Book Review: Chasing Maya

Here's one of the latest book reviews of Chasing Maya - published as part of Debut Indian Writers Challenge 2013 and Reading Challenge 2013: First Reads

http://thetalespensieve.com/2013/01/28/book-review-chasing-maya/

A Writer's Blog: Thank you for your continued patronage

A Writer's Blog: Thank you for your continued patronage: Dear readers, patrons and well-wishers, please do accept my genuine gratitude and appreciation for making the last six months of my life in...

Thank you for your continued patronage

Dear readers, patrons and well-wishers, please do accept my genuine gratitude and appreciation for making the last six months of my life incredibly special! Your support and encouragement has been an honor and will remain a matchless inspiration throughout my writing career. I rededicate ‘Chasing Maya’ to you all and thank you once again for the continued patronage. Leading online stores such as Flipkart and Infibeam are offering attractive offers on ‘Chasing Maya’. Kindly do spread word… For more details, visit:

http://www.flipkart.com/chasing-maya-9380707355/p/itmd7wa9hmqmspmz
http://www.infibeam.com/Books/chasing-maya-rohan-gogoi/9789380707358.html
http://www.uread.com/book/chasing-maya-rohan-gogoi/9789380707358

Cheers,
Rohan Gogoi

Chasing Maya: An introduction to the characters

Invariably, our lives in this world are driven by some sort of mysterious forces that arise and subsist deep within us. Some of these forces, what we inoffensively call our ill-fate or misfortune, obstinately provoke us to chase illusively unending horizons, diverting us away from the greater purpose of our life, resulting in severe distress and endless frustration.

The characters depicted in this metaphorical fable are essentially the manifestations of some of these forces that human life is ceaselessly influenced and affected by. Though these characters are absolutely fictitious and are purely born out of my mind’s eye, in repeated instances, most of them live the forces and the influences that I have witnessed in the lives of the people around me or have personally experienced in my own life. ‘Chasing Maya’ is my attempt to proffer a perspective to the soul-in-pursuit-of true happiness about transcending the influence of these misleading forces of life.

Among all the characters in the story, the protagonist, Siddhartha Kumar is closest to me. I can relate to quite a few facets of his character…. But largely, he is a representation of the contemporary middle-class urban Indian, who today, in spite of being materially successful, is unhappy, frustrated, disoriented and directionless. I strongly associate with Siddhartha’s struggle around overcoming his obstinate complexes. I am fascinated by how, he, encouraged by the series of mystical experiences along his journey of self-quest, discovers that true happiness is his sole aspiration and concludes that a life of passion is the only means to achieve it.

Another character that really intrigues me is that of Baba Menon. Interestingly, like most other characters in the story, he too is a metaphor. He symbolizes the tendencies of stupor and inactivity that can creep into the psyche of any average human being. Nevertheless, he is a wise man, who, along with his eccentric wisdom, prefers to live in a world of his own. Baba Menon’s character has been conceived to reflect the intense inertness that the protagonist often experiences due to an apparent lack of a drive or a purpose in life.

Dr. Sapatnekar, on the other hand, happens to be my most adored character…. He reminds me of all those, who, since my very young days, have stood by me and guided my way. Dr. Sapatnekar’s character is an archetypical resonance of the protagonist’s inherent capacity to lead a life of genuine passion and true happiness based on his very own sense of direction, purpose and drive….

The characters of Maya, Dolly and Sukhon are inspired by my very own interpretation of various incidents of divergence and dilemma intermittently confronted by my friends from both the sexes. Together, the three women represent the multi-faceted anima of the protagonist. While Maya is the personification of the alluring mirage within him that he chases in sheer imprudence, Sukhon and Dolly stand before him as bold question-marks compelling him to seek undeviating solutions to the unresolved conflicts between his soul and his actions.

The simplest and the most truthful character in the entire story is that of Aparoopa. She lives the promise of a life of unadulterated love and true happiness… I genuinely feel some sort of an innocent pride when at the end of the book she subtly emerges as the source of a serene completeness to the protagonist.

A preview from the first chapter of Chasing Maya...

CHAPTER ONE: BURDEN OF MEDIOCRITY

“Honey, can you switch off the balcony lamps, please…? …And what are you doing there, by the way? It’s two-thirty, honey… Don’t you have to go to work tomorrow? You know it’s a Monday, right?”

…Aparoopa doesn’t ever fail to remind….

A yet another tedious night spent in dire puzzlement and despair and I see the morning sun meekly rising behind the thin ashen clouds… Phew! Pune’s weather can be unbelievably astonishing…

I look through my bedroom window and feel vaguely lost…. Not quite sure if I would really want to go to work today!

