BOOK REVIEWS

Reviewed by Sonal Onkar(USA)

Rating: *****

Just finished reading "Dear Popples"! I loved it!!!!

Not only is the concept beautiful, just knowing so much about you and your parents, the background and everything makes it so worthwhile!!! It is so well written too. You write a bit about your elder daughter asking you some things directly, and I have to tell you, I have been there....I have been the daughter who has hurt her mother in unimaginably cruel ways, but just like you said, if the time is not right and the moment is not ripe, it just doesn't get a good response. I have taken sides several times against my mom but as I grew up and got married, started working, everything that she said then, makes so much more sense....and I just feel terrible for having been so immature. Just like your father, my dad was always a dazzler...he is always out there and a crowd favorite....so its so much easier to understand and like him than my silent mom, who from the sidelines enables him to be that way. Really, your story resonates so much with me.... generations apart yet the same story....isn't that amazing?
Utpal is really so lucky for having you in his life and having someone like you care enough for his life to leave him such beautiful memorabilia.... truly a classic and this book will stay in my library forever....it is really a collectors item for a reader of my disposition.

By Joseph Thomas

http://jocalling.blogspot.com/2008/06/dear-anou.html

Rating: *****

It has been a long time since I have read a book from start to finish in just a couple of readings. But when I started reading your book, Dear Popples, I just couldn't put it down. Let me tell you what attracted me the most to this book of yours. It is the love, humanity and simplicity that is spread all around this book. The book has been laid out nicely too. The way you have put your love letters to Popples in between the real accounts of the incidents happened in Popple's life is a nice approach.

I don't know how would a person categorize your book. It is well crafted like a fiction, and the narratives of Popples in between makes it a real life account, at times it takes form of an autobiography, and then of a biography - I don't know where it falls, but the story does fall to one's heart. The book is well organized as it is in the form of short letters so it doesn't make a boring read. The short letters full of the warmth of your love for little Utpal is what glues the reader to this book.

It is no wonder how Popples drawn so much of love and affection from you. He is a brave kid. A true survivor as you wrote. I'm sure that he is special to Godji and his being has a mission which is to spread hope in people whom he met or even to people who read his story. He is a gifted child. Or else how would a child who had third degree burns in his body and was written off by the hospital authorities as "survival chances: nil" come back to life?

Your book instills my faith in people. And now I believe that no matter how much hatred exists in our world, we can still reach out to others and touch someone else's life. Like how Sam helped Popples and how Popples touched Sam.

Another thing I liked about this book is the way you explained things to Popples. About people, humanity, kindness, life, family etc. It makes a great read even to the grown ups because of the simplicity in the way you explain. Do you know, at times it made my eyes wet. And I was traveling in a crowded train and there were people sitting opposite to me and I had a hard time hiding my wet eyes from them while reading the book.

I also read about your Mother's life with great enthusiasm. Such a special person she was. Many of her characteristics that you have written about are similar to those of my Mother's. Like how she was worried about the future of her child because she had a suffering childhood. Or her habit of saving money even if it is little. We do understand our mothers and their concerns as we grow up, don't we?

But there were some parts which made me skip the pages fast though. Particularly after the narration of Kamala coming to Jodhpur to spend her vacation. The letters in those pages (also when you talked about Ram, your father) were full of your affection to your parents but did not put much interest in me as a reader. One reason could be that the letters in those parts are lengthy. Somehow I loved those short letters which was filled with your love for Popples and where you explained things to him in the simplest way.

I'm also glad that I've come to know the person behind Project Why through this book. I hope more people come to know about Project Why and come forward to help. I have no words to appreciate the work you are doing. You're an amazing person Anou. Godji is on work through you.

I think your book would make a perfect gift to give people whom you love. To children, friends or anyone. I, for one, want my future children to read this book as I don't think I can give them anything better to inspire. To fill them with hope, love and humanity. And I thank you for that.

Read the blog at :
http://jocalling.blogspot.com/2008/06/dear-anou.html

Fiction: Inspirational
By Anouradha Bakshi
Undercover Utopia
190 pages
Price International: USD 10.75
Price in India: INR 225

Rating: *** & half

Reviewed by Pallavi Bhattacharya

(Pallavi Bhattacharya is a freelance journalist with published articles in Outlook, Rave, Readers' Digest, India Today Plus, Hindustan Times etc. Pallavi relishes the freedom of expression through her journalistic pursuits, which to her is means of self-discovery and understanding life.)

LETTERS THAT HEAL

Sometimes written words can convey better than oral communication, especially if the message to be communicated is highly sensitive. When Popples, an adorable child from the immense slums of Delhi - not yet an year old, sustained third degree burns and the hospitals turned him out to die on the streets, Anouradha Bakshi defied all odds to bring him back from the jaws of death. Scarred he was. But he lived. And this is his tale. From a stranger-saviour to now unchristened godmother to him, Anouradha has suffered through each of Popples’ scars. These letters are written with the hope that they will heal all the scars – the most reluctant and deep ones on the child’s skin and the even deeper ones engraved on his psyche.

Each letter is addressed to Popples and signed off as Maam’ji. Maam’ji is the fond nickname Popples used for Anouradha. Each letter comes with a touching title.

