A world beyond words

A world beyond words
Review of 31 Miles written by Vinita Bakshi

Is it a mere coincidence that I have begun writing the review of this book with the help of proofreaders sydney on the 6^th of February which isn’t too far from the National Mathematics Day? Let me first explain the connection. This book began as a new-age version of a forgettable romance but half-way through I realised that it had transformed into a karmic connection of ‘two souls over the distance and over time’ and that there was possibly some complex mathematical logic meandering between the subtle nuances of word play that the author had employed. The story is for sure a chromosomal link between life and freedom. And, to lay credence to my theory, the word ‘freedom’ is used 31 times in the Bible. There are romantic juicy bits interspersed throughout the pages and so I link them also to the 31 flavours of Baskin-Robbins ice-cream… by the way, the shops are called ‘31 Ice Cream’ in Japan. The number is also one that supposedly brings together the ordered universe and its individualized part: ‘it is the individuality conferred to a part of the cosmic organization’. I can go on and on about 31 and add that this is also the number of letters used in the Macedonian alphabet… but hey, I will then not be doing justice to the review of a book that brings a light-hearted romance to converse effortlessly with sentiments that only transmigrating souls would understand.

So here we have a book where Vinita Bakshi, the author, decides to have Mansa as her female protagonist who is ‘secure at home under her husband’s wings, had missed growing up in more ways than one. She had very little idea of the kind of suffering and problems people encountered in their daily lives’ and is forever wondering why her husband isn’t murmuring sweet nothings in her ear. Abhijit, her husband, we’re informed, is a successful executive with ‘enormous knowledge and his analytical skills regarding the Indian as well as the world economy’ and is brimming with ‘unquestioned love for her even though he had never said those three tender words to her. Even when she had asked him to say them in their most intimate moments, he had refused, calling them dramatic and hollow.’ Well, not even when ‘she wore a chic new black, lacy nightie with spaghetti straps, which showed off her swelte figure’. I guess this is what makes Mansa get into a virtual relationship with Rajan, a friend from the past, and the reader has to literally sift through pages of chat-text with a liberal dose of all the new-age acronyms that one can think of. Mansa, I notice, is definitely gliding towards Rajan but without really sliding away from her husband… and all this makes me think of a thousand reasons why the editors at Rupa should have politely returned the manuscript. I mean, like most readers, I too am prone to making hasty judgements. I write this because no sooner had this thought reached my mind that the tone of the book takes a rather dramatic and thrilling turn. And I read on.

It is at this point that the book reaches the shore of a world beyond words and gets us right in the middle of a dizzying whirlpool that transforms a simple and sometimes heady romance into a karmic thriller. Mansa, who had earlier transcended hesitation to jump into the voodoo of modern day communication that the internet has unleashed made me think if the ‘morality of Indian marriages had gone for a toss’ but then I realised soon enough that the journey of her ‘half-indulgent, half-hesitant, attracted and entrapped in the magic weaver’s web, she began with hesitant half-smiles and her hushed yeses soon became full smiles, and then grins and giggles’ was an essential part of the karmic mystery that was unfolding.

As the story unfolds, the reader travels deeper into mysterious layers where Mansa, Abhijit, and Rajan are transposed on to Vinya, Ram, and Jai who are characters from another birth and we’re told through the words of Guru Ma that ‘sometimes, when we don’t find solutions or answers to our problems in the present life, we may find them in our past lives. We may sometimes have to alter or mend our karmic cycle to heal ourselves.’ No, the book isn’t a discourse on tantra nor are there over-doses of spiritual messages. No moral lessons are sprinkled and no sermons are preached… in fact, the book moves at a pretty clipping pace with this part of the tale having ‘a mighty surge of water’ pulling Mansa ‘into its depths, in a final fatal embrace.’ The intrigue remains. The kaal-chakra continues. The reader is left to decide if it is a murder, a suicide, or an accident… and left wondering about Mansa because throughout the book a strange inexplicable ‘alchemy triggered unknown reactions in her system.’ The author has declared that there would be a sequel… to probably let us know if her sequence of unnatural deaths would continue.

More than any other facet, I loved the easy flow of the language that is neither obfuscating nor totters like a simpleton. The strong soul connect isn’t about logic that is failing but about mysteries that the mind doesn’t comprehend easily. Maybe Vinita is right when she writes that ‘one has to constantly seek forgiveness from people whom one might have hurt during the present or any past lives’ to finally win against ourselves. I will certainly wait for her next book.

Book details

Title: 31 Miles
Author: Vinita Bakshi
Publisher: Rupa Publications India Pvt Ltd
ISBN: 978-81-291-4229-0
Price: Rs 295/- (in 2017)

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31 Miles – Vinita Bakshi. Rupa Publications. Book Review

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Arvind Passey
06 February 2017