The story of
brief marriage is written by Anuk Arudpragasam and published by Harper Collins.
I should
give full credit to the author, for picking up such a difficult topic and
weaving a successful story around the same. It is not easy to write a book on
civil unrest, wars, trauma. Stating the mental and physical condition of the
characters, stuck in such situation, is difficult. It is difficult to bring out
the true personality of the character, without being judgemental or being over
sympathetic. Kudos to Anuk, for doing it beautifully.
The book
talks about Sri Lankan civil war.Tamil minority is pushed towards the coast by
advancing army. The central character Dinesh is part of refugees, he is numb to
the violence around him. He has lost his home, mother and brother due to the
shelling. It was heart rendering to read the account of his mother’s death. They
were running from the shelling, when his mother gets hit and fall down. For a
moment he was freezed, not knowing what to do. He moves ahead with the rest of
the crowd, when he regain his senses, he return back to cover his mother with
her sari. He decides to leave his bag with his mother, so that she does not feel
lonely, in death. This was one of the many instances, where you can feel the
pain of Dinesh. We take many things for granted in our daily life, like eating,
bathing, brushing etc. While reading the book, I realized that for some people
these simple acts are luxury. The author has beautifully depicted, when Dinesh
gets soap and goes for a bath. The dirt that has caked his body, falls off
gradually. In all this mess he gets married to Ganga, where after initial hesitation,
they get aware of each other presence. Slowly, they start warming up to each
other. But the war closes over them.
Hats off to
Anuk for expressing the basic human needs and desires, even in adverse
condition. Your heart warms up, when you read about Dinesh efforts, to make
himself presentable and desirable for Ganga.
Why should
you read the book:
Beautiful
Story.
Heart
touching account of war.
Good English.
Philosophical
approach to life.