Jahid Akhtar's Blog, page 6

The First Paragraph of "Story of Tublu"

August 1989


The monsoon had already started and it was raining cats and dogs for the last couple of days. Sundays were always relaxing and the mesmeric rain was tranquilizing the environment around. It was a small picturesque town in Assam, one of the states in the north eastern part of India. The ladies in the house were enjoying ‘Mahabharata’ serial on Doordarshan and Mr Sharma was reading his newspaper in the balcony. Even he used to regularly watch the greatest ever Indian TV soap, but this morning he was in a different mood. He was enjoying his cup of tea, sip by sip. Mr Sharma had a magnificent house located at the town’s suburbs, in a big compound with coconut trees all around. The lush green grass in the lawn looked beautiful. The monsoon had left a magical fragrance everywhere. The falling raindrops on the big coconut leaves created a melody, and the splashes of water on the ground looked enchanting. Mr Sharma felt blessed and enjoyed every moment of it.

Well, those were the words from the first paragraph of my debut novel, Story of Tublu
Releasing on 20th Feb 2015!!

Story of Tublu, Book Launch Date Confirmed

My debut novel Story of Tublu is getting launched on 20th February 2015 at the New Delhi World Book Fair. I find it difficult to digest, but yes, now officially I have become an author. Well, it was an wonderful journey, right from the moment I made up my mind to write a novel, that too a fiction. I would like to share the acknowledgment page of my  book.



                                                              Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to my friends, my blog readers and many others who are the main source of my inspiration and encouragement. It’s only through blogging that I developed a habit of writing. Thanks to all my blogger friends to be with me all the time. I would like to thank my wife, Anjali who always supported and encouraged me irrespective of many ups and downs of life. Special thanks to my school friend, Arundhati Hazarika; you are the first reader of my book. Your reviews always encouraged me and made me feel more confident about my first novel. Thanks a lot for your effort in editing the book before I sent it across to the publishers.

Story of Tublu, Book Trailer

I was thinking of making a short trailer for my upcoming debut novel. Last week I asked my cousin brother, Russo, to help me on this. Few years back, Russo and some other professionals had a dream. They all were story tellers and believed in the audio visual medium. A dream they thoroughly christened as "24 sticks", a salutation to every frame they shoot. Today 24 Sticks had evolved into a full-fledged audio visual production team. They offer video production service for documentaries, marketing and advertisement needs. 
They have created a video trailer for my upcoming novel, Story of Tublu , which will be released this Feb. Book launch of ‘Story of Tublu’ is confirmed at the New Delhi World Book Fair . It might launch in Kolkata Book Fair as well, yet to get a confirmation from the publisher. 

                                                          Story of Tublu, Book Trailer

Story of Tublu - Review by Prof Harish Narang

Dr Harish Narang is a professor of Centre for English Studies, School Language, Literature & Culture Studies, JNU. He is also the General Council of Sahithya Akademy, New Delhi. I am grateful to him that he took out time from his busy schedule to read my book. This is what Prof Narang has to say about my first novel.
In a recent study, Harvard Business Review called it 'a strategic tool with irresistible power'. The tool being spoken about is nothing but the age old art of storytelling - something that began with the dawn of humanity and that will last as long as humanity does. Over time, the art of storytelling has undergone a sea change - both in its content as well as the manner of narration. By the time the twentieth century arrived, it had become really esoteric. However, as the Harvard Business Review put it, you need to have a good story’ because 'as humans we know that stories work'.
Story of Tublu which the writer Jahid Akhtar calls 'An amazing journey called life' is one such story. The writer has certainly a story to tell – that of Tanmay alias Tublu and his father Bipin Bora and many others - and he knows how to tell it. Hemingway had once observed that the best way to tell a story is to tell as straight as possible and this is what Jahid Akhtar has done in the novel. 
Tublu and his father have a dream run in their lives after meeting Mr. Sharma when their home was destroyed by the surging Brahamputra, things keep on happening around them: Mr. Sharma, having helped Bipin and his son Tublu, develops cancer, arranges his daughter Maina’s marriage hurriedly with Suraj who commits suicide within days of the marriage. But there are many more twists and turns in the story before Tublu who had a secret crush on Maina since the childhood, is united with Maina in marriage thereby bringing the novel to a close.
In this age of post-modernist narration, where medium is the message and method has had replaced the content, Jahid Akhtar’s novel Story of Tublu is refreshingly different from many novels being written by Indians today. Located for a major part in the northeast of the country, the narrative is full of anthropological details of lives of people in that part of India, some of which are well-known and some less known. The end, in some ways, is predictable and not full of suspense as many stories these days are. And yet the writer manages to keep the readers’ interests alive until the inevitable happens, that is, until Tublu and Maina – a widowed mother of a five-year old son, located in Berlin get married.
All in all a very racy, engaging readable book.
Harish Narang

                                                                       Coming Soon...