I push myself off to the balcony and lit a cigarette... and suddenly a gush of wild thoughts overwhelms me from all around… Why don’t I feel like going to work? Why do I hate my job? Why am I generally disinterested in things that I do? What is it that makes me feel incomplete though the world sees me as a fairly successful man? Why do I always feel that I am stuck and lagging behind? Why am I not happy in life?

“So Mr. Siddhartha Kumar, you didn’t sleep the whole night?” Apu, I mean Aparoopa, sounds terribly annoyed. “Fine, go ahead. Have a great Monday anyway!”

Honk! Honk! God… even these trifling traffic jams can be so irritating! Honk! Honk! Just one more traffic signal to cross and I am there at my office parking – all set to start a yet another eventful week! Evident pretensions, pointless discussions and needless confrontations – that’s the forecast for the week, as usual! In fact for the past nine years, life has ceaselessly been going through the same old stressful grind. Thank God, by now, I have somehow picked up the tactics to manage this world around; otherwise coming this far in my career wasn’t really easy…

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Chasing Maya is now available GLOBALLY!!!

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Times of India: Pune Mirror: Page 31, March 12, 2012

Indian Express: Rohan Gogoi's Chasing Maya released

Indian Express - Pune Newsline - March 09, 2012 (Friday) Page 4

Chasing Maya released at New Delhi World Book Fair

PRESS RELEASE

Pune based author Rohan Gogoi’s debut novel ‘Chasing Maya’ was released at the 20th Biennial New Delhi World Book Fair, the country’s premier book show that was held this year from the 25th of February to the 4th of March at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

Published by New Delhi based Global Vision Press, Gogoi’s novel is set against the backdrop of contemporary urban middle class India and tells the story of a thirty-two-year old individual, who in spite of his evident material success finds himself trapped in the grip of mediocrity – the distress and despair of being no different from millions of others in this world. It further narrates the protagonist’s rather eventful quest for his life of passion and his encounters with situations and people that lead him to astounding revelations.

“Chasing Maya is a beautifully crafted piece of literature. It is deeply philosophical in its essence, but the narration is simple, lucid and intriguing. Rohan has this tremendous ability of interweaving profound thoughts with free-flowing fiction. His style is cosmopolitan; has a universal appeal and holds the promise of reaching out to audiences beyond the boundaries of nationality, ethnicity and culture." commented Prashanta Kaushik, Managing Partner, Global Vision Press.

"Our company has published immortal works of renowned and highly respected authors in the league of Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Amrita Pritam and Khushwant Singh. We were on the lookout for bright and young writers to further extend our heritage of excellence to the English publishing industry. In this endeavour of ours, Rohan has been one of our prized discoveries and the Global Vision Press team is really excited about working with this exceptionally talented story-teller.” Kaushik added.

Chasing Maya will soon be available nationally and internationally through leading bookstores and online channels.

Dr. Indira Parikh endorses 'Chasing Maya'

"The book 'Chasing Maya' is a story of an identity in search of himself. The story is of touching the memories of childhood, escapades of adolescence and burden of adulthood in a slang society. Identity confronts the landscape of life in the wilderness of emotions, the debris of being a prisoner of life, captive of emptiness and rubble of nothingness. From this search the inner journey begins to the old haunts and locations to discover the present. The future beckons the protagonist in touching and discovering the sensuousness of the soul with a new born infant and fatherhood. This is the awakening and touching the emotional response. The book is gripping as it tells a story – everyone’s story of a struggle of an identity to live and touch life and in essence touch, feel and dialogue with itself. The book ends with dreams for tomorrow, hopes in the present and some release, some freedom from the baggage, essentially from baggage of yesterday. Essentially it is a freedom to walk into the unknown. The book will touch every reader’s own life."

- Dr. Indira Parikh, Former Dean, IIM-Ahmedabad

Chasing Maya on The Indian Express Pune Newsline

An ordinary life

The enlightened master
From the eastern woods
Spoke up
In the rarest of his moods...
Nobles, kings and princes
Fell at his feet,
And devoutly listened
To their saviour’s speech…

Said the wise old master
In a voice so divine –
In this world of illusion
Nothing’s yours or mine!

Between the extremes of dichotomy,
He said, lies an unseen sea;
One that gives us wisdom;
One that sets us free!

He said –
Life is an elusive treasure hunt
And the wealth is deep within.
No loss, no failure can ever kill
The eternal hero you have been!
Be aware of the universe inside,
Treat wins and losses alike.
Just be truthful to your own self
And do what you really like!
Thus, over the turn of seasons
And the churn of time,
You’ll eventually realize
The beauty of an ordinary life!

