BALA TAKES THE PLUNGE by MELVIN DURAI(book review)

image from here.

Funny, witty and entertaining!

When someone says ‘Indian Authors’  the writers who come to my mind are  Ghosh, Rushdie, Seth and the like. But this book is something completely new(at least to me) and what’s more I was really liked it!

A very simple story- Bala is a Chennai boy with an engineering degree, working in the US. He gets lonely and wants to get married(thus ‘take the plunge’). The first part of the book is about Bala’s childhood, family and the way he was brought up. The second part is about his love for America(his dog) and the search for a bride.

The Indian characters all are easily recognisable- stereotypes who are omnipresent and the ending is a given. Yet what makes the book worth it are the wit, humour and word play. The book gets you chuckling and yes the ‘mokais’(PJs or Blunt jokes) are well timed(considering it caught me off guard at a few places).

Today sexual jokes invariable form part of any writing, play, movie etc that go under ‘humour’. But the author is confident enough to stray away from this beaten path(except maybe a few innuendos, which depend on your perception). This makes the book refreshing and enjoyable. And I love the way he tries to define how people classify others based on their intellect(like scrabble being one level below Chess; And if you happen to play chess, you are seen as a clever person).

Overall, a very simple, enjoyable, funny and entertaining book. Something which you read while travelling. Of course, I’m tempted to put this under TamBram literature, but I don’t think there is something called TamBram literature.

Rating:-7/10

P.S:- It is nice to know that I happen to belong to a league of people who the author admires(people who can understand Rushdie). I would like to thank him for sending me this book(finally a book in collection which others in my house can read).

Click here to go to the author’s website

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