Book Review – The Quest of the Sparrows, Kartik Sharma & Ravi ‘Nirmal’ Sharma

When the authors of this book first approached me, offering me a free copy in exchange for a review, I felt a little apprehensive. I had already received two books thus from first-time authors and, I must say, both works ended up being dismal. While it is not correct to brush away someone’s hard work thus, the reader in me couldn’t stomach those books and I ended up panning them both. With those experiences at the back of my mind, I agreed to read this book reluctantly. But whatever hesitation I had about reading this work got dispelled as soon as the book began.

Before I get further, here’s the plot – the young Swami Parthiban becomes the leader of a spiritual organization at the ‘demise’ of the elder, Swami Parmanand. Soon after he takes over the mantle of the ‘ashram’, he asks his disciples to undertake a pilgrimage with him to a nearby holy town, with no possessions of any kind, except a change of clothes. He says that such a pilgrimage will teach them to live light, like the sparrows, without all the mental and emotional baggage and evolve spiritually. The book elaborates on the events throughout the pilgrimage, through the words of two of the pilgrims  – Nikhil, a rich NRI whose family life has fallen apart, and Sanjeev, a private detective recruited to prove that Swami Parthiban is nothing but a fraud, moonlighting as a spiritual guru.

Nikhil and Sanjeev narrate the first two chapters, recounting the perspectives, perceptions and eventual spiritual changes that overcame the group as a whole, apart from them as individuals. While Nikhil gets to learn more and more about the purpose of life and changes into a better human being, Sanjeev clears his bitterness and suspicions – arising out of his own past experiences - to end up as a real disciple of Swami Parthiban. The third chapter recounts how the young and hapless Parthiban ended up heading the globally celebrated – and abundantly rich – spiritual organization, from the unenviable life of hiding from the creditors baying for his blood. The fourth and final chapter though undoes all the good work done by the authors in the previous three chapters. Sounding more like an anti-climax of the Indian movies, it will make you wonder whether the authors were in a hurry to finish the book.

Parthiban is not your run-of-the-mill spiritual guru, speaking only in esoteric puzzles and preaching impractical ideals. All ‘his’ ideas are simple, worthy and touch a chord in your mind. That is sure to endear him to you. Thrust into the high pedestal suddenly, he has a foot on the higher path and the other on the mundane ways of life. Such a depiction makes his words sound more real and practical. His flaws, fears, idiosyncrasies and eventual spiritual evolution are all well captured. The writing has a smooth, flowing quality about it. The characters all seem as real as your neighbourhood personas. The ideas are all absolutely lovely.

Though the book is categorized as ‘Fiction’, I am keeping it between the ‘Self-Help’ and ‘Spirituality’ sections of my home library, because it tries to give you the best of both worlds. As good as Robin Sharma’s ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’, this is a book that I would recommend/gift to all my friends. Who knows?! I myself may pick it up every now and then, choose some random page and ruminate upon the good ideas found in there. Kudos to the authors for coming good on their very first book!