Title : Dolmens in the Blue Mountain
Author : Kandathil Sebastian
Blurb : Most of us still dream and hope to
find ways out beyond violence and corruption. Using dolmens (single-chambered
tombs constructed, dates back to Neolithic period 4000 to 3000 BC), as a
metaphor, Dolmens in the Blue Mountain explores the meaning of life and death
in the context of migrations of Kerala’s Syrian Christian community, and the
struggle for survival of tribal communities in the Western Ghats mountain
ranges.
The story revolves around the
lives of three brothers. One of them migrated to Canada. The second one joins a
Delhi based NGO, bogged down by a corrupt and callous system, was forced to
quit his job on moral grounds. The third one stayed back in Kerala, but got
into conflict with the radicalized tribal community.
Will the brothers, inspired by the dolmens, which taught them the meaning
of living in harmony with nature, without compromising the resource needs of
poor people and future generations, be able to fulfill their dreams and
aspirations?
About The Author: Dr. K. S. Sebastian lives in Delhi
with his family of three school going children and wife Neena. He holds a
Master degree in social work and a PhD degree in Public Health from Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi. He worked in the development sector for more than
two decades in varying capacities, ranging from a ‘grass roots level community
worker’ to Director of an international foundation. His work took him to
various parts of the world and provided opportunity to work closely with key
players in the sector, across the planet. As researcher, program planner,
implementer, and evaluator of social and economic development programs, he got
an opportunity to understand the inside out of development work, but was
disenchanted with the sector and decided to quit the job to take up writing and
freelance consulting. This is his debut fiction novel, though he has been
publishing research based papers, advocacy materials, and training manuals as
part of his work.
Dr. Sebastian originally hails from a remote village in Kerala, born to
illiterate parents; he survived a childhood of poverty and hardship. The life
of one of the protagonist of this story is a documentation of author’s own life
largely, and real life characters inspire most of the events of this story.
My View :
The first question after reading the
title arises in my mind is that – what are the dolmens? And after that a series
of questions are loaded in my mind viz. Is it a person’s name? Is it a valuable
thing? Is it the protagonist’s name or some kind of mystery residing in the
story? Why they are in mountains? The
beautiful cover of the book was also unable to locate the answers of my
questions.
After reading the blurb I got a blur
hint about the story. Then there comes the foreword residing at the very first
page of the book. The foreword clearly explains the
meaning of the dolmens; the dolmens are single-chambered tombs constructed by a
simple technique of placing three or more upright stones supported by a large
flat horizontal stone which are visible on the cover page of the book.
The book holds an interesting tale to
read and has a lot more to discover. The episodes in the book are very deeply
described by the author. After reading the description about strobilanthes
flowers I was so excited that I couldn’t resist myself to scrutinize more about
it. The fact that blooming of strobilanthes flower happens once in 12 years
made me quite flabbergasted and I was filled with curiosity to locate more
surprising facts in the book. The beginning of the story is slow paced but it
becomes fascinating to read when the story unfolds the main characters i.e. the
three brothers.
The writing style of the author is
simple. Author has done a lucid narration
in his book. The way he describes the different places seems realistic which
was making me glued to the book. I must say that author has done a fine
research to complete his book which the reader can feel while sailing the
reading voyage ahead. A few events in the story are not well sketched which
will kindle the feeling of boredom in the reader’s mind.
All in all a good book to spend time
with. A nice read!
Rating : 4/5
Reviewer : Megha Biloniya
For reviews contact - wordcurd@gmail.com
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