Book 1/156 - Reading Challenge 2020 - 'Dopehri' (the afternoon)

I pledged to read 3 books a week this year (i.e. 156 books in 2020) and the first one has been 'Dopehri' (meaning 'afternoon') by popular Indian theatre and TV actor Pankaj Kapur. 

Not as filled with hope and optimism as a new dawn, and not as soaked in regret as twilight, a 'dopehri' is somewhere in between - a balmy afternoon that still retains a few possibilities. For the 65-year old protagonist called 'Amma Bi', life is just chugging along like a rickety car, with the usual bumps and scrapes. With her son and his family settled abroad and her husband dead, she only has her domestic help and an occasional visit from a friend as company. Every afternoon, some strange sounds scare her and make her acutely aware of her loneliness and vulnerability.

She considers moving to an old age home to have more company, but somehow the idea falls through. With wry, subtle humour, the writer takes one through the travails of her life and her strained but important relationship with her wilful manservant, Jumman.

The latter half of the book is all about how the drifting Amma Bi discovers her own identity and purpose in life. Using metaphors like that of an aged 1936 Austin car parked in the house with weeds growing all over it, the writer makes us painfully aware of how desolate Amma Bi's life really is. The stunning crescendo as she rises like a Phoenix to reclaim her life is powerful indeed, and one can't help but cheer for the resilience of the protagonist as she holds up her rediscovered identity.

A powerful quote from a great philosopher comes to mind:

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

The book was a serendipitous discovery, while browsing at an airport bookstore, and a great start to the reading journey of 2020.