My New Year Resolution

I was always a person who never believed in making resolutions. When I see people making New year resolution, I usually remain silent. I had never made any such resolutions, until the beginning of 2014. I don’t know what happened to me that time; I made a New Year resolution that I would complete my first novel and try to get it published. It worked out smoothly and it was fun. “Story of Tublu” will be published soon. 
So, resolutions do work. This New Year, I’m thinking much bigger. I think with a little determination it can be achieved. Well, my New Year resolution is that I will quit smoking permanently.

This should be the final book cover. Coming soon!!

The Warmth

In those chilling winters during our early school days, as soon as the power went off in the evening, our hearts filled with delight. That was the time to relish some wonderful breaks from our studies. I remember how I, my elder brother and my little sister tried to position us inside our father’s big shawl, to feel the comfort sitting in his lap. Such happiness of warmth reignites every time  my little angel, Jia, takes pleasure to cuddle up together with me early morning, when her mom tries to wake her up to prepare her for school. Well, now I can feel the peacefulness of the warmth inside my father’s shawl, same like before; it was so relaxing. But with growing age,  I couldn’t realize how and when the space inside his shawl didn’t fit me any longer and the warmth simply got detached day by day.

My First Novel

The story starts in the late eighties, in a small picturesque town of Assam. Devastated by the floods, Bipin and his little boy Tublu move to a faraway land, where they meet the Sharma’s. This marks the beginning of a long and enduring relationship between Bipin and the Sharma’s, and the growing friendship of their children Tublu and Maina. The book captures the journey of this friendship through childhood to adolescence and into adulthood. From some interesting school and college humor, the story progresses on and develops into a mature narrative. As years pass, Tublu’s plain and silent crush on Maina develops into deep love and longing for Maina which bears the potential to conquer all of life’s challenges. The story starts in a small town in India and ends in Berlin. The book has its share of drama, that entertains; humor, that makes one reminisce; love, friendship and emotions that defines the amazing journey that is, life.


Genre: Fiction

"The Story of Tublu" coming soon to entertain you all !!

Condolence, DD Style

Life was pretty smooth during our childhood. Those were the golden days of Doordarshan(DD). Well, the world DD brings on pure nostalgia and takes me down the memory lane of those special childhood days. There were very limited source of entertainment that time. Just imagine the meaning of our life without the basic needs of internet, mobile phone and cable TV(or DTH). But people were still happy those days and the only source of entertainment they had, was DD. No doubt that some of the serials showcased by DD during the late 80's and early 90's, were really of very high quality. Some of my favorites were 'Karamchand, Dekh Bhai Dekh, Fatichar'. Now what to say about cricket? Well, the game continued to be as popular. In fact, IPL has successfully managed to exploit our sisters, mothers, saas and bahus as well, as far as love for the game is concerned. But I feel cricket is more like a side dish, these days. But during our childhood it was undoubtedly the main course for the vast majority.
One fine afternoon, I returned from school in a hurry, riding my bicycle. One day cricket match was going on between India vs West Indies. I rushed to the TV room and as I switched on the TV, I was surprised that instead of cricket, a sad tune of Shehnai was being played. A couple of men were playing the sadness with their dismal face. I calmly waited and after a few minutes, the shehnai turned into a sitar. 
'Oh! Shit, some famous personality might have passed away,' I wondered. I was actually true, a well known personality indeed died that day. I was very disappointed as I was sure that DD would telecast Shehnai/Sitar vadan for the entire day. People had to follow such condolences mainly only for the politicians. The impact was slightly tolerable if the expired politician was regional. But for national level politicians, people had to live with the Shehnai/Sitar sad tunes for almost a week. The importance of a politician was directly proportional to the number of days DD seized to telecast the regular programs.
'But why the hell DD stopped telecasting a one day cricket match? It's just a sport'
Well, cricket, particularly one day cricket was always considered as entertainment. But I remember DD always used to telecast test matches, irrespective of which politician died that day. The logic was very correct, test cricket is less entertaining and was considered more like a sport rather than entertainment.

