure up images and for that reason alone it’s a readable volume. Don’t give up Tanya, you have great potential.
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