Book Review – She : Ekla Cholo Re, Santhosh Avvannavar

When the author asked me to review his work, I told him that I can do so only if I am given the freedom to review it honestly and he agreed, thankfully. So, here it is, my honest review.

Just imagine giving a birthday gift to your friend or, keeping with the trend of this week, a Valentine’s Day gift to your loved one. No matter how precious the gift may be, presentation is something that you will consider equally important. You will not handover a costly shirt wrapped in a gunny bag or pack that precious diamond ring in a cheap plastic box. You will ensure that the container of that gift is equally, if not more, attractive as the gift. That’s called presentation and sadly, that is exactly what is lacking in this book.

The gift here is the awareness of the plight of the third-gender and the pressing need to treat them as equals. It’s indeed a lofty idea, worthy of appreciation. Till I read this book, I didn’t even bother to learn whether such literature exists in the country. Kudos to the author for showing me a new direction and stoking in me a curiosity to learn about those pitiable souls that walk the streets, clapping their hands and asking for money from all and sundry.
 

But nothing else is worthwhile about this book apart from that idea. Poor language, melodramatic writing style and illogical statements all come together to mar what could have been a really good book. It is surprising that this book was authored by two people and also edited by another person (said to be an avid blogger). A flurry of grammatical errors will make any serious reader squirm. The punctuations are even worse. Either the authors these days don’t go through their drafts for the second time or there is a dearth of quality editors.
 

This is the plot – the protagonist offers lift to a good-looking woman during one of his evening rides. That woman turns out to be a transgender person, who is on the rebound. She recounts the pains inflicted by love and lack of understanding from the people around. There is nothing novel about her ‘love’. There is not much in the tale that could make you feel deeply for her. The writing style depicts the emotion at best as ordinary infatuation. The tale takes the routine path of betrayal by the other person, our heroine’s attempt at studying and getting a small job. Predictably, the protagonist shows emotions of kindness towards that transgender person and the tale ends by showing that protagonist is the author whom the woman has been quoting all along. Really?! The transgender persons have much worse challenges in life than mere ‘love failure’.
 

Logic is the next casualty. Some of the lines will make your head reel by being as ambiguous as only they can be. Consider these two lines just for a sample – 1) 'People were often perplexed about my gender - some said that since the child is soft, she must be a girl while others felt that I am a boy.' (Really?! A child is born and people are not able to determine its gender?!) 2) 'Strangers often don't meet in life.' (What the?! Whatever the author wanted to convey here is clearly not what he has conveyed.)
 

What could have been a worthy attempt is marred by melodramatic thinking, poor writing style and poorer editing. Only thing that I could take away from this book is the desire to learn about the state of transgender persons in our country. Thanks to the author for that.