The Week India – July 21, 2019

JULY 21, 2019 • THE WEEK 65

of the anti-Aryan unifier and paints
him in hues that are largely supple-
mentary to his dark and overbearing
image sketched in pop culture.
The book brings the reader face-
to-face with primal human instincts,
helmed by deep-seated fury and
bleakness. And somewhere hidden
inside, Amish locates the emotion-
al turmoil he went through after
the success of his last venture, the
Shiva trilogy. “It’s the darkest book
I have ever written and a very angry
one at that. As a disciple of Shiva,
who is known for his rage, I’m not
immune to anger either. In the past
few years, I have been very angry
and depressed. It had to do with my
father-in-law and brother-in-law, two
people whom I love and respect the
most in my life. Why should anyone
suffer so much? A certain something
inside me would not let me rest as
questions kept whirring in my mind,”
he says.
His mind goes back in time when
his 10-year-old son Neel was just
four. “I had experienced a very strong
emotion of unbridled happiness that
time. Neel told his teacher that his
dad woke up when the sky was still
dark and worked on his cumtum
(computer). The teacher must have

assumed that I am employed in some

call centre. When she asked whom

does your father work for, Neel

promptly replied Lord Shiva,” says

the doting father, laughing uproari-

ously.

“He knows I am obsessed with

Lord Shiva,” says Amish, who grew

up in a religious household and

turned into a zealous atheist in

college, until faith reclaimed him just

before he wrote his first book. “There

is nothing wrong in turning away

from religion,” he says. “Problem

arises when atheists become judg-

mental and assume that anyone who

is religious is a fool. My son, too, will

be free to choose and not be forced

or judged.”

Life in the Tripathi household is

largely elemental. “We follow the nat-

ural movements of the elements—

sun, earth and the moon and accord-

ingly try and imbibe the discipline

followed by our ancestors,” explains

Amish. He prefers to be up by 5am,

eats between sunrise and sunset and

hits the sack latest by 10pm. “I am a

boring guy,” he quips. “It is important

to have a pattern to which the body

gets used to. I actually have apps

which tell me what to follow and

when. Even when I’m eating, I make

sure to read, so that I end up eating

almost for 45 minutes at a stretch,

instead of wolfing food down.”

Amish prefers to write in the morn-

ings for as long as thoughts flow.

Raavan, he says, is the result of 40

years of research. Almost everything

he ever read has been incorporated

into the book. “It is an immersive

parallel universe and I really had the

entire universe to put into the book,

but I refrained from the gross human

rights violation of putting my readers

through the torture,” says Amish. Next

up, is Sita’s abduction and the ‘rule

of love’, but the author will not part

with his interpretation just yet. “Wait

for it,” he says. “It will be a conflict

between ‘rule of love’ and the rule of

law. Let us see which one wins.”

Raavan: Enemy of Aryavarta

Author: Amish

Publisher: Westland

Pages: 400

Price: 0399

EVERY MORNING, Tina, a sensible

and hardworking woman, religiously

cleans Angelica’s farmhouse on the

Italian island of Sardinia. Angelica,

an alcoholic who hardly cares for

anything in the world other than the

animals on her farm, is about to be

evicted if she cannot cough up a

huge sum of money. Tina urges her

to sell her animals, leave Sardinia

and start over elsewhere. Although

hesitant, Angelica agrees to do so,

and requests Tina to bring her young

daughter Vittoria to the farm once.

It is soon revealed that Angelica

is Vittoria’s biological mother. When

Vittoria is

brought to

the farm

for the first

time, she is

hesitant and reticent. However, she

begins to warm up to Angelica and

starts visiting the farm without Tina’s

knowledge. When Tina finds out,

she is appalled and tries to convince

Angelica to leave town. Angelica, who

begins to take a liking to her daugh-

ter, is unwilling to leave.

Daughter of Mine, which was

screened at the Berlin Interna-

tional Film Festival, is the tale of a

confused child caught between two

mothers. Directed by Laura Bispuri,

the movie boasts some great perfor-

mances and a few tense moments,

making it a thrilling watch.

BY JOSE K.GEORGE

Film: DAUGHTER

OF MINE

(Italian, 2018)

WORLD

CINEMA'S

FINEST

A tale of two

mothers