“All and Nothing”- Raksha Bharadia

Details of Book: All And Nothing

Book: All And Nothing
Author: Rasksha Bharadia
ISBN: 

8129117215

ISBN-13: 

9788129117212

, 

978-8129117212

Binding: Paperback
Publishing Date: 2010
Publisher: Rupa & Co. 
Number of Pages: 236
Language: English

I will start off with what I had said soon after I finished this urban tale few weeks ago.

It is all and there is no nothing
Review by shreya chatterjee

Indeed, a complete urban tale, that weaves a beautiful canvas of human expressions, subtle and nice, till you forget, that you are sitting outside the pages. Something pulls you in and makes you the part of shadows switched to the back of the characters. A novel, it might be, but a story no different to the world we have around us.

It all started with one character waiting for the dawn, waiting for her love of life and,by and by other characters joined the canvas of her existence. Skipping the urgency to refer to the end, I shall go on remarking on how, subtle are the ways of narrating urban tales. The moment I flipped through a couple of pages, I felt like telling my self, nothing like this was there in Anita Nair’s “ladies coupe”- for men do have they say in Raksha’s “All and Nothing”. Whether we are talking about Tina- a Kolkatan loving and marrying a Mumbaite, or Aditya- a Mumbaite failing to forget his sensualist, Matter of Fact airhostess wife Antara- the central characters live their lives in higher forms of poisoned luxury called Urban chaos. They find themselves enmeshed in social demands, trying to come into terms with their personal differences, their cravings for humane relationships. In fact, it seemed a puzzle too close to be solved, but for some untold missing link. I heard an Old Lady remark, the moment she, closed the book, “this was gruesome, for it talks about a battered woman”.  On the contrary, I found Upasana no different from the many bruised eyes I feel around me, hidden tactfully behind, shades.  Manas was a man trapped in the belief- “do I need to grow up so soon, life seems perfect as for now?" Poorvi is real to the core with her insecurities veiled under her well implemented social skills. Kriya breathes in more subtleties giving her entity the mosaic look. Interesting though Tina seemed the keystone to this barbed wire resisting all but for the flight of gulls (the enchanting cover design)- was it not Prashant or endearing Prats who held the crust of the story from the very beginning?

“All and Nothing” is more than a soup you sip through casual chit chat sessions, it is a bittersweet reminder of your own lives you live hidden from the prying eyes, teaching readers, in its own way- freeing people also means liberating yourself and starting your journey for the better.