When I first met Ehsaan Nashad he was the writer of some novel (to me) called True Lies and Hump which had sold a considerable number of books for it to be titled a "Bestseller", as he rightly introduced himself to a group (which had nothing whatsoever to do with writing and books and hence I'm refraining to mention). I was interested because I, myself am pursuing writing passionately. During a brief excerpt then, I gathered that he was coming up with another novel very soon and the book was yet untitled.
It marrs his self image and self esteem totally when he finds his parents on the verge of splitting up, pulsating contempt inside him for his father, who is so bashful that he betrays his mother in marriage, insults her family and even displays a show of rage over self shattered persona in the few visits when Rehaan gets the chance to spend time with him. His father goes to the point of disregarding his mothers life when she has just delivered a girl child, when he turns up late and isn't really in town when the mothers family has already tackled some grave complications that prop up during her pregnancy. His mother having brought him and his younger sister up.
I was specifically associated with a group dedicated to books, here in Mumbai for the past few months. On one such occasion, I dropped in a word about the author, to the organizer, whom I expressed I'd met and whose 1st book had "sold over a million copies " presumably by now. Next, came the Book Launch of Mr. Ehsaan Nashad that was held on the 10th May'14 @ Press Club, Fort Mumbai.
[If you are reading this Ehsaan, I'd like to thank you here for the warmth I got from you. Your embrace when I came to take the book signing, felt like , as if you had wordlessly expressed your deepest gratitude towards me ( for something I didn't know) ] and that my friend made my day.
In Search Of Love, is not a book. It is a thought that drives the world. There are millions of nameless living beings in the world who give away their lives in its pursuit and each one expresses this differently. It is the restlessness that denies to exit one's existence, with a stubborn intention of resting inside them. The endurance of pain and love is severe but never ending. It doesn't let you live but you are not allowed to die either. There is an incessant craving to be accepted, loved and understood by your parents, you family, your friends and the society and one gets ready to go to any lengths to get that.
This Book, taps the life of a boy whose name is Rehaan Merchant. He is a child who has had a troubled childhood with his over abusive and drunken father and cultured helpless and caring mother. Memories of his childhood shape up his life and cling to him as an only abstract identity of him for life. It is inertly unsettling for him as he begins to hate the concept of love and the institution of marriage. Yet, never having received consolable love from his father or mother really he journeys relentlessly In Search of Love
There is always an unspoken disconnect between him and his sister, maybe because of their upbringing or perhaps because the ugly secrets her sister knows of him as an outcome of all he is. On an occasion, he is caught in his 4th grade displaying sexual interest in a girl from his school. Only he doesn't really know the term is " sexual attraction" , at his age and is just simply attracted towards a girls private parts. His sister reports this to her mother, even though she is well aware of the pain it'll cause her - simply out of sibling rivalry. But yet there is a deep connect too between siblings on certain occasions.
There is a great deal of transformation as the story progresses with Rehaan, to the point that at sometime he feels that he's turned into his father.
The story movies on, and he has a series of relationships with several woman - in search of love, but there is always something or the other which draws him apart from them. Finally, he accidentally meets a girl who he had got hard on in his youth even though she was at least a decade younger to him. He meets her when he is in his late 30's and she's just turned 18 and later marries her. It has been possible only because she's accepted him her life ever since she was small and sticks on to that, she imposes upon him to believe that she has not wanted anyone else in her life and was delighted to see him after so many years.
Only to finally loose her too, due to rare condition called Hemophilia which results in the death of his hard found love for life, after she leaves behind a baby girl to him.
The child is just like her mother, at first boils up anger and irritation inside him and then smiles, which triggers him to somehow instantly cool down and relax, miraculously.
The book deals with a lot social causes and abuse. The read isn't smooth and easy for every reader to absorb and accept every episode described in the book. It has a very revolting language in many places which describes the lust which perforates in the personality of the hungry animal, Rehaan - In search of love. There is a lot of bold content in the book with a witty edge in many places. Sometimes, the reader is left disgusted at the extent the author has gone in narrating the story. But, at the same time, the cause of such actions is also known and that's what makes the reader move forth in the book and get hooked on. Pure lust is exposed very descriptively in the book in several varied circumstances.
Love is even mistaken for lust at times and misunderstood for Sex. There may be a large chunk of men out there and maybe women too who would connect with the story as their real life experiences in many ways. There maybe a large chunk, who would comprise of the illiterate too, who wouldn't know this book even exists and yet may have experienced most or at least one episode in their lives out of all that is shared. This book can raise topics of lot of controversy, debate and social turmoil and that's most needed. Only if issues are addressed can they be resolved.
Amongst the author's guild, I believe controversy, revulsion and contempt is balanced equally in the popularity scale when it comes to themes exactly opposite to them. It matters not, in the end which side of it you are on as long as you've put in your heart to deeply express those things.
The harsh realities of life exist, and those who possess the ability to express them in the purest form are talented. I applaud the author with his work, especially considering it is a fiction novel, the amount of depth the author is gone into is commendable. The proof reading of the book is lacking and one can see it had the potential to improve upon the quality of the content manifolds.
Life is about the choices one makes. If your dream is to achieve love, then your definition of love first should be clear. When ones definition about love is skewed, it never purges one's soul and drives them in the ocean of sins that only ends with death. The only way out of it is observation of those leading better quality lives but that isn't enough one has to first retrospect and find the golden pearls in their blood through research and study and invest on it. Determination is the key to all the things!!!
Conclusively, I congratulate Mr. Ehsaan Nashad for his second book and wish him well with his subsequent publications. The book earns a great deal of sympathy vote and out there it means en cashing big time with the people thirsty for love but scared to explode and expose their true feelings. I'm sure the readers who've liked his first book will definitely pounce on this one blindly out of pure curiosity to discover what the author has unearthed this time. There was a discussion about whether fiction has its bases on reality once ? Recalling that, I'd like to say here that after reading this book one may firmly believe that fiction is just a figment of imagination and can only vaguely deal with or has no connection whatsoever to do anything with facts.
Do pick up and enjoy the book!!
Cheers All....Feel free to share your thoughts too ;)
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