Durga Puja in Bangalore

Durga Puja is an annual festival that celebrates worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. Durga Puja festival marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura. Thus, Durga Puja festival epitomizes the victory of Good over Evil. Durga Puja is widely celebrated across Indian, particularly in the states of Assam and West Bengal where it is a long annual holiday. Being born and brought up in Assam I can say confidently that just like the festival of Bihu, Durga puja is also secular in nature where people from all communities and walks of life participate.

In Bangalore, every year the Bengali and Assamese associations work really hard for the togetherness and warmness of Durga Puja. As far as the Assamese cultural and community welfare organizations are concerned, the Assam Association Bangalore (AAB) is quite renowned. AAB is the nodal organization which binds and unites the entire community present in Bangalore together through various social, cultural and community welfare activities and initiatives throughout the year. The association takes great pride in creating initiatives which showcases the rich, varied and proud cultural legacy and heritage of Assam and in the process create a bridge of respect, harmony and bonhomie between the people of Assam and Karnataka by drawing similarities and parallels.

Durga Puja celebration is such an extravaganza in Assam that I couldn’t avoid mentioning about it in my debut fiction novel Story of Tublu. Located for a major part in the northeast of the country, the narrative is full of anthropological details of lives of people in that part of India some of which are well-known and some less known.

An excerpt from Story of Tublu:

"Autumn has arrived and the town turned wonderful. The fragrance of jasmine and several wild blossoms drifted through the air from the rich flora all around. The weather was magnificent, and after the monsoon the tea garden looked refreshingly green and mesmeric. Maina arrived home and she looked different. She had become more beautiful and confident. In her new shoulder length haircut, she was looking more trendier than before. Tublu was delighted to see her, but he was also anxious and felt apprehensive about something.

Durga puja holidays are always the best in this part of the world. All the schools and colleges remain closed for almost a couple of weeks. The puja celebration is simply amazing. It’s a very significant socio-cultural event and people prepare puja pandals all over the town. It’s a fabulous time for everyone and particularly youngsters, to hang out with friends. People come out on the streets in the evening, wearing their best possible outfits to experience the carnival. That’s the time when young hearts usually collide, leading to some beautiful bonding."


This Autumn is going to be different. Well, I’m putting up a stall in the upcoming Durga puja fest organized by Assam Association Bangalore, where I will exhibit my debut book.

Venue:

Sir M Vishveshwaraya College Grounds Near Kemp Fort Mall,
Murugeshpalya, Old (HAL) Airport Road, Bangalore-560017

(18 - 22 October 2015)




Grab a copy of my debut book Story of Tublu from Amazon or Flipkart. It is a Contemporary Fiction novel, published by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life. 

My First Print Media Experience

Few days back one lady named Kimaya Varude contacted me through Facebook. She said that she’s from Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media, Bangalore. They do news stories for their college publication, The Weekly Observer. I was ecstatic to hear from her that she read excerpts from my debut novel “Story of Tublu” and was thinking if she could do a profile on me? Kimaya wanted to focus on the struggles of becoming an author and how this book helped me with it. They wanted to do a story that highlights the struggles of becoming an author for starters with a focus on me and my book.

Well, I am really overjoyed with my first print media experience. A very heartfelt thanks to Kimaya for writing about me and my debut novel in the Weekly Observer. Sharing the link below; my story is on the last page.

http://issuu.com/theweeklyobserver/docs/main_file_issue_24

Story of Tublu is available at:

Book Launch of Story of Tublu

As we were entering the venue I was thrilled to see so many people around. We had to walk a long way before we reached the arena. The immediate thing that came to my mind was that of Palace Ground, Bangalore. During the last decade we had experienced it many times, walking long distance through the narrow road to reach palace ground to savor live metal concert. But this time it was different, it was a book fair, that too New Delhi World Book Fair. I was feeling proud as I was going to attend the book launch of my debut novel, but my age old stage phobia was making me nervous. 

It was a nice feeling to be among some of the prominent and veteran authors. I almost felt like a toddler there. Totally nine books were launched that day by LiFi Publications Pvt Ltd, on 20th Feb 2015. Well, . When it was my turn I was more than happy. Like others I also had to say something about my book. I thought to say many things, but my stage fright overwhelmed me at once. I don’t remember when last time I held the mic, before this. I stated to fumble and thought I better not speak much. To ease the situation I read the beautiful passage from my book, the Foreword  by Dr Harish Narang. Later, professor Narang gave a wonderful review of "Story of Tublu" to the crowd. 

The question hour session was fine, I was pretty comfortable that time. It seemed gradually I was able to overcome my stage fright. As the chief guest, Dr Narang gave such a wonderful review of my book, some people had a few questions. Dr Narang replied in a very elegant way. I still remember one of his sentence while he was replying to the questions, "when I read Story of Tublu, I felt like, it was coming from the heart and reaching the heart"

All in all, it was a wonderful experience to be part of the book launch. I hope someday I will overcome my stage phobia. 

Story of Tublu will be available in Amazon and Flipkart soon.

