Some Mistakes Have No Pardon

by Girdhar Joshi

This is a story of a monk who was not a monk long back. He was a charming boy who, despite of a deprived childhood, grows to riches and achieves professional excellence by his grit and hard work. But before he realizes the designs of destiny, he finds himself struggling to find love, peace, and happiness; and ends up in losing relations after relations amid the compelling pressures of profession, passion, and maladjustment of life.
What made him to metamorphose into a life of a monk? And, was he happy being one? The story finely unravels the maze and finds answers.
The story unfolds in an interesting and witty manner, at times it is humorous, sentimental, and emotional.

442 pages, Paperback

First published May 23, 2014

About the author

Born in 1963 and brought up in Chanch village of Almora district in picturesque Uttarakhand, India, Girdhar Joshi did his schooling in the village. After completing intermediate from Government Inter College Manila, he migrated to Delhi in search of fodder. He received his bachelor degree in commerce from Delhi University in 1986 and subsequently earned Diploma in Business Management form IGNOU and a master degree in Business Management specializing in information technology, from Punjab Technical University. He started his career with central government in New Delhi in 1983 and quit the job in 1998 to start his own business in software development, which still earns him his bread.

His dormant flair for writing was instigated by chanced invitations for guest lectures at some of the business management schools in New Delhi. What he jotted down for his students later found shape in the form of books. His books on management and information technology. 'Information Technology for Retail' (2009) and 'Management Information Systems' (2013) have been published by Oxford University Press, New Delhi; and he co-authored 'IT in Retail' (2012), published by Vikas Publishing Co., Noida. 'Bedaul Kataran', a collection of his poems in Hindi written during his student years, was also published in 2014.

But, the urge to write did not stop at the academic books. When he was not selling software, he found himself connecting some dots. The result: 'Some Mistakes Have No Pardon', a story of trials, triumphs, and tribulations, in the form of a novel was born. This is one of the many stories he intends to tell.

The sequence of priorities have changed now: when not writing stories, he will be selling software!

Please keep an eye on this page for further events.

Reviews

[Jaideep Khanduja · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://pebbleinthestillwaters.blogspo...

Book Review: Some Mistakes Have No Pardon by Girdhar Joshi: From Rags To Riches And Beyond

I have interacted with the Girdhar Joshi, the author of Some Mistakes Have No Pardon in a video interview here and another interview here. When Girdhar sent me a collection of his pictures for his interview post, there was a very catchy pic of him of his youth days. He looks quite appealing, serious and somewhat like a freedom fighter (having a spark on his face). He has many educational books to his credit related to retail, technology and management and this is his first attempt in the fiction world. In my opinion every author has a unique style of writing though some appear to be inspired by their role models in the arena. Girdhar's style of writing, is not only unique and philosophical but is quite elaborating that displays a deep insight on the subject and story line.

Some Mistakes Have No Pardon is the story of Girish Kainmola, his family, his childhood, his growing years, his marriages, his children, his struggle, his journey (upward and downward), his adversities, his achievements and his MISTAKES. Girish is born in a very poor family where he had no scope of education and a normal growth. The family is struggling everyday to get meal and at times there is a lot of compromise on that front. There is a prediction by a learned man about Girish in a set of phrases and prophecies. Each of the phrase predicted by the learned man about Girish comes true during his whole lifecycle from time to time.

Some Mistakes Have No Pardon by Girdhar Joshi is a classical, non commercial style, simple and sincere effort by the author which will appeal you as a straight from the heart, introspective, philosophical, honest and slightly scientifically written story of Girish. There is a lot of philosophy from author's end in the story which longs for 424 pages. The story is about Girish who somehow manages to get shelter from various people in his life who supported him to get formal education to a substantial level that helped him to build his career as an entrepreneur. So a guy who starts his life in rags reaches to riches. But like every human being, ego played a big role in Girish's life and that became a prime reason of his downfall after touching the peaks of his life to bring him down to the bottom gradually. Story is quite interesting as the the lead role Girish is not someone with a very clean character and who easily got drifted with the winds of life. He is not able to adjust with his first wife Mala though they had two children - Siyana and Harrit - a daughter and a son respectively. Then Maya Subramaniam comes into his life as a Facebook contact and they both engaged to each other as soul-mates. But due to different opinions about life and relationship, it did not last long against their wishes. Then Tara comes into his life as his second wife who is almost 20 years younger to him. This also did not materialize though.

