Musafir Cafe
Divya Prakash Dubey
2016
Westland
pp. 144
Musafir Cafe by Dubey is the story of everyone who is in their late twenties and early thirties, or maybe even older. It is the story of everyone who has found a stable career but is in search of peace and meaning. Of everyone who is looking not for romantic love but comfort in relationships, that undefined quality that is the hallmark of all great relationships that you lose as soon as you find. The protagonist is a young man who chances upon a meaningful relationship and loses it in quest of giving it a name, in the end, finding it again when he comes to peace with himself more than with others. It is a contemporary story. The power of the book is not in the plot but in the narration. This is the first time I have read a book by Dubey. It is not in his literary prowess but his everyday language that you find magic. Written in a language that is here and now, the language of the average Indian that the book forms a connect with the reader. It isn’t deeply moving or even novel, but it is refreshing. At the end of it, there was more that I wanted to read. Not about Sudha and Chander but about what Dubey can write. If you plan to read it, be careful lest it trigger in you a search for fulfilling a life long dream that you may not be ready to embark on a journey for…
Divya Prakash Dubey
2016
Westland
pp. 144
Musafir Cafe by Dubey is the story of everyone who is in their late twenties and early thirties, or maybe even older. It is the story of everyone who has found a stable career but is in search of peace and meaning. Of everyone who is looking not for romantic love but comfort in relationships, that undefined quality that is the hallmark of all great relationships that you lose as soon as you find. The protagonist is a young man who chances upon a meaningful relationship and loses it in quest of giving it a name, in the end, finding it again when he comes to peace with himself more than with others. It is a contemporary story. The power of the book is not in the plot but in the narration. This is the first time I have read a book by Dubey. It is not in his literary prowess but his everyday language that you find magic. Written in a language that is here and now, the language of the average Indian that the book forms a connect with the reader. It isn’t deeply moving or even novel, but it is refreshing. At the end of it, there was more that I wanted to read. Not about Sudha and Chander but about what Dubey can write. If you plan to read it, be careful lest it trigger in you a search for fulfilling a life long dream that you may not be ready to embark on a journey for…