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Book Review – Maya: Lifting the Veil by Amar B. Singh

Maya: Lifting the Veil by Amar Singh is a spiritually uplifting fictional book in the tough time of corona virus pandemic. The novel is a work of fiction, particularly based on two aspects – plight of a migrant labourer Arjun Pandit and appearance of the God to answer his confounding questions. The semblance of the book is hypothetical.



First two chapters ‘Exodus and Kurukshetra’ are pertaining to the current situation where millions of migrant labourers stranded across the country fending for themselves and are totally immobile. They urge and long to go back to their hometowns and native villages. Since it’s a total lockdown with no transport facility, many migrants from across the country have had taken up the roads to reach their destinations. From the same milling crowd, Amar Singh picks up Arjun Pandit – a poor and simple migrant labourer. The story is built around him and the God he finds.

He is walking home with his family. As they reach Kurukshetra, his four-year-old son dies due to hunger and high fever, media tries to cash on the opportunity, and the health department frowns. The son is lost. Father Arjun is devastated with grief. He blames the god for his suffering and misfortune. He sits under an oak tree…he curses god, doubts his veracity of actions,…you will get to know when you delve deep into the chapter called – Why Me, God!

Likewise, there are total eight chapters, the book is written in verses – mainly dialogues between the God and Arjun Pandit. The author has deliberately chosen Kurukshetra as a prominent backdrop of the story for religious and mythological reasons. Thousands of years ago when the great war of Mahabharata was taking place, even that time one Arjun had some doubts and fears, taking that as reference once again the god takes charge to make someone understand the rules of Maya and this world.

Laced with relevance, this book is an amazing experience to read slowly with no haste. The book covers the aspect of faith of people during the time of adversity i.e. how do people see god in their bad time, why do they forget their share of wrongdoings. Even today the book’s main concern is to show the power of faith in the God in the time of Covid 19.

The content of the book is relevant and easy to understand, even though written in verses. In fact, god also takes his stance and try to make him understand as why people on earth suffer – the god takes up various instances and references from that era of Mahabharata to simplify the cause and effect concept, collective destiny of human beings and much more.

This is not first time when Amar Singh has come up with a thought-provoking book, his last book ‘The Third’ was also a sort of spiritual uplifter. Short and crisp, Maya is a great book to savour to understand god and his justice for collective humankind.

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