The Gymnast - Sanjay Chandra

Author: Sanjay Chandra

Genre: Family Drama

Rating: 3 stars.

In a Nutshell: More of a family drama than a sports drama. It starts off unusually but progresses in a somewhat predictable manner. Simple writing, quick pace, a multi-threaded story that ties a bit too neatly.

Story Synopsis:

2018. Gurgaon. A wealthy man named Sanjeev spots a little roadside dweller walking on the tightrope for money. Her two siblings are also performing along with her. Along with his wife Neeta, he decides to support the poor but hardworking family, comprising Budh Ram, his wife Chhaya, and their three kids - Pradeep (11), Deepa (9), and Roshni (7). Pradeep is an expert flautist as well as cricketer, Deepa loved to dance and act, while Roshni is a born gymnast. How the paths of these three children and their parents progresses forms the rest of the story, which ends in the year 2028.

If I had read the above synopsis before beginning the book, I would have gone into it with clearer expectations. However, the actual blurb, the title, and the cover all suggest that “The Gymnast” has the central role in the story. As such, I was hoping to read a sports drama centred on gymnastics, including its various styles, the cutthroat competition among gymnasts, their tough training and disciplined lifestyle, and some competitions and awards. Some of this is present in the book. However, none of it forms the main story but just one of the subplots.

Further, as some of my close reader friends know, I have a major allergy against spoilers. I do read book blurbs because that is how I select or reject it for my never-ending TBR, but I avoid reviews from any reviewer who tends to talk too much about the storyline. This book delivered a triple-whammy of spoilers on its own! The cover shows the Olympics symbol, the blurb on the back cover mentions Olympics 2028 and Roshni’s perfect landing from the springboard, and the author’s preface at the start of the book reveals the trajectory of what destiny holds for Pradeep, Deepa, and Roshni. So the content was more a matter of waiting for what I knew was coming rather than wondering what came next. To me, this was the biggest disappointment – that the book didn’t create the excitement of discovery because of the advance revelations.

As I mentioned earlier, the story is more of a family drama, with Roshni’s gymnastics forming just one of various subplots. The initial half of the book deals with the background of Budh Ram’s family, going in detailed back-stories for his parents and grandparents. As the family settles into relative financial security in the second half of the novel, the track moves to their life – Budh Ram’s career and desire to continue education, his wife Chhaya’s work as a maid while continuing her studies as well, Pradeep’s training as a flautist and his later struggles, Deepa’s endeavours as a dancer/actor and her experiences. The narrative flow isn’t linear but goes back and forth, sometimes revealing the same events from multiple perspectives. I liked the first half more as the second half goes mostly into predictable mode, and somewhat over the top.

As you can see, it is quite an ambitious plot with multifarious narrative threads than a single one. This works both for and against the story. On the positive side, you get many distinct subplots within a single book, thus giving you the feeling of having a bouquet in your hands than a single flower. However, this also means that the narration keeps jumping across each subplot and you need to remember what’s happening in each character’s life. The style of writing back stories wasn’t a favourite of mine, but it certainly was a novel approach.

Surprisingly for a book with so many characters within a family, there is hardly any open communication between them. The subplots feel very compartmentalised. The characters interact mainly during times of conflicts and we hardly get to see any other kind of emotional bond between them. Their spoken dialogues are very formal or disjointed sometimes, not the way people would speak in real life.

To go back to the positives (I seem to be swinging a lot in this review), the writing is fast-paced. The simple words keep the flow and the book can easily be completed within 2-3 hours. It covers a lot of themes not common in contemporary Indian fiction, including a minor LGBT+ track, substance abuse, gender equality, varying expectations from sons vs. daughters, importance of education, importance of financial security, marital faithfulness,… While not all of these are extensive and some are stereotypical, I did appreciate most of them getting a highlight in the story.

Experienced readers will note that the writer is still at the early stages of his writing career. However, this will bother only those who are as finicky as I am about language usage. There is some finetuning required in the wordplay and style, though there were no grammatical errors or typos – something I appreciate even more for indie writers.

This isn’t a book that will stand out for its writing or character development. But it certainly makes a mark for a valiant attempt at depicting a somewhat realistic family saga from the perspective of characters who don’t usually find a voice in contemporary Indian fiction. It's a story with a heart.

PS: I love how all the three children’s names are variants of “light”, while their mother is named after the unseen side of light, Chhaya being “shadow”. I also enjoyed finally reading as book with a character having the same name as mine.

My thanks to author Sanjay Chandra for providing me a copy of his book in exchange for an honest review. J