Title: Kintsugi
Author: Anukrti Upadhyay
Publisher: HarperCollins
Genre: Fiction, Indian Literature
Pages: 228 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 978-9353579531
'That night, Leela lingered in Haruko’s room, leafing through her books as Haruko sat in silence, her eyes abstracted. ‘Jiji, what is this?’ She asked pointing at the picture of a terracotta-coloured bowl, deep and shaped like a cupped palm. The bowl had uneven golden lines running all over it.
Haruko glanced at the picture. ‘That’s a broken clay bowl
mended with gold.’ Leela’s eyes widened. ‘Isn’t it beautiful? I had tried my
hand at the art of Kintsugi in a ceramic class one semester.’
‘Not all vessels are meant to hold water, some are for
allowing water to seep away.’ Haruko trailed a finger over the photograph. ‘Broken
things are precious too’.
After finished reading Kintsugi by Anukrti Upadhyay, I
meditated over each sentence I underlined before. Have you ever felt an urge to
decode paragraphs, or just a quaint desire to enter into author’s brain, and
catching way of observing images? Upadhyay’s
depth of seeing things turned this novel into breathing tale.
The moment I mentioned above, woven between two main
protagonists Haruko and Leela, while one curious mind delves into an ancient
art of Japan, the other one helps her to seeking beauty into imperfections.
If you read her previous work Bhaunri, you realize that
Upadhyay brings fresh possibilities into storytelling. She has unique voice.
Beautiful imagery is her core strength. Along with reflections of ethereal landscapes,
she depicts the serenity of trees, animals and mountains.
Basically, Kintsugi is an art of mending broken objects with
gold and lacquer. I loved how Upadhyay takes this Japanese art as a metaphor
and weaves interlaced characters around it. Not a single character is heroic
yet powerful.
Kintsugi, is the third novel of Anukrti Upadhyay, sets in
Japan and Jaipur. With such brilliance she flickers between many characters. She
explored their inner world without losing the interest of reader. Isn’t it
delightful to have perspective of every character?
I felt sitting in a room with several windows. Each window
provides a glimpse of character’s journey and resonated emotions love and
despair as well.
Prakash pointed to the tall stacks of crisp honey-colored
discs on display in the sweet shops. These are Ghevars ̶ sweets for teej, the rain festival. It is a special festival
for women.
Kintsugi
begins with a fascinating bond between two strangers, Haruko and Dr. Prakash.
Haruko, a Japanese artist, who has devoted her life to her work, ‘It is a
great feeling, to be entirely there, focused on a single purpose.’
She comes to
India with the aim of learning craft, tradional Jaipuri ornamental work into
gold and silver. Meanwhile, an accident brings her to hospital and there she meets
Dr. Prakash, they started sharing personal talks, lunchbox along beautiful bond.
And then a rainy night changed all the dynamics of their relationship. Haruko
is an emotionally balanced person yet it is hard to solve the puzzle of human
heart.
Besides Haruko’s, Kintsugi contains an engrossing journey of
Leela. She grew up in an orthodox family of Jaipur.
‘You
know the gaddi must be at rest when day
and night come together, No one should touch their tools of trade when the two
times meet.’
Her father Madanji, a well known Kundansaaz owns Gaddi (Jeweler
Shop) into narrow streets of Jauhari Bazar. Haruko, the Japanese artist works
under him only. After meeting with Haruko, Leela realized her passion towards
art, she didn’t ignore the calling and eventually absorbed into it. In spite of
old beliefs of her family, she wanted to be recognized as Kundansaaz like her
father.
‘She has always been like this when she was a small girl,
changing from day to day, always doing as she pleased. One day she would want
someone to hold her hand and help her cross the narrow rain water drain in the
courtyard, and the next day she would shake her sisters’ hands off and run to
the school in the main bazaar on her own.’
She is hard
working and knows how to fight for her identity. When society opposes she fiercely
deals with it, ‘They think I am only a girl, they don’t see the quality of my
work’
I really enjoyed the quirky moments between Leela and her
tenant. She doesn’t feel any regret of having desires, and when circumstances
changed she doesn’t even think twice before getting rid of it.
‘Is all
this so important, Leela? Is it so important to be a sunar?’
‘There is
nothing more important,’ she said.
Frankly, It takes courage to write something on Anukrti
Upadhyay’s work. In a way I don’t want to spoil beauty, book provides itself. I
feel closer to these two characters.
‘Yuri
smiled a half smile, her cheeks were flushed. ‘My real mother used to say that
mountains are like beautiful strangers
- you desire them but cannot know them.’
‘she used
to take me up and down the mountain roads on her bicycle, in a little basket
seat, singing songs about their timeless beauty.’
On the other note, the chemistry between Yuri and Meena, touches
the depth of human psyche. And After meeting Hajime, She questioned on her life
choices.
Anukrti Upadhyay analyzed so many facets of life including
Death, Mental illness, cultural differences, loosing of bonds, sense of
belonging and alienation. She worked on each emotion with sensitivity.
‘Death bewildering, It is always a jolt when viewed up close,
the way it erases things which seemed so permanent and yet leaves other things
behind but we must live with death.’
I relished
Kintsugi to the core. This gripping novel soothes the soul and gripping as well. I would certainly recommended to it. Show much love to this beauty.
About
Author
Anukrti
Upadhyay has post-graduate degrees in Management and Literature, and a graduate
degree in Law. She writes in both English and Hindi. She stunned readers and
critics alike with the twin novellas Daura and Bhaunri in 2019, and delighted
Hindi readers with short story collection Japani Sarai.
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