“The quintessential Indian story of a quintessential small town Indian teen.”
In India where cricket is a many a times much more than just a sport, it becomes a religion. Though this is a cliché so seldom used the truth is not far from it. Romi is a small town Indian boy, in love with cricket and religious in worship of his god ‘Sachin Tendulkar’, living in a room filled with the legends of the game and a ball hanging from the ceiling. His obsession with cricket is among the many things that makes him not so unique in the nation. He and his gang of similar minded friends who ballet over the coveted pitches in the large maidans are what can be claimed a familiar sighting almost everywhere in India.
The many mischiefs and the petty
rivalries, the apprehension with girls and the secret infatuations are
something every Indian boy would know all too well. The technicalities of this story and the
various aspects of cricket, though it gives the story authenticity is not what
makes it a great story but the simple things that every one of us can relate to
is what makes it possible for us.
The author, Mr. Raheja has
attempted to recreate the life of a quintessential kid and his life, his
emotions, the complexities and challenges of life faced by them with
substantial success. The narrative is fluid as it travels from one encounter to
another. The way the friendships are build and fostered and the many lessons of
life that we learn as we walk alongside Romi and his gang of friends as they
chase down their dreams on and off the pitch is mesmerizing.
With such a seemingly simple
story the author attempts to drive home many great virtues that we now find
only in the sleepy town and fosters the idea that winning is not everything. He
shows us through Romi and his life that there are something more important that
winning and that there is always a factor of luck involved in it. He makes one
realize that certain failures in life are not really failures and that they
most certainly does not mean that we are not good enough but on the contrary
that we are good enough
Romi is what every one of us has
been, or is still is. The various images that the author draws up are things we
ourselves have lived through in our childhood days. Either we are Romi or one
among his gang or we know Romi or one among his gang. Part of Tushar Raheja’s success lays in the
fact that the story is so close to most us on a personal basis and that one can
easily relate to the many characters in the story. He has done away with
needless descriptions and literary opulence in exchange for simple to read
story that one can take with him. This after all is a quintessential Indian
story of a quintessential small town Indian teen.
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