Praiseworthy maiden effort. Review on Rainbow Colors of Love - Barnali and Sajith

I read Rainbow - Colors of Love at a comparatively slow pace and lagged behind the other esteemed reviewers in submitting my take upon it. However I am glad that I got an opportunity to read the takes of excellent reviewers who are, by all means, leagues ahead of me in reviewing English literature. Here comes my take on this novel.

Rookie writers Barnali Biswas and Sajit Nair has written this 400 and odd pages long novel which is based on some personal relationships in a corporate world. Set up in the city of Pune, this novel is about the mutual relationships of Sujoy, his friend cum colleague Rajiv, another colleague Zia and her ex-boyfriend Priyank. Sujoy and Rajiv are young professionals making it big at a fairly young age in their career in Lifeline group involved in insurance sector. Rajiv is lonely on personal front with his parents living away physically as well as psychologically from him. After ignoring his crush for a girl, Pratichi several years ago, he finally falls for Zia who is herself caressing her wounds received from a love affair with Priyank in her hometown, Delhi. Despite getting Rajiv's love, neither she is able to totally throw away Priyank (her first love) from her mind, nor Priyank is leaving her in peace, disturbing her time and again. His frequent physical and phonic arrivals are proving to be a big disruption in the relationship of Rajiv and Zia. Finally they the things take a bizarre turn.

This maiden effort of Barnali and Sajit is good but by no means excellent. The talent of the writers is visible in the novel in bits and pieces but not in a consolidated form. Now I present the pros and cons of this fictional piece of written work from my viewpoint.

Pros :

1. The corporate backdrop of an emotional story has been effectively set up.

   
   




2. The characters are flesh and blood human-beings, neither angels nor demons.

   
   




3. The internal loneliness of Rajiv has been shown effectively.

   
   




4. The in-heart turmoil and sentimental dynamics of both Rajiv and Zia has been portrayed quite nicely.

   
   




5. The issue of professional jealousy proping up in friendship and it's ill-effect on the psyche of the

   
   

losing one has been dealt with quite realistically.

1. The narrative in the final 50 pages is engrossing and the climax is impressive.

   
   




2. The poems alongwith the poetic language used at certain places are able to leave a mark on

   
   

the reader's heart.

Cons :

1. The novel is excessively long. In my view, to make a good work of fiction, the plot should have a large canvas. The narrative should give such a milage with the content that not even 10 pages can be removed from the novel. However, Rainbow badly falters here. It can easily be trimmed by at least 60-70 pages without disturbing the flow and impact of the narrative. The authors have done a grave mistake by writting such a long novel out of a very thin storyline. The effort is similar to making Lassi with curd and renders the novel an air of boredom at severaI places. The first half of the novel is damn slow. Anybody who reads the final 50 pages can understand the full story without going through the remaining 370 ones which talk more and tell less. This is not the characteristic of a good novel.

   
   




2. There are several superfluous incidents in the novel having nothing to do with the main plot. The incidents like Daniel's toilet exercise during the electronic conference, the full-fledged chapter belonging to the discussion between Rajiv and Vasudevan in the presence of Ishita regarding the condoms and the double-meaning dialogues between Sujoy, Rajiv and Ishita in the perspective of Sujoy's misunderstanding generated by the presence of condoms in Rajiv's home etc. are perhaps to make the reader laugh. However the authors just forgot that they were authoring a profound novel and not the screenplay of a formula-based bollywood movie. Such things may not give a good taste to the decorous readers.

   
   




3. The IPL issue seems to have been forced into the narrative perhaps to give it an air of authenticity. However the effect is quite contrary to the intended one. Rajasthan Royals had won IPL in 2008 and the authors have taken the story to several years ahead thereafter, thus making the narrative look unreal from that angle.

   
   




4. Rajiv has been shown to be worthy enough in the eyes of the management to rise to the level of CEO at the tender age of 32 years. However, he is immature enough to manhandle Priyank and use degrading language for Zia in the office. This is quite contradictory. Age is not a factor in today's corporate world, I agree but behavioural maturity only takes a person to a higher position (leave aside the apex position of CEO). Just to push their narrative ahead, the authors have taken this liberty which is not logical. I have been associated with the corporate world for the past two decades and so, working in several private sector and public sector institutions. and the thing I have seen that more than the talent, it's the maturity (of attitude, behaviour and reacting to the things) which matters in elevating a person up the ladder. I have never seen an impulsive person like Rajiv making it big in the corporate world.

   
   




5. The incident of Rajiv's manhandling Priyank has been depicted as kept hidden from the top management. However if Sujoy wanted to defeat Rajiv on some front, rendering him a professional defeat would have been more logical than depriving him of the love of his life. Hence had he informed Neeraj of this incident and deprived Rajiv of the CEO position, it would have been satisfactory for him from both the angles, the angle of a professional rival and the angle of a true friend. However, in that condition, the authors would have to think of some other dramatic twist in the narrative.

   
   




6. The corporate nitty-gritty seems to be novel but the emotional part of the novel takes a beaten path with nothing original. Though I have not read many English novels, I have seen much better treatment of the similar plots in Indian language novels. The climax reminds me of the classic novel of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay - Parineeta.

   
   

The thing which impressed me most, is establishing the significance of the virtue of forgiveness in the end. This factor makes the end of the novel very influential upon the reader. For this, the authors deserve to be given a big hand.

I urge the authors not to be carried away by the accolades showered upon them by the other reviewers and work hard to improve upon the deficiencies of their writing. This novel is mainly for the Indian readers of English fiction and definitely a good reading. It works in parts, not in whole. However recommended for light reading.

Rating - 2.5 stars.