Ibnebatuti । इब्नेबतूती - Divya Prakash Dubey - ★★★★

AUTHOR: Divya Prakash Dubey

NARRATOR: Divya Prakash Dubey

GENRE: Hindi Fiction

RATING: 4 Stars.

In a Nutshell: An easy-going story about a young man who wishes to see his widowed mother in a happy relationship before he moves abroad for further studies. One of the few Hindi books about contemporary India that balances culture and modernity well. I enjoyed it a lot.

Story Synopsis:

Raghav Awasthi has won the scholarship to go to Stanford for his degree in Data Science. But just a couple of months before his departure, his mom Shaalu is hospitalised due to stress-related issues. Raghav and his girlfriend Nisha decide that Shaalu might be better off if she gets remarried. Thus begins their secret plan of finding a new husband for Shaalu. Crazy, right? Now add in the complication that Shaalu has a secret in her past that no one knew about, until Nisha stumbles across it.

The book is written in a dual timeline, in a limited third person narration.

Let me first clarify for my Western friends here: This book is just for Indian readers. Its values and its core are essentially Indian, and you might find it either quaint or strange. But only an Indian will be able to appreciate the transformation in thinking that is depicted by the book. Good for you that there’s no English translation available yet. 😉

Now let me get to my Indian friends.

If you have read classic Hindi literature by the likes of Premchand and Dinkar, you might have noticed its richness but at the same time, discerned how outdated the content is when juxtaposed with today’s India. If you have read contemporary Hindi novels, you might have observed that many are like Bollywood movie scripts, with exaggerated emotions and over-the-top situations.

Ibnebatuti is a book that falls in none of the above categories. It has the right balance of our traditions and our modernity, without going in too many stereotypes. (Some stereotypes are obviously there. One can't really escape stereotypes in Hindi fiction; the genre still has a long way to go) but there were also enough new themes for me to enjoy the book without fixating on the formulaic content.

Just in case you are wondering about the title, the word ‘Ibnebatuti’ doesn’t mean anything. It is a funny derivation of Ibn Battuta, the name of the 14th century Moroccan explorer who travelled through Eurasia over thirty years and documented his experiences. One of the characters calls another by the distorted variation. Who and why – you need to read and find out.

Here are some things that struck me as wonderful about this story:

🌷 The depiction of Shaalu – a modern single mom, who doesn’t shy away from hitting out at those men who hit on her, who accepts her son’s girlfriend without fuss and even has bonding times with her without her son trudging along, who doesn’t spoil her son rotten but calls him out when he is wrong, who stayed single for her son and yet is not averse to ‘dating’ now that it has been suggested. There were so many ways in which Shaalu shatters the clichéd portrayal of Indian moms in our literature and movies. I loved her character.

🌷 Raghav is a more complicated character, but yet realistic. He is an expert in emotionally blackmailing his mom into agreeing to his ideas, as most children are. But his feelings come across as genuine concern rather than spoilt stubbornness. I also appreciated how he didn’t shy away from showing or asking for physical affection from his mother in the form of hugs or patting on the head or smoothing his hair.

🌷 The bond between Shaalu and Raghav is a treat. Their love for each other comes not only in the form of caring remarks but also funny repartees. The serious topic of the book is given a lighthearted counterbalance through their witty banter.

🌷 The book doesn’t introduce too many needless characters, just to make this a family-oriented story. Shaalu, Raghav and Nisha are the central trio in the contemporary timeline, and two characters being dominant in the flashbacks.

🌷 The book also covers, to a certain extent, the protests against the decisions of the Mandal Commision in 1990. This is a topic rarely explored in contemporary fiction, despite its political and social significance in India. It was a pleasant surprise to see it included here, and also handled mostly well.

🌷 There are quite a few thought-worthy quotes in the book. While I wasn’t a fan of how these thoughts were presented (with the writing breaking the fourth wall and slipping into omniscient narration), they were still good. The lines connected to motherhood were touching.

🌷 The book represents the era and the Lucknowi culture and cuisine nicely without forcing it into the plot.

On the flip side:

☹ It did hurt to see that the historical timeline was set in the 1990s. Ouch – I feel old!!

☹ I hate the cover. It doesn’t represent the story well.

All in all, I enjoyed this story that depicts contemporary semi-urban India so well with its objective portrayal of the modern Indian outlook integrated with the traditional Indian thinking. The writing isn’t Booker-worthy, so don’t go looking for lyrical prose. It is a simple and wholesome story, delivered without going over the top.

This was my first book by this author, and I am definitely going to read more of his works.

If you have Storytel, you can hear the audiobook narrated by the author himself, and he does a wonderful job. A rare example of an author clicking as a narrator without making me doze off.

हिन्दी किताब के लिए हिन्दी में दो शब्द लिखना तो बनता है. बस इतना समझीये कि किताब बिलकुल हिंदी फिल्म जैसी है। मगर हम अगर किताबों की तुलना फिल्मों से करें से गलत बात है। किताब को किताब के नजरिए से ही देखना चाहिए। और इस किताब ने अपने प्यारे किरदार और मॉडर्न प्लॉट से मुझे तो बहुत मज़ा आ गया। अब भले ही कहानी फिल्मी हो, दिल खुश, तो पाठक खुश।