DARKNESS AND BEYOND – A MEDLEY OF MANY LIVES by GS.SUBBU - SYNOPSIS & BLURB

DARKNESS AND BEYOND – A MEDLEY OF MANY LIVES by GS.SUBBU

SYNOPSIS & BLURB

SYNOPSIS

As we travel through life, we learn not only through our own experiences but also from people we meet on the way. We learn not to be judgmental, for there are as many paths as there are individual lives, and to each is left the job of defining his or her authenticity. There is nothing like a better life; a life is a life and has to be lived within the constraints of each individual’s boundaries that define the circumstances of his birth, where he has had really no choice and the subsequent choices he makes, to deal with the vagaries of a life that is indeterminate.

Each chapter is a slice of life, in search of a meaning that would define existence; in search of the ‘Beyond’ of this ‘Darkness’. This book is a journey, an exploration of life in its many facets, bringing one closer to a better understanding of what this life is all about. It is written in an Indian context for the different scenarios explored are in an Indian setting.  However, this does not in any way take away the universality of the situations or the message that is sought to be conveyed.

Our emotional response to darkness has always been one of insecurity, the fear of dissolving into an eternal darkness. We go to bed every night with the hope of waking up to the dawn of another day.  For a man of hope, he finds it perfectly logical that just as there is light at the end of the tunnel or like the darkness of the night which dissolves with the dawn of the day, there is also a beyond of this darkness of death. One does not know what really exists thereafter, but it is the ‘hope’ that takes man forward in living an authentic life, for without hope the prolongation of life itself would be absurd.

‘Darkness and Beyond – A Medley of Many Lives’, touches all those who have passed through the darkness of living and found the light of fulfillment giving an authenticity to their existence. Whether it is the revolutionary who finds his calling in taking up the cause of the downtrodden or the savant in search of that ultimate truth to everlasting happiness, it is the light that would dispel the darkness of suffering and ignorance which is their ultimate goal. The process of understanding and acceptance is in itself the way to overcome suffering.

Just as we understand medley as a musical composition consisting of various tunes arranged as a continuous whole, so also is life and the world in its entirety are about - A Medley of Many Lives. –

These are stories of faith, loyalty and the belief that life is a succession of darkness and light. When darkness descends there is always a beyond, there is ‘Hope’.

BLURB

Whether it is a journey to the native village ending in the discovery of one’s roots, or the old man who awaits his end with equanimity in the hope that there is always something beyond the darkness that would soon engulf him, GS.Subbu delves deep into the lives of people who we may have met sometime, somewhere and left their imprint on us. The old woman totally immobilized, slipping into dementia; the revolutionary who believes that violence only begets more violence; the young man or the middle-aged woman’s search for an ideal relationship; a visually challenged boy; the patriarch who fights his way back from an abused childhood; the savant’s search for that secret to ultimate happiness and bliss; or the ordeals faced by a young widow, these are nine stories of ‘Hope’; nine slices of life!

About the Author

An Engineer, from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, by qualification and a Banker by profession, GS.Subbu retired from the State Bank of India in 2010 and settled down in Chennai. An avid blogger, he has been writing regularly for the last five years on his blog Sublimation. His writings range from deeply philosophical meditations to depictions of inherent humor present in our daily lives, from appreciation of art to writing poetry. His other interests include painting and music.

Darkness and Beyond – A Medley of Many Lives is GS.Subbu’s second book. While in the first book I am just An Ordinary Man, a fictional autobiography, he dealt with the process of growing up and aging. Darkness and Beyond is all about being part of the larger process of understanding through the lives of others that it is Hope that takes us forward in order to live an authentic life.