Coming Home
Smitha Vishwanath
Publisher: Books etc.
Pages: 344
Price Rs. 490
Divided into five chapters, and spread over 344 pages, Coming Home by Smitha Vishwanath is a debut novel, which does not look like one. The manner in which Vishwanath wields the pen, shows an effortless ease which is the hallmark of a seasoned writer- a writer who is pretty comfortable with the way her pen cruises over new terrains and landscapes, the way she delineates characters, the way she describes nature, and the way she dwells on minute details.
An example: “A beige and red handbag stood on the table-its mouth wide open. On the floor, a pair of black trousers and a white chiffon shirt lay in a heap taking her back to the day when there had been a sliver of hope…” P 25
Sitting in the plane returning to India from Dubai, on 1 January, 2006, peering through the dusty glass window, Shanaya was thinking of her mother- fair, freckled, with kohl -lined eyes and long waist length hair. However, she had not seen her after the hair fall after seven rounds of chemo. ‘Swallowing the lump in her throat, Shanaya brushed away the tears that escaped her eye with the back of her hand- how would they manage if something happened to Mamma? How would she manage?” p 16
As you read on, you feel a tingling sensation in the eyes. Her mother’s death at fifty two, who had raged against the dying of the light, is a cruel blow to her. After the eleventh day rituals, she heads back to Dubai, to her job, colleagues and friends, Thishani and Zara, reluctantly leaving her father behind.
Younger sister Maira, leaves for college, regretting that she couldn’t spend some sister-time with her elder sister. A howling vacuity keeps her company, and everything in Dubai reminds her of her mother, who ‘had been the thread that had kept the family together; in her absence they ran the risk of ripping apart. Every time the girls spoke to each other, it was as if they were navigating their way across the ocean without a compass.” P 38
Coming Home, is a coming of age story of Shanaya, the twenty six year old protagonist, a real flesh and blood character – warm, affectionate, compassionate, with a sense of humor, but not devoid of flaws. We slowly find her grabbing the steering wheels of her life, rethinking her past decisions, and with a clear mind mulling over the options before her.
Smitha Vishwanath also has a deep love for nature. Her pen dwells lovingly on hills, verdant greenery, hillocks, boats lazily bobbing in the waters, snow- white seagulls, water hyacinths, lilies, gurgling sound of the backwaters, the dappled sunlight and meandering mountain springs.
In Kerala,
“The sky was the lightest shade of blue, dotted with clouds which looked like cotton balls…If colour could describe a place, then green defined Kerala, trees, shrubs , moss, creepers and lichens grew uninhabited over lampposts, crevices and telephonic poles.” [The Hills are Alive P 166]
That she is widely travelled, having worked in a multi-cultural environment, is very well reflected in the novel.
Two back page blurbs, speak in glowing terms about the novel.
In one of them, Madhulika Liddle, novelist and short story writer, says, “The story of how she finds love and her way in life makes for satisfying reading and the evocative descriptions of places traversed are the icing on the cake.”
Author of Patna Blues and A Man from Motihari, Abdullah Khan says that the “multi- layered characters stay with you even after you have finished reading the book.” Indeed they do- because they are people you see all around you- all the time , not some angels descended from the blue beyond, attired in cloaks of pristine goodness.
Through a dexterous use of words, she makes us peep into her inner turmoil, and the apprehensions plaguing her. Her relations with her late mother, father, sister, her rapport with her friends and colleagues is palpably real. Verbosity does not characterize her writing style- effortlessness does, words flowing freely, complex emotions dealt with in a free- flowing, unencumbered style.
Wonderfully published by Books etc, this novel of 344 pages is indeed a delight to read. Throughout the novel, the curiosity bug clung to me, nudging me to delve deeper into the pages to find out, what follows. What followed was indeed fascinating. While the reader inhales Munnar’s luxuriant beauty, Shanaya makes serendipitous discoveries- the smile of a supposed stranger reminds her of someone she had met long back. Or was it the beauty of Munnar that was making her deliriously romantic?
Embellished with inspirational quotes, the dialogues have a spontaneous flow, pulling the reader right into the middle of the conversation.
Three years after her mother’s death, she has quit her job in Dubai, and come back to India to hold her family together. Next, we find her in Munnar- meeting Dr. Suresh, her fiancée, to whom she has been engaged in absentia trying ‘to catch up on the past four years in thirty minutes’. She also happens to meet Jai for the second time. The earlier one was as a stranger sitting next to her on a seven hour flight to Hong Kong in the year 2004, traversing many countries Dubai-US-Bangalore-Mangalore- Mumbai together.
Now, the confused girl is precariously perched on the horns of a dilemma!
In the Epilogue, we see Shanaya, in a state of nervous excitement on the beach under a pale blue sky, the soft sand, cool beneath her feet.
What is she looking forward to? The reader reads on with an equal degree of nervous excitement.
“Standing on the shore, she witnessed the sunrise- a ball of flaming yellow…
Life had been kind to her- It had shaped her, like a pebble, shaped by the sea- smoothening her rough edges and polishing her to become the person she currently was.” P 341
Fighting her demons, her dilemmas, and her memories of her mother, she had finally emerged from her anguish, a rejuvenated soul, with new dreams in her eyes, and a spring in her walk. Having listened to that inner voice and her intuition, letting go of the emotional baggage, no more falling victim to dilly- dallying, she is eventually ashore, the confusion, and loneliness laid to rest. All dots connected, all blank spaces filled.
In short, in this debut novel, Vishwanth has successfully managed in weaving together a muti- textured story, with interesting characters, vivid descriptions of locales, their sights, sounds and splendor.
Traversing through the external and interior landscape, navigating uneven terrain, getting bruised and nicked along the way, the feisty protagonist plods on- And is home- ‘Victory’ finally hers!
Smitha Vishwanath deserves praise for this commendable debut novel.
about the reviewer
Internationally acclaimed for her poetic biography of Mahatma Gandhi, Ballad of Bapu, and the biography of Martin Luther King Jr. [Vitasta] Santosh Bakaya, PhD, poet, essayist, novelist, biographer, Tedx speaker, has written twenty-three very well- received books across different genres. Morning Meanderings is her popular column in learning andcreativity.com.