There are some flaws in Some Mistakes Have No Pardon by Girdhar Joshi on the editing/ proof-reading front where some spelling/adjective/grammatical mistakes (e.g. page 237 wound as wond; page 267 he/she mistake; and A page appears twice thereby intermingling the sequence). The characters seem scattered and having no connect among them. Girish and his mother Parvati - no engagement stays in the story. All of a sudden Girish appears to be a writer with no background or introduction. You need to have a fair amount of patience to read the story that goes over-philosophical to an extent that even if you skip few pages of too descriptive philosophy, you stay intact with the main story. That way story could have been made a bit crispier and the introspection presented by author could be left for readers to analyze in their own way. May be some extent of autobiography has become the part of this fiction.

Overall Some Mistakes Have No Pardon by Girdhar Joshi is an excellent, touchy story of Girish and his extensive/ exhaustive life journey with lots of twists and twirls, passing through ups and downs.

[Pankaj Giri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to apologize to the author, Mr. Giridhar Joshi for two things. First, for taking a long, long time to finish his book. Since I was working on my next book and was only concentrating on reading books related to the theme, I forgot about his book. Sorry, again. Second, for the relatively lesser rating.

I really, really, wanted to give this book 4 stars. Till the middle I was quite sure I would give at least 4 stars, but by the end of the book I didn't feel like giving anything more than 3 stars.

Despite being a long novel, the writing was energetic and the pace was fast. The plot basically shows the life story of Girish Kainmola, son of a villager. The initial part of the story is a bit boring as it is based on villages, but once he moves to cities, it becomes interesting. Then, the story flowed like a contemporary novel and was based on work pressure, relationships, and thoughts on life which any reader can relate to. Despite the arguments he was having with his first wife, which is natural, I loved the quotes and philosophy. However, as the book carried on, I felt the frequency of the quotes increasing. At one point, the author started quoting twice or thrice in a single page which was irritating. The chats which he has with Maya are also a bit childish initially, using SMS lingo, somewhat diverting from the general theme of the book. A lot of time is wasted in the relationship with Maya and then she suddenly disappears. Even in a few of the several (very irritating) repetitions of the life history of the protagonist (Come on, we already know it as we've read the book!), Maya is conspicuous by her absence. I couldn't understand why? Why he doesn't even think of calling her and sharing his issues with his supposed soulmate?

Also, there are a few parts of the book in which the protagonist and any important character are not involved, especially in the government office, which should be avoided. I also made a similar mistake in my first book.

The characters of the ladies in this book are irritating, especially the first wife. And why does the protagonist have to repent only later? Can't he realize his mistakes during the relationship and fix it? Okay, in the first relationship, he might have been inexperienced, but in the second one he should have been more patient and tried to maintain the relationship? The girl was not that bad. I was fuming by the time that relationship ended. Also, he doesn't even mention about his children till the latter half of the book and then he suddenly starts repenting. Didn't make sense, sir, at least to me.

The language is decent throughout the book. On several occasions there are beautifully constructed sentences which even avid readers will enjoy. But sometimes the author tends to use difficult words which seem out of context and breaks the flow (I did the same mistake in my debut book, but I thought I should point this out to the author so that he can improve in his next book. Even I have rectified this mistake in my second book). On top of that, there are these glaring spelling, typo, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. I mean grammar and punctuation is still okay, but spelling and typo should be corrected by the author using simple tools like MS Word! The language in the whole book has a rough, unedited feel to it which I sincerely didn't appreciate. Even if its a self published book, author should try his best to remove these glaring errors. One more thing I felt is that several sentences, especially dialogues, seem like they have been directly translated from Hindi to English, which sounds unnatural.

