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Book Review: Devri by Prateek Shrivastav

Devri is a literary masterpiece that evokes emotions and aesthetics of the bygone era seeded in small towns and villages. Penned down by a tech professional, the book takes readers to simplicity of small towns and villages of India and shows how life there is different, engaging, meaningful  but away from the concrete jungles of cities and buzz of traffic chaos.


Devri is a fictional town created in Central India around the Vindhyachal mountain range. The author beautifully paints life of small villages and a town surrounding the backdrop cynosure: Devri. How do you look upon a small-town collection of short stories, for sure it will remind one of a railway station, fairs and festivals, nature and animals...this collection brims with every kind of literary appeasement that you might anticipate while reading it.

However, the author kept two broad aspects mixed: irony and simplicity. In the story, the Interwoven Dreams, we get to know why someone wants to leave village and their heritage at the mercy of others. This story is about a boy looking forward for a dazzling career however in a city, leaving the legacy of his parents. On the contrary side, we have a story that brings a girl from Mumbai to restore her lineage in a fort at the cost of her settled career in Mumbai. You need to find out which that story is?

Such simple charm dissolving collection cannot be bereft of railway stories, and there we have a couple of them. Two lonely people feel the love of their life in an empty waiting room. Whilst in another story, an orphaned boy finds solace and comforts in a kind vendor at Devri's unattractive empty station. Humanity and humour runs parallel in Prateek's world building. He lets readers feel that era of 90s and early 200s. Most of the readers will find a connection with the book instantly, subsequently liking as well.

Temple and tiger stories lend a mystical dimension to the narrative – the prowess of such simple stories can be so dearly engaging is just beyond a thought. However, many stories run high on messages of love, duty, nature conservation, faith on divine intervention, and human aspirations that never take a dip even in the most unlikely situations. Devri comes as a round circle, the stories are not speculative but in some sense pragmatic as well. Writing such a powerful collection with lucid narration is a commendable work. Nothing seemed fake…or hurried up. This is a work that lovers of Ruskin Bond and Sudha Murthy can look forward to add in their bookshelves.

No matter what story you pick up, it will sway you with its charm.

The feeling of being there...in the fairs, up the mountains, on the railway platforms...keeps you unsettled, the nostalgia hits hard...yet you relish and cherish your bygone days and wish to be there once again by reversing the tick tock of the time's clock.

Amazing book, highly recommended!

The book can be bought from Amazon/Kindle

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