Rating 4/5
Ghachar Ghochar is Kannada author Vivek Shanbag's debut in English, and he did it in style. It's a novella and refreshingly different from much Indian writings in English. Ghachar ghochar plays with things that is left unsaid and somehow makes it uneasy eventually.
The novel opens up brilliantly in a Bengalore Coffee House, that is oblivious to the changes of the society and the narrator talks about the waiter Vincent and his imaginary chemistry with everyone he serves. We get to know that the narrator comes to Coffee House to take a break from his life and to escape from the complexities of it.
From there we are transferred to their house, the lives of people around him, about Chikappa, about Malati, about Appa- Amma and about Anita. We peep through into their lives from a safe distance through the narrator's eyes. The suffocation increases.
The book delivers a message "Blood is thicker than water" in a very eerie way, almost making the reader shiver.
Ghachar ghochar is claustrophobic as the relationships are entangled and restricted and somehow became ghachar ghochar with each other, so much so that anyone from outside of the family doesn't fit in. Be it Malati's husband or Anita or Chikkappa's relation with someone from outside.
Ghachar Ghochar is chaotic, beautiful and definitely a must read for anyone who loves a slow but interesting ride through the words.
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