THE
DIARY OF MRITYUNJAY
PREFACE
For more than a year, after my third book ‘Autumn Leaves –
Seasons of Life’ was published, I did not write much. Even the postings in my
blog were few and far between. A certain listlessness had taken hold of me and I
found it difficult to break out. It was as if I had exhausted myself and was
bereft of any new thought that I could transcribe into the written word. Some would
term it as ‘Writer’s Block’ and maybe that was what it was. When I was once
asked how I would deal with Writer’s Block, my answer was that I would wait for
it to pass and engage myself with other interests - painting and music, for the
more we bother about it, the more it blocks one’s creativity. I did nothing and
waited. Writing has given me immense satisfaction for in the process I transport
myself to an alternate world through the characters I create. It was then that I
happened to see a documentary on the Kedarnath disaster that took place in June
2013. That rekindled the angst I had felt reading about it at that time,
especially so because a colleague and his wife never returned. I was aware that
friends and relations still hoped for a miracle that would bring them back,
even months after their disappearance. Six years have gone by and though the
scars would have healed by now, the memory of those traumatic days will continue
to haunt.
This was the trigger that made me write this book. It has
nothing to do with any particular person or event and is a fictionalized
account of one man’s journey through the midst of this disaster and coming face
to face with his own mortality. This is a story of one man’s search for a
meaning in life, and the redemption of a woman traumatized by past
relationships.
This time I have consciously avoided including an
introduction as a separate section for that would defeat the purpose of the
book, which by itself is a chronicle of self-exploration seeking answers to the
existential questions that arise within each one of us. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan in
his book ‘The Hindu View of Life’ says -
Life is like a game of bridge. We did not frame the rules
and we cannot control the dealing. The cards are dealt out to us, whether they
be good or bad, but we can play the game well or play it badly. A skillful
player may have a poor hand and yet win the game. A bad player may have a good
hand and yet make a mess of it. Our life is a mixture of necessity and freedom,
chance and choice. We may not change events but we can change our approach to
events.
A brief synopsis of the book is given here -
On the 16th June 2013 the temple town of
Kedarnath was devastated by the flood waters of the Mandakini and the
Saraswathi due to heavy rains in the area and the overflow from the Chorabari
lake. Hundreds of people lost their lives and more were reported missing, not
to talk about the near total decimation of what was once a thriving temple
town. It’s in the backdrop of this disaster that the story of Mrityunjay is
set. Mrityunjay who is on a search for a purpose in life, comes face to face
with his own mortality and ends up realizing that ‘the purpose of life is a
philosophical question. We spend our lives trying to find an answer. The
ultimate answer eludes us time and again. When you think you have found an
answer, a new dimension opens up. So, there is really no end’.
It’s also the
story of Ahalya who suffers from the trauma of betrayal in her earlier
relationships and finds in Mrityunjay the redeemer, who pulls her out of the
morass she had fallen into and gives a new direction to her life.
Apart from the slew of characters who form part of
Mrityunjay’s journey, the river forms an important part of the book. The creative
force of its serenity and the destructive nature of its turbulence, on its
journey to merge with the ocean are but allegorical representations of our
journey through life.
Life is just a river that flows,
On its way it winds and grows,
To settle down in tranquillity,
To finally merge with the sea’.
