An Introspecting View of Life: Review of Happy Birthday!

In amidst of all the chaos and the narcissistic emotions that have become a way of life and to find the same emotions in a book is both revealing and reflective of the times we live in. Happy Birthday by Meghna Pant is about these emotions and lot more. Her first novel had made me her die-hard fan and this book just strengthens my belief that she is one of the most talented writers of recent times.

Happy Birthday is an anthology of thirteen stories about the people living in Mumbai or the Indians living abroad. The stories range from of a father who left for USA for greener pastures and when his son does the same, he is not sure what to make of the déjà vu or the woman who has everything but still there is a nagging felling of something is amiss. The stories make you think of how we have evolved over the years and so have our vanity and our inability to let go of our inhibitions.

The story about the father who once spent his entire childhood with a Gola Wala and when he meets him again after so many years, he becomes ashamed of his past. In another story, a girl is jealous of her maid as she plays better basketball then her. The stories are bleak in nature and will leave you with a bittersweet moment.

The characters are real and human, they have their own flaws. Meghna Pant is merciless and deft in her writing, as the reviews on the book say. There are no apologies about the portrayal of characters or the stories she has chosen to be write. It is one of the most introspecting novels I have read.

Every story in the book is a reflection of the human nature and the complexities that she presents are marvelous. There are stories which I liked more than the others but all in all, I loved reading this book. I might not have found a happy ending in the novel but it made me dwell on the topics raised by the book within me and also to find that a book without a happy ending could be such a treat to read. A must-have for your book-collection.