Street Marketing

During my initial Bangalore days, one afternoon, I was walking on a busy street. I was in my formals; went for an interview that had gone really bad. All of a sudden a decent looking man approached me. He had a pleasant smile on his face. He was holding a brochure kind of thing. The picture of a bearded man in the brochure looked familiar to me. The man talked to me for a while. He was trying to convince me on something. It seemed he was a marketing guy of the very well known "Art of Living"
'What Art are you talking about, sir? At present I’m just struggling for a living. I am jobless and trying hard to get one,' I said to him.
'Oh! You are not working', the man responded and started to ignore me. 
'Is Art of Living, only for working people?' I asked.
With a charming smile the man disappeared into the crowd.



Some years later
I, my wife Anjali and my friend Sinha were walking on a busy Kormangala street, pretty close to Sinha’s house. Suddenly a smart looking guy blocked our way and handed over a brochure to Sinha, without saying anything and disappeared. Sinha had a look at the brochure and put it in his pocket. I was quite disappointed that the guy didn’t find a potential customer in me. Might be I looked more like a jobless fellow. I was confused that the guy even ignored Anjali. Ladies are by default potential customers and on top of that Anjali was quite well-dressed, well-groomed.
'What is it about, Sinha? I asked.
Sinha replied, ‘Nothing dude. Someone or the other would always give me something like this’
‘Wow! You look very wealthy. See how the guy neglected both me and Anjali,’ I commented and now, Anjali also started pulling Sinha’s leg. 
‘That is very true, Sinha, you look very wealthy,’ said Anjali and Sinha sighed. 
‘What is this about? Are there any offers? Show me the brochure,’ I asked.
‘Nothing dude, it’s not related to you guys,’ Sinha hesitated to show the brochure.
I and Anjali tried to have some fun, ‘It’s okay Sinha. We may not be as wealthy as you, but even we can afford to buy a few small things’
It continued for a few more minutes and then Sinha passed on the brochure to us. It seemed a new fitness center recently opened in that area. The brochure had many contents, including in bold letters ‘Lose 10 kg weight in just 2 months’
Well, the incident happened a few years ago. Now, both I and Anjali turned into potential customers for the fitness centers.

The Memorable Gangtok Trip

During our fifth semester of Engineering we had a wonderful Gangtok trip. Along with me and my roommate Nair, Bikram, Mehboob and Mustaque also went for the trip. We boarded the train early morning from Guwahati Railway station. We reached New Jalpaiguri at around 2 pm and got down there. We took cycle rickshaws to go to Siliguri, which is at a distance of 4-5 km from the Railway station. Usually the rickshaw drivers charge four to five time the normal fare from travelers. Well, we were aware of all that from some of our Gangtok friends.
'Lal batti se jauge to 100 Rs and normal rote 50 Rs,' said one of the rickshaw drivers.
'Ye lal batti kya hai?' We were confused what is lal batti?
Mustaque was an expert in all those and immediately replied with his typical laughter, 'abbe, lal batti means Red light  area'
'Aree nahi bhai, normal route se le chalo,' Nair responded and asked the driver to follow the usual shortcut.
It is 4 to 5 hours drive from Siliguri to Gangtok, and we traveled in a regular shared taxi. Pretty soon we were ascending the elevation, driving through exotic dense forest. The scenery was mesmerizing. The zig-zag terrain and the elegant view outside, was magical. The forest looked refreshing with different varieties of strange and colorful flora. On the way, we encountered some fascinating waterfalls. Everyone was looking outside the window, enjoying the beauty of Mother Nature. But Mehboob was sound asleep with his mouth wide open. I was very confused, how could anyone sleep in such wonderful and thrilling drive. 
"Mehboob, Mehboob, kya so raha hai, gandu," just look outside, the view is so scenic.
"Haan yaar, bohut sundar hai, it’s really beautiful outside," Mehboob said and again went to sleep in the next couple of minutes. 
We reached Gangtok by late evening. We called our senior friend Digvijay, who is from Gangtok. He helped us in finding a reasonable lodge for our stay. We shared some good time and then Digvijay left for home. The next day he took us for sightseeing. We visited many places, including some monasteries, zoological parks and gardens. Later we had sumptuous lunch at Digvijay’s house. The next morning we visited Tsongmo Lake, popularly known as Changu Lake. Well, Changu Lake is the most attractive place to visit in Gangtok. It is a glacial lake in the East Sikkim, some 40 km away from Gangtok at an elevation of 12400 ft. Sikkim is really very exotic. The best part is, people are very kind and friendly, there. October is one of the best seasons to visit Sikkim. These days all the major travel companies offer different kind of Travel Deals , which give heavy airfare and hotel discounts. 



