BHUBANESWAR: Every action we do is a goodbye. This observation became the emotional spine of author and journalist Ravi Shankar Etteth’s book ‘The Little Book of Goodbyes’, which was released at the 14th Odisha Literary Festival on Sunday.
In a conversation with consultant and author Lipika Bhushan, Ravi reflected on memory, loss and the inevitability of endings. “The book has emerged from the belief that life is a series of goodbyes. Every moment is a memory of the past,” he said adding, the book explores how we make peace with the last goodbye. As per Ravi, the boundaries between life and writing are very porous. “The people you know, you’re living their story as part of your story. So I think every work is autobiographical in nature,” he said.
Asked how he reconciles painful memories with pleasant ones, Ravi said there was no need to strike a balance. “Bad things happen to you, you don’t have an option, you go on. Good stuff happens to you, you throw a party and you go on,” he said.
The journalist further recalled his experience while covering the Babri Masjid. “Interestingly, I was inside the Babri Masjid when it was being demolished. Through the dust I kind of saw a Sadhu striking a wall with a trident. He saw me and said, you also do it. He handed me the trident and asked me to say Jay Shree Ram and strike it against the wall,” he recollected.
“Years later, when I was writing an investigative piece, Prabhu (Prabhu Chawla) said do not go wild, always step back and look at facts.” The two experiences, he said, stayed with him, to stand back, look at facts and never get emotional. “The book reflects the same sensibility,” Ravi said.