A Mirrored Life by Rabisankar Bal , translated by Arunava Asinha

There are stories. Always. Stories about people , about other stories , about people telling the stories , about stories new and old and forgotten alike. Stories liek books reach you by fate. And its fate that sent Ibn Battuta on his travels , reciting and collecting tales of Rumi known to most as Maulana.

Followers of Rumi present Battuta with a manuscript of Rumi's life stories and he goes away from Konya spreading them. It is like he takes all the beauty and love form Konya ( the birthplace of Rumi ) in his heart and the gifts from fellow travellers and followers. The stories he shares are amazed as much as amazing 'cause they flow endlessly entwined with daily life of commoners.
For me these were all conversations , like snippets from an evening , the aroma of favorite cup of chai on a relaxing day. I was hooked to the book from the first page and more when the author mentions that no one can reproduce the stories as they were born. We can only share the qissa but not the physical surroundings or the emotional state of the people involved. And this is the same for this review I am writing.
I am so lucky I got to read this book that questions the answers and answers new questions. It was a difficult book to finish within a short time and I am guilty of avoiding reading more than few pages every now and then.
Do yourself a favor and read this book. ASAP.
My rating : 5/5 

Buy the book here 

Dozakhnama by Rabishankar Bal

Author: Rabisankar Bal
Translated by: Arunava Sinha
ISBN-13: 9788184003086
Publisher: Random House India
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 544

Have you ever been burnt by a book? Been trapped between its pages, gasping for air? Have you felt that if you read any more you'd die; but if you didn't read, you'd die anyway? If you've not had the pleasure of such a pain, read Dozakhnama.

Page after page of this book, I've been burned. Page after page, I've suffered as a reader. Page after page, I've yo-yoed from heaven to hell and back. I've seen creations divine, and endured the labour pains that every creation demands. Author Rabishankar Bal takes you through the agonising journey of two creators of beauty and if you are a writer/poet yourself, the book feels like a kick in the gut. And yet I held on, read it as slowly as I could, wishing this sweet pain would never end.

Dozakhnama is originally a Bengali novel by acclaimed author, Rabishankar Bal and it has been translated into English by Arunava Sinha. Between its pages lie Saadat Hasan Manto and Mirza Ghalib conversing with each other from their graves. The sutradhar is an author who has stumbled upon an unpublished work of Manto's and has set out to translate it. In this mysterious manuscript is recorded this fantastical conversation between modern Urdu writer, Manto and one of the greatest poets in Indian history, Ghalib.

Speaking across nearly a century, Manto and Ghalib share the stories of their lives with ghosts for company in the night. Manto and Ghalib take turns in every alternate chapter to share a piece of their lives and soon the line between historical facts and fiction is blurred. Bal owns their voices with such confidence that one is loathe to believe that the words are not really Manto's or Ghalib's. Sprinkled with little dastaans and poetry by greats like Mir and Rumi and of course, Ghalib, the book charts not just the life of these two artists, but also the literary ethos of India from the 19th through the 20th centuries.

Though far removed from each other in time, Ghalib's and Manto's journeys seem similar. But then, all artists have journeys like these - travelling through their personal dozakhs, their private hells while creating honest art. Ghalib and Manto both had their share of love, poverty, victory, heartbreak, alcoholism, and persecution for their truth, their words. Ghalib's India at the end of Mughal rule, and Manto's India at the end of British rule are very different, yet the trials of an artist's life are the same, the cycle of pain and creation neverending. Bal chronicles their lives and poetry and pain in one seamless breath, creating this masterpiece of a book. A thought must also be spared for Arunava Sinha and how he too must have partaken of this fire when translating this book. It's brilliant and I believe none of the effulgence of the original work was lost in translation.

Do yourself a favour. Read this book.

RATING: 4/5