Story of Tublu, Book Launch Date Confirmed

My debut novel Story of Tublu is getting launched on 20th February 2015 at the New Delhi World Book Fair. I find it difficult to digest, but yes, now officially I have become an author. Well, it was an wonderful journey, right from the moment I made up my mind to write a novel, that too a fiction. I would like to share the acknowledgment page of my  book.

                                                              Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to my friends, my blog readers and many others who are the main source of my inspiration and encouragement. It’s only through blogging that I developed a habit of writing. Thanks to all my blogger friends to be with me all the time. I would like to thank my wife, Anjali who always supported and encouraged me irrespective of many ups and downs of life. Special thanks to my school friend, Arundhati Hazarika; you are the first reader of my book. Your reviews always encouraged me and made me feel more confident about my first novel. Thanks a lot for your effort in editing the book before I sent it across to the publishers.

Story of Tublu, Book Trailer

I was thinking of making a short trailer for my upcoming debut novel. Last week I asked my cousin brother, Russo, to help me on this. Few years back, Russo and some other professionals had a dream. They all were story tellers and believed in the audio visual medium. A dream they thoroughly christened as "24 sticks", a salutation to every frame they shoot. Today 24 Sticks had evolved into a full-fledged audio visual production team. They offer video production service for documentaries, marketing and advertisement needs. 

They have created a video trailer for my upcoming novel, Story of Tublu, which will be released this Feb. Book launch of ‘Story of Tublu’ is confirmed at the New Delhi World Book Fair. It might launch in Kolkata Book Fair as well, yet to get a confirmation from the publisher. 

                                                          Story of Tublu, Book Trailer

Story of Tublu - Review by Prof Harish Narang

Dr Harish Narang is a professor of Centre for English Studies, School Language, Literature & Culture Studies, JNU. He is also the General Council of Sahithya Akademy, New Delhi. I am grateful to him that he took out time from his busy schedule to read my book. This is what Prof Narang has to say about my first novel.

In a recent study, Harvard Business Review called it 'a strategic tool with irresistible power'. The tool being spoken about is nothing but the age old art of storytelling - something that began with the dawn of humanity and that will last as long as humanity does. Over time, the art of storytelling has undergone a sea change - both in its content as well as the manner of narration. By the time the twentieth century arrived, it had become really esoteric. However, as the Harvard Business Review put it, you need to have a good story’ because 'as humans we know that stories work'.

Story of Tublu which the writer Jahid Akhtar calls 'An amazing journey called life' is one such story. The writer has certainly a story to tell – that of Tanmay alias Tublu and his father Bipin Bora and many others - and he knows how to tell it. Hemingway had once observed that the best way to tell a story is to tell as straight as possible and this is what Jahid Akhtar has done in the novel. 

Tublu and his father have a dream run in their lives after meeting Mr. Sharma when their home was destroyed by the surging Brahamputra, things keep on happening around them: Mr. Sharma, having helped Bipin and his son Tublu, develops cancer, arranges his daughter Maina’s marriage hurriedly with Suraj who commits suicide within days of the marriage. But there are many more twists and turns in the story before Tublu who had a secret crush on Maina since the childhood, is united with Maina in marriage thereby bringing the novel to a close.

In this age of post-modernist narration, where medium is the message and method has had replaced the content, Jahid Akhtar’s novel Story of Tublu is refreshingly different from many novels being written by Indians today. Located for a major part in the northeast of the country, the narrative is full of anthropological details of lives of people in that part of India, some of which are well-known and some less known. The end, in some ways, is predictable and not full of suspense as many stories these days are. And yet the writer manages to keep the readers’ interests alive until the inevitable happens, that is, until Tublu and Maina – a widowed mother of a five-year old son, located in Berlin get married.

All in all a very racy, engaging readable book.

Harish Narang

                                                                       Coming Soon...

My New Year Resolution

I was always a person who never believed in making resolutions. When I see people making New year resolution, I usually remain silent. I had never made any such resolutions, until the beginning of 2014. I don’t know what happened to me that time; I made a New Year resolution that I would complete my first novel and try to get it published. It worked out smoothly and it was fun. “Story of Tublu” will be published soon. 

So, resolutions do work. This New Year, I’m thinking much bigger. I think with a little determination it can be achieved. Well, my New Year resolution is that I will quit smoking permanently.

This should be the final book cover. Coming soon!!

My First Novel

The story starts in the late eighties, in a small picturesque town of Assam. Devastated by the floods, Bipin and his little boy Tublu move to a faraway land, where they meet the Sharma’s. This marks the beginning of a long and enduring relationship between Bipin and the Sharma’s, and the growing friendship of their children Tublu and Maina. The book captures the journey of this friendship through childhood to adolescence and into adulthood. From some interesting school and college humor, the story progresses on and develops into a mature narrative. As years pass, Tublu’s plain and silent crush on Maina develops into deep love and longing for Maina which bears the potential to conquer all of life’s challenges. The story starts in a small town in India and ends in Berlin. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.


Genre: Fiction

"The Story of Tublu" coming soon to entertain you all !!