I loved the spiritual and philosophical sections, especially the descriptions about love, sensuality, and life that Girish has with Maya and other people like his first house owner, and his spiritual boss Seth who guide him. But again some conversations seems a bit unnatural as everyone starts speaking in a philosophical manner, even the prostitute, which is difficult to relate to.

I loved the descriptions of ambiance, environment, weather, and the surroundings which the author pens. From a rustic village to the posh German town, the author describes every place beautifully. I really appreciate authors who give priority to the ambiance. Sometimes, especially during the second marriage, he has overdone the description a tad, but that can be forgiven.

Overall, its a decent one time read. Despite the length and the other issues which I have mentioned, it does provide you with a good dose of spirituality and philosophy that people need in this cruel, fast life. A decent read. 3 stars.

[Rajendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Some Mistakes Have No Pardon’ is a literary novel that finely illustrates the struggles in the life of man to fulfill passions and attain happiness. This is a serious attempt to cover life in its all shades. The story begins in a rural setup of Uttarakhand hills and then moves to various metros, in sync with the protagonist’s adventures. This will offer something new to the readers, who have been overfed with romantic stories. The story has been divided in twenty six chapters, which interestingly depict the early life of the protagonist, his passion, his women, his spirituality, and his salvation. Each chapter illustrates incidents in the life of the protagonist’s in an interesting style.
The story starts with the childhood of Girish Kainmola, the protagonist, born in a peasant family, deprived childhood, and reared by others before he grows up to riches, relationships, and conflicts; and finds his own solutions to the conflicts. The first three chapters lucidly describe the life in a rural setup, touching the nuances of a village life. The story covers some incidences with touch of mysticism, obscure prophecies that become vivid as the story unfolds throughout his life, and equally obscure knowledge he receives from a soul-taming sagacious. He moves to a metro, like every village boy, and chases his passion, achieves wealth, and courts relationships. The relationships mature into marriage, misunderstanding, and conflicts. Unable to cope up with the conflicts and vagaries of life, he moves out. Before he moves out, the story illustrates his professional life in his government office in a humorous and interesting style, and a business adventure that lands him in to the police lockup. Meanwhile, the protagonist achieves name, fame, and prosperity through his business and writings. But the happiness is eluding him. His itch to find happiness beyond the unfulfilled and rocked relation in his life catapults him to a chanced but prophesied encounter with his soulmate, who has some other divine plans for him. He wanders into yet another path where he lands up in prohibited zones where he gets fantastic discourses on love.
Supported by friends, the rogue advisors, he ventures into another relationship to find history repeating itself and is saddened by the futility of such mundane relationship. He loses his all: health, wealth, and prized relations. Many times, over and over. Before he pays for his mistakes, someone else, as innocent as a lamb, has to pay for the protagonist’s follies. Though nobody pronounced, yet he receives his punishment for the mistakes that deserved no pardon.
He is at a cross road, undecided. He chance meets his sagacious master of his childhood at a remote hermitage of his sect. He makes his final pilgrimage for salvation, as predicted by the astrologer five decades back when he was a toddler in the lap of his mother, and now advised by his master.
The story ends. But teaches the reader how destiny is shaped by the quirks of life and how a man becomes puppet at the hands of some unknown force.

[Dhwani Swadia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the full review here: http://thereandtheir.wordpress.com/20...

The blurb and the cover gives a feeling that this book would be something spiritual or on the lines of the monk who sold his Ferrari, but it's not. It's different, and that makes the reading very interesting. The characters are very realistic, the plot simple yet alluring.

