Ajay Kamalakaran, in his book takes the
readers to the relatively less known
Sakhalin and to its past and present
times. The times when Sakhalin Island
saw tremendous oil boom and attracted
the world to this remote corner on the
globe. Of course, with big changes come
cultural exchanges and people crossing
the borders bring along the cultural
influences. Sakhalin Island kind of
became a witness to a big change! The
revolution! The changes in its living,
cultures, economy and aspirations!
These are stories of good behaviors, and
odd behaviours of the characters, streets
of Sakhalin, the blue sea, nature,
survival through political-economical
changes in the country and love. In the
story titled, “The Cleaning Lady”,
there’s Galina Vasilevna who works as a
cleaner in an office, finding faults with
everyone. The story effortlessly opens
up the reader’s attention to her odd
behaviours, meandering thoughts and
interests, to the mystery about a secret
service agent in the same story.
The other stories like “Globe Trotting
for Love”, “The Leap Year
Syndrome”, to “The Surprise Visitor”
etc eloquently express the sides of
human nature, emotions like love and
surprises, the idiosyncrasies. The
wistful remembrance of good olden
days, to sometimes hopelessness
through characters like young and
beautiful Daria searching for her
soulmate or to Linda who is from
Birmingham and of course the
backdrop of ethereal and enigmatic
Sakhalin Island are enough to remind
the reader how beautiful and
interesting our world is!
Ajay Kamalakaran, is a journalist and
travel writer based in Mumbai, India.
He is a veteran on Russian affairs and
was also the editor of Sakhalin Times
in Yuzhno Sakhalinsk from 2003-- Later in year 2011, he joined as
a columnist and editor with Russia
Beyond, an international multimedia
publication. Currently, he is a
columnist with Malayala Manorama.
SOCULTURES MAGAZINE MAY-JUNE 2019 / 58