GARNETS UNDER MY GULMOHAR - A SUSPENSE SAGA BY CHETNA KEER - BOOK REVIEW

Chetna Keer’s writing is never predictable. It does not flow like a serene river from one point to another; instead, it leaps from crag to crag leading to sudden dips that make the readers hold their breath. It meanders across the plain for a split second, and once again, takes an unexpected turn into the unknown.

The unforgettable Lollita aka Laasyanga Mansingh makes an appearance once again in Garnets Under My Gulmohar, the sequel to Giddha on My Gulmohar, published by Readomania. While the latter was more of a satire, Chetna’s latest offering is more on the lines of a suspense novel even though its exquisite crimson cover screams of romance.  

The Reading Room at Kussowlie Club is the backdrop for the Strolley Storylovers’ Book Club consisting of six steady bibliophiles, along with a mysterious seventh member. The Book Club is suddenly thrown into mayhem as a woman is found dead in a bathtub and the news channels run amok trying to conjure up the most bizarre reasons for the death.

Lollita’s palatial ancestral mansion, Ekaanth, that boasts of a resplendent Gulmohar tree in its courtyard, holds its own secrets within its depths. The nonagenarian matriarch, Bade Beeji, gets the family together to narrate her history “from the diary called Life wherein the binding of buried memories had got unglued.”

 What is the curse that nestles within the mansion so aptly named Ekaanth, the curse borne by the daughters of the haveli? Did the wise Gulmohar hide it within its heart? 

“A blight returns season after season. A curse generation after generation.”

What is the mysterious bespoke legacy that turns into Lollita’s mission, a treasure that she needs to hunt down by sifting through the past and the present? The saga ends in true-Christie style at the masquerade where masks slip and the stunning truth is revealed.

Chetna’s forte lies in her colourful use of idioms, figures of speech and the variation of the length of her sentences. She also waxes eloquent about her equally colourful characters like Bhopa Singh and his black umbrella, Bholi Punjabban, the Grande Dame’s cat, the Seventh Bibliophile and his Gucci fetish and even inanimate objects like the haveli’s roshandaan, the Banana Rack and the telescopic table in whose “blemished, scratched visage she saw etched chapters from the days gone by.”

There is a great deal of craftsmanship that goes into Chetna’s writing… her need to fashion the most appropriate word or phrase comes through in her narrative. She also takes care to pepper her writing with literary allusions to the greats like Sahir Ludhianvi, Kahlil Gibran, Rumi (the book is replete with his quotes) and Amrita Pritam. Besides being a prolific writer, Chetna also reveals herself as a chronicler bridging the past and the present, the Partition and the pandemic, blending these references with the flamboyant modern style that is so uniquely her own. Climate change is another aspect that she touches upon even as she pinpoints her protagonist as a climate warrior with a “citizen conscience and climate consciousness”. Above all, a strong mystical element runs through the fibre of the book, one that reflects her own persona as deeply spiritual.

Thus, Garnets Under my Gulmohar comes across as a melange of many diverse elements coming together in a harmonious blend. This is a book that boasts of many layers hidden under a veneer of sophistication and modernity.

Buying Links: 

https://www.amazon.in/Garnets-Under-Gulmohar-Chetna-Keer/dp/9391800505