The frail old man

From the deafening dark ends
Of my youthful dreams
Peeps in a frail old man!
Shamefully drowned
In his own shadow of grief,
He stares at me
With disgruntled disbelief!
He wordlessly probes
The fate of my resolve
His meek, helpless eyes
Let my thoughts evolve…
My perceived self-worth
Suffers a sudden fall
Along the dead dark corridor
I feel pushed to the invincible wall!

A hidden door in the corner creaks
And a bright blue beam lights up my face.

Thank you Time, for waking me up!

What's 'Chasing Maya' about...

Invariably, our lives in this world are driven by some sort of mysterious forces that arise and subsist deep within us. Some of these forces, what we inoffensively call our ill-fate or misfortune, obstinately provoke us to chase illusively unending horizons, diverting us away from the greater purpose of our life, and resulting in severe distress and endless frustration.

'Chasing Maya' is the narration of a discontented common man’s rather eventful journey towards this revelation and his consequent efforts to live a life of passion and true happiness.

On becoming an author...

The other day, an old friend of mine asked me why and how did I become an author… I didn’t have an answer nor did I attempt to cook up one for her. I preferred to remain quiet but her question left me thinking...

Later in the night, I vaguely guessed that probably it has been the result of my self-exploration! The deep soul-searching that I have done in the recent years must have ultimately led me to my pursuit of story-telling. Well, irrespective of the cause, I feel really fortunate to have discovered and pursued my calling in life and my first book ‘Chasing Maya’ is an unfolding of this journey of mine.

Now, coming back to the idea of becoming an author, writing a book - a novel to be precise, was always a dormant desire... There have been too many thoughts on my mind and a few noteworthy experiences which I thought could provide me the required ingredients... Many times in the past, I was tempted to start off. Couple of times I even did. But nothing really seemed to take off.

When I started writing ‘Chasing Maya’ in 2007, I didn’t have the vaguest of clues that it would one day become my first published novel. In all probability, it wouldn’t have really been so. But I was fortunate that I met the right people at the right time…And it made all the difference!

From the publishers of 'Chasing Maya'

"For over four decades, having published immortal works of renowned and highly respected authors in the league of Dr. Shankar Dayal Sharma (former President of India), Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee (former Prime Minister of India), Ms. Amrita Pritam and Mr. Khushwant Singh, we were on the lookout for bright and young writers to further extend our heritage of excellence to the English publishing industry. In this endeavour of ours, Mr. Rohan Gogoi has been one of our prized discoveries and the Global Vision Press team is really excited about working with this exceptionally talented story-teller. Mr. Gogoi’s novel, ‘Chasing Maya’ is a beautifully crafted piece of literature. Though deeply philosophical in its essence, the narration is simple, lucid and intriguing. Mr. Gogoi has this tremendous ability of interweaving profound thoughts with free-flowing fiction. His style is cosmopolitan; has a universal appeal and holds the promise of reaching out to audiences beyond the boundaries of nationality, ethnicity and culture."

- Prashanta Kaushik, Managing Partner, Global Vision Press

Lost 'em forever!

The jazz of monsoons…
The wild streams on the run…
Sparkling droplets with flashes
Of the meek, hiding sun
The calm moist breath imbued
With the soft tranquil breeze…
Oh, the days of leisure,
Those treasured moments of pleasure…
Yes, I know,
I have lost 'em forever!

Butterflies in the orchards,
We quietly stole.
Sought innocent joys,
Which felt so whole!
Tiny boats of paper
Wobbly, silly and eager
You and I,
Had set to hover…
They carried our dream,
Gave our faces a beam.
Waves of time,
They strived to ride
Naively, sailed far and wide.
Wafted, they away,
Not to return, ever.
Yes, I know,
I have lost 'em forever!

(Lost 'em forever was originally written way back in 1997. The current version is the result of a series of iterations made in June 2010.)

Chasing Maya: My debut novel, releasing this year...

Better jobs, bigger salaries, expensive cars, exclusive homes, exotic vacations, shopping abroad, admiration and jealousy of peers... What more can you expect from life! Or, may be, you can…! Come; explore your truth with ‘Chasing Maya’!

‘Chasing Maya’ is about thirty-two-year old Siddhartha Kumar, who in spite of his evident material success finds himself trapped in the grip of mediocrity – the distress and despair of being no different from millions of others in this world. Bemused, he sets on a quest to rediscover the zeal that once fuelled his dreams and passion and comes across with situations and people that lead him to astounding revelations.

Share the anxiety, live the excitement and experience the magical transcendence as ‘Chasing Maya’ takes you on an incredible journey that every human soul instinctively seeks to undertake but only a negligible few truly succeed to accomplish!

('Chasing Maya' is being published by Global Vision Press, New Delhi, India)