Cobalt Blue by Sachin Pinto Kundalkar Book Review

After reading this, I thought watching the trailer or the film might spoil my visualization of the house, the weather and the people. So, I didn't watch it. There is a person who comes to this room. He is not even given a name in this book.

The boy who comes as a paying guest changes the feel of the whole room. Tanay develops a crush on him gradually. Nothing else is needed when you are with me. Even the small moments seem special. The boy cherishes life to the fullest.

The minutes spent with the one you love can never be forgotten. Every moment feels so good. We can love someone without fully understanding them. or without knowing fully about them. Because he is a homosexual even his grief is not recognised by anyone.

To whom will I be able to vent out? While reading certain books, we will be eager to see how their film adaptations would be. While reading this book, I knew that it had come out as a film. But I didn't even want to watch the trailer because... reading this book itself felt like watching a movie.

It was filled with a lot of visuals and smells. touch and a lot of sounds. The book made me feel each smell. After reading this, I thought watching the trailer or the film might spoil my visualization of the house, the weather and the people.

So, I didn't watch it. I picked up "Cobalt Blue" especially for pride month. The book deals with a heterosexual relationship and a homosexual relationship as well. The love is not forced just to make us gain an understanding of the LGBTQ community.

Neither is the love relationship treated as a normal one. The love is normalised and is very realistic. Cobalt Blue by Sachin Kundalkar What is this book about? There are two things Sachin Kundalkar has won the National Award for Best Screenplay.

The person who translated this book from Marathi to English - Jerry Pinto has also won a National Award. The two of them have collaborated to give us a masterpiece. This book was not like the other Indian books written in English It had a different and fresh feel to it.

The book was first published in 2006 and was translated in 2013. Though it was translated in 2013 itself It took a long time for me to read it. There are three siblings in a house - a girl and two boys living with their parents. A normal Marathi family.

There is a paying guest house in their area. The owner of that PG earns a bit through that. Seeing this, our hero's Dad feels that the empty room upstairs which was occupied by the grandparents earlier... The room is filled with the smell of medicines and pain balms. which was specific to that particular room.

But it's a beautiful room despite the smell of medicines and is known as a tower room. The road was visible from the room. The sunlight could directly light up the room. The eldest one assumes that the room is his after the death of the grandparents.

But the Dad tells him that just like the other person who has converted the room into PG to earn money. They can also try to do the same. After hearing this, the eldest son decides to move to a separate house because of a lack of privacy.

The daughter doesn't have a space to make decisions in the house. The second son also thinks that the tower room is his. But it is being converted into a PG. Neither of the children likes the idea of the room being converted into a PG. A nameless person comes as the paying guest to the room.

Tanay, the second son observes that the paying guest is living the life that he wants which feels very different to Tanay. The boy who is the paying guest rearranges things as he wants to every Sunday Things need not be in a specific order as such. He just arranges things as he likes.

He paints the room using Cobalt Blue colour. He changes the feel of the room completely. Tanay gradually develops a crush on him. As Tanay was homosexual, he would have met a lot of people and had a physical relationship with many of them.

He was sexually attracted to them as well. But this guy brought out a different feel in him. Tanay felt when he was with the guy Nothing else was needed in this world. Even the small moments felt special. The guy makes Tanay cherish life. But Tanay knows nothing about him.

Tanay doesn't know his name, the place where he is from, his likes or dislikes The guy has a smell of his own. All of this brings out a new feeling in Tanay. Though nothing sensual or sexual happens Tanay feels connected to him. Every moment spent with the guy feels good and memorable.

Tanay is an organised person. So, he notes every little thing that the guy does. But the guy is a free-flowing person who doesn't identify himself with any caste or religion. Tanay can't even figure out the sexuality of the guy. He is just an anonymous person.

We can love someone without fully understanding about them. or knowing who they are. But it leads to a sense of self-doubt and confusion. Does the person really like me? Will the person talk to me if he sees me on the road? How will he perceive me if I stand before him as a stranger?

Tanay has all these questions in his mind. To his sister Anuja, the paying guest is a mysterious and different person. Anuja doesn't have recognition or acceptance in her house. She is a camouflaged character.

