SRISHTI BOOKS

Soma Das (2007): Sum thing of a mocktale.. Srishti Publishers & Distributors, Pages: 206, Price: Rs.100

"Sum thing of a mocktale: at JNU where Kurta fell in love with Jeans" is the first creative work of a fiction by the writer Soma Das. The Novelist is a research scholar pursuing her doctorate in JNU under the UGC fellowship. She is also a graded Odissi dance artist.

As the title itself explains that the book is set in JNU campus. It is really a mocktale. It is the story of adventures of some youngsters, who entered the JNU campus for pursuing their master's degree and after completing the course, it is difficult for them to leave the JNU campus.

The main character in the novel is Kaya Pattnaik, who is the mouthpiece of the novelist. All the events are described by her. We can say, it is the point of view of the writer in which Kaya Pattnaik describes all the things because the author of the book also has completed her master's degree from JNU and most probably it is the experiences of the author as a student that are explained in this book by the student characters.

The novel has been divided in to fourteen different chapters and every chapter has its own title. The titles themselves explain the content of the chapters and what the writer wants to describe or present before the readers.

The novel starts with the admission process of Kaya and ends with the final exams of her master's degree meanwhile she has cleared IAS exam. In the beginning of the story the main character Kaya is carefree and all her friends are also of the same category. After that they have many different experiences at the campus that chang their way of thinking and their style of living. In this period of joy they spend nights at Ganga Dhaba and try to discover the secret of drinkers, dopers and lovers in Parthasarathy Rocks. In the end they become very serious for the preparations of the IAS exam. After having many difficulties and depression Kaya is successful and gets into IAS after being ranked 223. It is a big thing for Kaya.

It is a fabulous novel about the student life in an University. This book explains how the students are carefree about their future when they take admission for Master's Degree but in the end when they are nearing completion their master degree course, they transforms into very mature and responsible persons. In the last chapter of the novel three of them Rag, Shubra and Kaya express their views and feelings about the JNU Campus.