I remember Mustaque had an embarrassing stomach throughout the trip. Poor guy had serious issues in filling his tummy; he found it difficult to digest the kind of food we enjoyed, there in Gangtok. Well, this is where the branded food products like KFC or McDonald's plays the vital role. They never disappoints, irrespective of any place. Also the kind of Food Deals we get in such brands, is seriously tempting. But those days such yummy brands were not available in the market. Even if they would be available, our pockets wouldn't have allowed us to relish such sumptuousness. Mustaque was quite conscious about his condition. He tried to take extra precautions to avoid any kind of embarrassment, but then it’s difficult to fight one’s angry abdomen. 
We started early morning for Changu Lake. It was 3 to 4 hours of thrilling drive through the Himalayan terrain. It was the month of October and the snowfall could have started anytime soon. The locals told us that during winter the entire region is covered under snow. On the way all the vehicles stopped at a particular place for refreshment. The cab driver told us that we could use the washroom, there. He also told us that in Changu Lake we wouldn’t get such facilities. We tried to pull Mustaque’s leg and asked him to use the washroom as many times as he wanted. We strictly advised him not to showcase any drama in the venue, later. It seemed Mustaque’s stomach was in a good mood that time and he laughed at us with some of his trademark slangs.

Changu Lake is damn exotic. It was freezing cold. It was quite fascinating to see the alluring blue lake at a height of more than 12000 ft. During winter the entire lake would be frozen with a thin sheet of ice on the top. The place was covered with beautiful rocks all around. There were many tourists trekking all over the place. We also started to trek and after reaching a certain height, it seemed Mustaque’s stomach had a mood swing. He started to express his anxiety. We tried to ignore him but Mustaque was getting restless. 
"Tabhi bola tha kar le, gandu" Our irritation was at peak and we asked him why didn’t he finish it off in the place where the jeep stopped. Mustaque was not in any condition to give explanation. Somehow he managed to convince Mehboob to bring two bottles of mineral water. Mustaque thought he would manage to find a hiding place in between the giant rocks. Mehboob had to go all the way down to bring the water bottles. Mustaque’s wait was getting impatient. His stomach could have burst any moment. Mehboob appeared in ten minutes. But, what the hell? He just came empty handed.
'What happened? Why didn’t you bring the bottles?' Mustaque asked in panic. 
'The assholes are selling 10 Rs  bottles for 20 Rs. Also, it’s already late and I thought you might have finished by now,' Mehboob tried to clarify.
'Chutiya, asshole. Just bring the bottles even if they charge 100 Rs. I will pay the money, don’t worry. Just go and bring,' Mustaque desperately yelled at Mehboob, .
Mehboob was in no mood to go all the way down again, but then he went for it. Later, we saw a satisfying smile on Mustaque's face.





"With emerging technologies, the way people do business is changing. The competition is really tough and it’s not easy for the corporate to sustain in the market. Be it retailer sector, food industry or travel companies for instance, people have many options. People look for the best possible deal for them. Well, this is the era of deals and coupons. Initially I also ignored such offers and thought it’s just a marketing gimmick. But then, it’s more than that. Let’s say, four guys want to have a pizza party. They go to a Pizza Hut, satisfy their tongue and tummy. They pay a bill of say, 1500 Rs. With a little bit of knowledge on deals, or with a little bit of google search, they could have enjoyed the same party in say, 1000 Rs. This is the power of Deals and Coupons, these days"