Kevein Books and Reviews

Munoo, a 14-year-old orphan, is the hero of Mulk Raj Anand’s great novel Coolie. The plot revolves around him, and accordingly, the storyline is based on humanitarian values like his previous work 'Untouchable'. The story portrays the clever methods and the wits taken up by the hill boy who's forcibly out of his hilly village to earn a livelihood. In the process, he gets exposed to the world's depressing realities. In the quest of identity and some means for sustenance, he takes the ways along with some equally socially and economically downtrodden people to towns and cities of India. The plight of his fate stretches from Shimla to Bombay, but he finds no solace. Often found labouring hard either as a home servant, factory-worker, or rickshaw puller. Everywhere he goes, is being exploited, making his survival a fight to fend for himself. The fight for survival highlights, with unrefined propinquity, the sad providence of the underprivileged people of colo...

The novel – Untouchable needs no introduction for an Indian reader because its background is well known to him.   The very title is a telltale.                         Humanism, which is the key concept of his novels like Untouchable and Coolie, reveals man’s essential dignity and nobility. According to this approach to man – man is the creative source of infinite possibilities. Mr. Anand is a humanist who reveals the essential dignity of the underdogs of Indian society. Anand in all his novels emphasizes the fact that nobility and dignity are not the monopoly of the rich. The poor have their greatness, honour as well as the richness. This humanism is the central theme of his novels. His humanism justifies that man is man, be he a sweeper, a prince or a coolie. The novel Untouchable has the confrontation between tradition and modernity. Anand realized t...

Like many other poor peasants Hori too wants to own a cow in a hope to elevate his puny social status to some height of self-importance. Much opposite to his circumstances, he purchases a cow at a debt of 80 rupees. However, things spiraled out of his control when he tries to cheat his younger brother, Heera, by 10 rupees. This haggle causes a huge fight between Dhaniya (Hori’s wife) and Heera’s wife. Heera poisons the cow and runs away to avoid being caught by the Police. To settle down the cow’s death matter, Hori takes some loan from a moneylender and bribes the police. On the other hand, Gobar (Hori’s son) has an affair with a widow Jhunia. When Jhunia is pregnant with his child, Gobar runs away to the city to escape the wrath of the villagers. But then Jhunia is taken into care by Hori and his family. Because of Jhunia’s issue, the village Panchayat orders Hori to pay a penalty amount for his son’s deeds. Thus, Hori again takes the loan from moneylenders.   ...

'Five Point Someone’ by Chetan Bhagat is a casual read, hence a nationwide hit. The book has nothing to do with IIT’s entrance criteria nor does it focus on the core nature of the elite institute. The story revolves around three characters: Ryan, Alok, and Hari (the narrator). These 3 boys (more of like common idiots) find themselves unable to cope up with the academic protocols of IIT. So they grow recalcitrant, a bit more than the teenage angst, to resist Prof. Cherian’s terror, but instead land up in a mess of trouble. The tone of the book is humorous and at times takes dark turns while covering the family background of the characters. Prof. Veera’s character makes this book a bit going and riveting as he helps these boys to cope up a bit. Not many characters are involved in this book. The story ends on a vapid note. The theme of the book is different; though based on college life. The book is a mega hit across India, in fact the first to differ from the core literary ...

So, the India-Pakistan theme is back. Though rarely, but this time through a book. Good one, the book by Siddharth Thorat is a spy-politico thriller. Being a fresh writer, he has put in the best of best efforts. The pace and plot of the book surely keep readers riveted. Sanjay and Shezad are the two prime characters of this book. The latter belongs to Pakistani Army, an elite officer, who creeps into India through Kashmir with some ferocious militants to throw an attack on the Indian soil. However, Indian Intelligence being superior to them; traces them down, and abort their operation just at the start, in Mumbai. The main charm of the book lies in tracing them (militants). That involves a lot of meetings, scanning and interconnected relationship between the various agencies and bureaus. The writer has carefully used over 50 abbreviations to make the most of the climaxes. And at the end, he also provided a useful glossary so that naïve readers can link up their mind w...

Kamla Das was a terrific writer whenever the topic of expressing adverse situations of women in our society arose. She held a tough and bold stance in the support of women-power rising and women empowerment. Many critics express that her writing was full of feministic streaks and often sounded one-sided, well in reality a lot of pain in her writing was spiraled from her own life’s experiences. She was a bold writer that challenged the patriarchal nature of the society. In the anthology of short stories ‘The Kept Woman and Other Stories’, Kamala Das explores the plight, agony and various woeful issues of women in her own country, India. All stories have been put forward through women’s point of view and each story is based around a girl or woman, varying in transitions, like a young girl remembering her grandmother, a matured keep in the custody of a politician, a girl’s despicable marriage in the neighborhood and so on. Her focus was to shed light on events that often remain...

Boys without Names is a captivating title. However, as the story advances it becomes predictable. Gopal- a teenager from a village - arrives in Mumbai with his family to find work to overcome their poverty status. Instead of finding work in a right way, he lands in the wretched child labour mess. In a decrepit home, on the outskirts of the city, he is put to work along with some more boys. There the boys are being herded and tortured by an ugly and stout man (he is also nameless). They work and live in strict confinement without knowing each other’s name, like aloof prisoners.  At times, the writer takes Gopal back to his village and often shows his deep emotional touch with his family and its hardship. One can profess that like Mulk Raj Anand’s books the theme of the book is based on humanitarian compassion, but somehow the shallow intensity of the characters and their less-defined roles makes it a wishy-washy read. And other boys’ accounts and backgrounds have totally...