Book Review: Beyond What Meets the Eye by Sameera Kotta

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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