There are a few times when you see a movie, or read a book, or a piece a music, that intensely resonates with you - almost as if it were meant only for you.
When I first read Salman Rushdie's Fury in 2003, it immediately captivated me. Haunting me to a point where I felt the parallels between his life and mine were immense.
Since then I have read that book a total of about 7 times - and every time I am more sure that Malik is my doppleganger.
In summary here is what I relate to:
1) Upper middle aged Solanka is successful in his own right. By every benchmark he must be very happy, he lives in London - with a wife whom he very much loves and a kid that sounds adorable.
2) He makes enough money to make him appear noveau.
3) He is creative, full of life and is admired in the world.
4) And yet.....
5) One fine morning (which is when the story starts), he picks up his bags and flies off to NY - leaving his wife and kid behind. While he informs them later - where he is - he is sure he does not want to come back.
6) He loves his son, and very much wants to connect back with him (including the last very poetic and yet real scene of the book) - Aasman is the one that he really wishes to connect back.
7) He seems to love his wife too, just that his need for being alone overtakes all of his desires.
8) While he flits in and out of life, getting involved in with a lively girl, fighting a political battle - he never fully recovers becoming part of mainstream ever.
9) In the end, he is still lost, maybe a little wiser, but still very much lost.
In my head, Malik's over-arching need is for silence. To escape a world - which he built himself, but does not relate to anymore at all. He wants to make a fresh start, but life cannot offer him that choice at all - and hence he makes the best possible shot - escaping off to NY - to try and get close the "fresh start", almost steal it from the circumstance.
Most importantly Malik is real. Malik is possibly me.
Salman bhai, take a bow.
When I first read Salman Rushdie's Fury in 2003, it immediately captivated me. Haunting me to a point where I felt the parallels between his life and mine were immense.
Since then I have read that book a total of about 7 times - and every time I am more sure that Malik is my doppleganger.
In summary here is what I relate to:
1) Upper middle aged Solanka is successful in his own right. By every benchmark he must be very happy, he lives in London - with a wife whom he very much loves and a kid that sounds adorable.
2) He makes enough money to make him appear noveau.
3) He is creative, full of life and is admired in the world.
4) And yet.....
5) One fine morning (which is when the story starts), he picks up his bags and flies off to NY - leaving his wife and kid behind. While he informs them later - where he is - he is sure he does not want to come back.
6) He loves his son, and very much wants to connect back with him (including the last very poetic and yet real scene of the book) - Aasman is the one that he really wishes to connect back.
7) He seems to love his wife too, just that his need for being alone overtakes all of his desires.
8) While he flits in and out of life, getting involved in with a lively girl, fighting a political battle - he never fully recovers becoming part of mainstream ever.
9) In the end, he is still lost, maybe a little wiser, but still very much lost.
In my head, Malik's over-arching need is for silence. To escape a world - which he built himself, but does not relate to anymore at all. He wants to make a fresh start, but life cannot offer him that choice at all - and hence he makes the best possible shot - escaping off to NY - to try and get close the "fresh start", almost steal it from the circumstance.
Most importantly Malik is real. Malik is possibly me.
Salman bhai, take a bow.
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