This story in the guise of compiled letters have become an epistolary novel titled Dear Popples meant to be read by Popples when he comes of age. Considering the fact that Anouradha and Popples have an age difference of almost fifty years, Dear Popples- ‘love letters from an unlikely mother’ will keep afresh in Popple’s mind the memories of his beloved benefactor Anouradha when she is no more. And what memories they are. An absolute zinger of a fairytale the kinds of which we have all given up on…right in the dust and grime of outer Delhi. When he is old enough to read this book, Popples will remember far more than his Maam’ji! He will discover the best face of mankind one can ever hope to gaze on as knight after shining knight answers Anouradha’s call and comes to fight on Popples’ side – from all corners of the Earth.

What makes Dear Popples different from other epistolary novels is that it is a series of undated letters. The author has decided to follow her heart rather than a bland account of events following the strict chronology of dates. Rather she pens her memorable moments with Popples lucidly following her stream of consciousness.

Dear Popples is in fact a story of survival against all odds. Popples hailing from a dysfunctional, downtrodden and alcoholic family; bravely fights and wards off an almost imminent death after having fallen into a boiling cauldron. He emerges as a child hero whereas Anouradha, a genuine philanthropist who takes care of his treatment, recovery and healing emerges as the heroine. In fact the author Anouradha is the recipient of the Red and White Silver medal for social bravery.

People often try to cover up or sugar-coat harsh realistic facts. But Anouradha is courageous enough to tell Popples the truth about his family, social background and the accident. She writes, “There are some things about your life which are not beautiful but yet they need to be addressed and healed. I have always held that children should be told the truth about their past.”

The way she delivers the truth to him is admirable. She narrates every harsh realistic fact with deep sensitivity. She makes sure that Popples doesn’t curse God for the misfortune that has befallen him. In fact she fondly refers to God as Godji. She feels that Popples went through so much of pain not because God was vindictive but indeed He had a greater plan for him. Godji had after all ensured that there were people to nurse Popples back to health from the jaws of death when he met with the accident. Indeed Godji had brought together philanthropic benefactors who sponsored Popple’s education in an expensive boarding school. Anouradha ensures that Popple’s faith in the Almighty remains strong and he doesn’t feel embittered while thinking of his past.

Even while telling Popples about his alcoholic mentally ill mother who had to be sent to a rehabilitation centre, never does the author make Popples feel any resentment whatsoever for a mother who could hardly be there for him. In fact she speaks of Popple’s mother with deep empathy explaining the traumatic episodes of her life which unfortunately gave rise to her mental illness and alcoholism. She emphasises on the need of forgiving his parents for the hurt they may have caused him.

While reading Dear Popples some may be reminded of Letters from a Father to his Daughter written by the late Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru had written a series of letters to his 10-year-old daughter Indira while he was serving a prison sentence during the British rule. Though Dear Popples doesn’t go into topics like history, geography, literature, science and politics as Nehru did in his letters to Indira, both the books do have a major thing in common.

Because of his frequent incarcerations in various jails and political work Nehru had to stay away from his daughter for prolonged phases. The letters are therefore clearly indicative of the pain of separation from Indira (Priyadrashani) that Nehru went through. He writes, “Priyadarshini, dear to my sight, but dearer still when sight is denied…….I think of the day when we shall all three meet again, and the thought of it will lighten and cheer my heart.”

Similarly Dear Popples echoes of the pain of separation Anouradha went through when she had to send Popples to boarding school. She writes, “Many and most of all you, will ask the question: why did they send you away, you who are so tiny, so small and who have been hurt so many times and dealt with so many closures.” Anouradha in her letter titled ‘confessions- closures’ explains to Popples that she had no choice but to send him to a boarding school as she was growing old and therefore felt that she wouldn’t be able to take proper care of him single-handedly. She carefully selected a good school that offered sound education for him. She goes on to say how greatly Popple’s presence was missed by everyone who knew him.

Anouradha often refers to the children’s classic The Little Prince while writing to Popples. She feels that Popples was her Little Prince from the day he came into her life. The author writes, “I just hope that this book becomes to you the anchor the Little Prince was to me as I often opened it haphazardly when sad or hurting and fell on the right page where an answer waited.” She asks Popples to read The Little Prince and contemplate on its myriad symbolisms which will help him better to grasp the thought content of Dear Popples as both often echo the same philosophy.

Dear Popples unexpectedly delves into the biographies of Anouradha’s parents in the middle of the book. This interpolation in the novel was however necessary. To explain the situation Popple’s mother Jhunnu is in, the author refers to similar life challenges her mother Kamala went through. Though Jhunnu and Kamala came from radically different backgrounds, both had to fight an illness. Kamala at the end of her life lost her memory and succumbed to cancer. Similarly Jhunnu is fighting alcoholism and mental illness. Like Kamala, Popple’s mother also needed love and unconditional support from her child.

While talking about Kamala, Anouradha goes on an intriguing trip down memory lane enfolding the enigmatic personality of her mother. The daughter of a freedom fighter, Kamala refused to marry until India was independent of British rule as she ‘didn’t want to give birth to a slave child’. At an age when child marriage was common Kamala married at 30. She went on to become the Ambassador’s wife. She completed her Doctorate. She was an active social worker and took up the challenging task of driving a truck into the interiors of Uttar Pradesh to make sure that the widows of the Second World War were given pensions as the money was often usurped by unscrupulous male relatives. Kamala stands out as truly inspirational to even contemporary young women.

Dear Popples is not just an inspirational book, it can be termed as a spiritual book. That’s because it encourages Popples to undergo an inward quest. Moreover with its positive message of love, compassion and kindness it truly nurtures the body, mind and soul. Leafing through the book may uplift the spirit of even a hard-core pessimist. It reminds its readers never to lose faith even on the darkest days.