Mannu
Rikshewala by Tuhin explores the grim realities of the society of the urban
life through three best characters: Ankita, Sameer, and Mannu. The book delves
into various themes, like equivocal voice of love, the urge to find out the
purpose of life, hidden desires of extremely poor people. Though Ankita and
Sameer fill most part of the book, Mannu is the central character of the novel.
The kind of conviction portrayed through this struggling character Mannu is
best of class.
The story is
staged against the current time Delhi. Mannu is a poor young man who cycles a Riksha
for sustenance. He looks older than his age; he is tenth pass and knows writing
and reading, all these aspects make him a bit different than other cycle
Rikshewalas. Like many other poor, he too has a sad story of his past where he
was forced to quit school to work in order to support his family and save money
for his sister’s marriage. He has some plans about life but circumstances keep
his hands tied.
Ankita works
in an NGO to teach poor children. Her boyfriend Sameer is a man from the
corporate world. They like each other but still their love story has not seen
that stage, where they could go intimate or trust one another blindly. They
share mutual understanding. One fine day, in frenzied hurry she forgets her
diary on Mannu’s Riksha. Mannu goes through her diary and comes to know about
her past life as well as present-day trivial issues. Next day when he returns
the diary to Ankita, he feels a strange bonding towards her. She expresses her
gratitude and then gets inside a cab.
The cab driver
kidnaps her and heads for a farmhouse at a remote place, in Haryana. The gang
that resides in the farmhouse has raped and killed many girls from the city.
The same is going to be the fate of Ankita. She tries hard to get out of the
cab but to no avail, also the mobile coverage is patchy. On the other hand,
when Mannu sees her getting inside the cab, he senses something wrong. He was
aware of that cab driver’s criminal background that used to pick prostitutes
from around a known Paan shop. On a wild instinct, Mannu begins chasing the
cab. It is the height of madness for that girl that he chased down almost 90
kilometers. With some brain and bravado, he initially manages to save the girl
from them but not for a long time. Ankita and Mannu runs away in the same cab
in which she had been brought, but their luck peters out when the petrol dries
up and with a draining mobile battery they manage to talk to Sameer only for a
few minutes. Taking the clues from their phone call, Sameer informs the police
to search them.
They are
saved. After the incident, Ankita has to fight another fight: to come out of
that shock. Every time she remembers the incident, the innocent face of Mannu
appears before her eyes. But she could never decide what her true calling is:
whether she loves that Rikshewala or Sameer. In the end she gifts a diary and a
note of thank you to Mannu. Saving that girl is like an achievement for Mannu.
He did what he actually used to hear from the stories of his uncle. Mannu knew
that despite being a Rikshewala, he was a hero, an extraordinary man somewhere
deep inside him.
The novel is a
light read. The author has put in good efforts to make it as much as riveting
possible, especially with the kidnapping and running away scenes. It could have
been more dramatic.
Thank you for the useful review
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