Beyond What
Meets the Eye by Sameera Kotta is a dark contemporary novel that revolves
around the murky fates of orphans. At times you may feel that the world’s
happiness feeds on others misfortunes. Here, we see Majnu as the protagonist.
He is an orphan. He doesn’t know anything about his parents or ancestral
history. He exists and he has to make some value off his existence. Like we
mostly heard, he too felt victimized at the orphanage where he was being
initially raised, but later he runs away with one of his friend Bunty, who dies
owning to poor living standard. It was Bunty’s death that defines the fate of
Majnu.
Next we see
Majnu is a medical student. He gets into a medical college and surprisingly
good at studies. At college, he gets acquainted with a charming girl named
Soumya, who hails from rich background. They go around but things do not work
the way Majnu had planned. Out of nowhere, he purposes Soumya but to his
chagrin she rejects him. Majnu takes an introspection of his existence and
thinks it’s better to move on than dilly-dallying around rich girls.
As the novel
chugs ahead you see typical college life, affairs, examination tension and all
that stuff that matters most to students. But it is interesting to know how
Majnu crosses the societal barriers to see himself studying in a reputed
medical college. You may assume him larger-than-life but he epitomizes struggle
and growth. The novel is short thus without giving away much we can say that it
is a terrific read which will shake you to the core and make you feel
embarrassed by the way the world moves on.
The story
doesn’t end at around Majnu and Soumya’s college life. A bit later we get
introduced to Varsha and Millie. The former is a student and classmate of
Majnu. She rather takes over Soumya when Majnu moves on. Millie is another
orphan who once resided with Majnu in the same orphanage. The life story of
Millie i.e. from being orphan to found abandoned on the roadside is going to
stay with you for long. Hope no one gets fate like her. The story staged
against the cosmopolitan backdrop of Hyderabad is intense and has more to offer
than it portrays. The plot, narrative, and language usage all set in perfect
flow to form a terrific story that anytime challenges the stratum of the Indian
society.
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