The book starts with one direction song lyrics "Same Mistakes", which, is what Girish, the protagonist of the book keeps on doing. I found Girish's character quite irritating, like he expects his wife to be a certain way, and when that does not happen, he starts being irritated. In his first marriage, he wants an working girl who contributes to the family expenses, who would also cook for him, maintain his house as well as welcome him home when he comes from work. He gets irritated and aloof when his wife does not fulfil his expectations, and if she states her expectations, he just classifies it as "Nagging". In his second marriage, he has the same expectations except he now goes for an illiterate girl from a village who is much younger, and then keeps calling her "Stupid", and again whenever she asks him for anything, calls it "Nagging". The problem was he listened to the entire world's advice except listening to those he should have listened to, his wife and children.

He has this rosy picture in his mind on how his family and people close to him should act, and when they do not, he gets frustrated. He believes he does everything for his wives and kids, but he does the things he thinks his wife and kids want, not the things his wife and kids actually want.

But the thing to note here is that there are too many people in real life like Girish, who listen to society, to friends, to neighbours and NOT to the person they should listen to.

[Girdhar Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The blurb on the back of this novel says ‘This is a story of a man… before he realizes the designs of destiny, he finds himself struggling to find love, peace, and happiness; and ends up in losing relations after relations amid the compelling pressures of profession, passion, and maladjustment of life.’ But, to put it in simplest of the words, this novel is about relationships. RELATIONSHIPS in bold block capital letters! The successes and failures in the life of a person depend on how well s/he manages the relations. And, relations encompass everyone we live with or come across in life like friends, husband, wife, parents, children, brothers, and sisters, even our co-workers.

Though the story starts with the childhood of the protagonist, but it matures as he chases his passions and lives his relations. The conflicts of life start as he struggles to consummate love and tries to find reasons to live in the struggles of life. There are light moments, happy journeys, and lovely episodes in life, but it is not always rosy. Pain and agony are the co-travelers of love. If one comes, the others are expected to follow suit. And, strangely when love vanishes,the co-travelers don't vanish. There lies the contradiction, and life is full of contradictions.

In order to find a solution for his miseries in life, he devises his own solutions, unwittingly making mistakes which hardly deserve forgiveness; thus some mistakes have no pardon!

[Harish Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was bored in the initial pages of this novel, as it goes on elaborating the rainy season, farming, and disparities in the hills of Uttarakhand. But a few pages down the course, it accelerates on the track and makes the story reading interesting.

Set in the three last decades of 20th century and first decade of 21st century in six different places viz. Almora, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Trivandrum, and Kedarnath etc., Girdhar Joshi’s novel ‘some mistakes have no pardon’ contains a multitude of characters, episodes, and surroundings. The story illustrates the life of the protagonist for around four decades. It starts with the childhood, what he calls the deprived childhood nourishing on pumpkins’ and ends with the protagonist’s pilgrimage to Kedarnath in the year 2013 when a devastating flood had deluged the Kedar valley.

Sounds long and exhausting, but it's not.

The story moves along like a quick stream of river in summer, heading towards its goal. There are few dialogues and more narratives. The narratives are thoughtful, pensive, and satisfy queries of the reader after the dialogue between the characters.

Relationships! This is one thing that the novel defines, expands, and comments on in all the episodes in the life of the protagonist, be it his dialogue with grannies, his soul taming teacher, business relationship with his customers, or the three important women in his life, or his dissenting children. Relationship has been defined overtly at all places.

[Girish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it word by word as I enjoyed in my imagination the picturesque scenes of Uttarakhand hills, of course being an Uttarakhandi. Its a mesmerizing book as you are excited to know the next events, which keep on unfolding in the protagonist Girish's life and the presentation/ narration is thrilling and enhances the eagerness. At last its a good read that gives you many basics and truths of life. Thanks Joshiji. Keep it up. Girish Upadhyay Advocate

[Poongothai]

Received it for free through Goodreads First Reads.

Will be starting to read it tomorrow