Oftener than not, reading a book like Ever Glow—by Nandita Bose—I wonder what life would have been like had I taken the ‘road lesser travelled?’ I remember with great affection, Thakur Surbeer Singh—that scholar extraordinaire of the Tehri Darbar—who took me under his wing on my graduation from a local college in the hills.“Would you like to go on a scholarship to Shantiniketan for your Master’s?” he asked me.
I was young. I did not pursue it. I blew it. Sometimes when the going gets hard, I look back with regret for not having a better ear for music or rue my inability to paint anything more than a squiggle. These come naturally to those who have touched the hem of Bolpur.
Take Disha, who finds herself homeless after her father’s death in Hamirpur and is brought to Kolkata to live with her father’s best friend’s large joint family. She finds herself surrounded by more young men than ever before, even as she sets out to try and fit in with the new pace of a new place; new rhythms and a new household. That is until she meets the star of the family—the second son—Siddhant or Sid. He is the lead guitarist of the rock band, Derozio Dreams, and soon enough he finds out that Disha is a classically trained vocalist. She joins the band.
Music brings them together as Sid initiates her into the band. Of course, this catches the attention of the family, especially the mother who watches this ‘fusion’ with an outsider with the lines drawn on her creased forehead.
Meanwhile, her older sister wants her to return to Hamirpur as a prospective bride for her husband’s cousin. Disha’s destiny hangs by a slender thread. Where do we go from here? I’m not going to tell whether love and music can help Disha and Sid overcome the classic obstacles that rise on their horizon.
Here’s a simple tale of love told in simpler language, without modern-day artifice or craftiness. The words roll from crisp sentences, meshing without effort with one another.
If you go past the first few pages, you will be sold hook, line and sinker to this unputdownable long short story. How I wish the book had been a little fatter. Given the author’s vast repertoire of music, she holds herself back as she takes the uninitiated into the world of a come-to-town-lately rock band and a rock show. She does not let her knowledge drown the reader. A good read. And I did get to Bolpur, though 40 years too late.
Ever Glow
By: Nandita Bose
Publisher: Rupa
Pages: 230
Price: Rs 295