The people in her house don't even think about whether she wants the tower room or not. The paying guest seems unique to her while she behaves as a different person in the house. When she steps outside, she is completely herself. Anuja meets the paying guest outside the house.

Two people in the same family fall in love with the paying guest. It is a triangle love story where the three people involved are unaware of the relationship existing between them. The room means a lot to Tanay. He has some privacy and he is more of himself over there.

He knows that society won't accept him as he is gay. There will be raindrops in the room meant for him and the paying guest. Half of one of the chairs lights up because of the sunlight. while the other half is covered with shadows.

The room looks weird while looking through one of the glasses. He wants to cherish the room and the moments in that room with the guy. But the moments are there for Tanay alone His guy is nowhere to be seen.

He is heartbroken as his sister would have run away with the paying guest. He is unable to accept this truth. If you are eloping with my sister Then who are you? What was there between us? Did I perceive this wrong? Tanay will be living with these confusions.

The other members of the family are angry with Tanuja as she runs away with the paying guest. Anuja returns home eventually Tanay and Anuja look at each other after that... Anuja doesn't know what Tanay is going through But the whole family will be thinking... that Tanay is broken because of Anuja's elopement.

But for Tanay it was never about Tanuja It was about that guy. Who was he? Why did he come into Tanay's life? Why did he turn his life upside down? Who is he? Why did he run away with Anuja? Tanay will be having all these confusions.

No one recognises Tanay's grief as he is a homosexual. The family will never think that Tanay was feeling about the boy. Anuja will be taken to the psychiatrist after she returns home. She is taken for counselling and to her aunt's house.

She feels that she is being treated like a car which needs to be repaired. They take her to a new place thinking that she needs a change of place. Instead of opening up to counsellors, she would be more comfortable in opening up to her parents.

But her parents are not ready to listen. So, she couldn't open up to them. Her parents think that she needs to be fixed. These are Anuja's woes. The fact that the PG guest is not there creates a huge vacuum in her life.

Though we love someone, there is no assurance that we actually understand them. After the elopement, she realises that the two of them are not on the same page. After the elopement, the boy suddenly disappears.

He has no identity, no route or home of his own. He feels that he belongs to the entire earth. The identity that we all crave. He doesn't want to fit into boxes. He could be anyone at any second. He is a very fluid character.

Anuja keeps questioning herself after the disappearance of the character. She believed him and eloped with him But being with him every day made her realise that she doesn't know about him fully. She gets to know new things about him. After returning back, at one point she asks Tanay not to worry about her as she had returned.

She is convinced that Tanay is feeling about her But she doesn't understand why as it had never happened before. Beyond homosexuality and heterosexuality, there are differences in the thought process of a man and a woman. The different emotional problems of siblings living in the same house. The book talks about all of this.

When the narration is about the boy everything is indoor, when it is about the girl everything is outdoor. Anuja says that though the family can figure out what might have happened to her, they are not ready to listen. The family is in denial. She couldn't open up to her female friend as well, childhood friends have become like fossils now.

The friends get married and their priorities and commitments change which is like the curse of female friendships. Though Anuja's friend knew her vulnerability, negative shades, insecurities, likes and dislikes since childhood Anuja is no longer her priority.

She can't even prioritize herself now. She has her own family to look after. Now to whom can Anuja open up? Creating a new female friendship means the cycle would be repeated. So, to whom can she share things? All the time invested in a friendship has become questionable.

Though times are changing, our parents would not have been in touch with their close friends after marriage. There would not have been anyone to vent out their problems. The story deals with such minute things.

Though I have narrated everything... it won't match the experience of reading the book. Beyond the story, every moment and visual is captured beautifully. The writing felt like a drug. At some point, someone rings the calling bell while the "PG guy" arranges his socks.

As he goes to open the door it is written "He went with the smell of his foot." because the smell of the feet is still there in the socks. So, it is written that way. At one point, Tanay and the guy will be talking while being seated by the side of the window.

The guy doesn't talk much. He will merely be listening to Tanay and having a drink in the rain. Tanay says "You were listening to me while having a drink. The raindrops which fell into the room touched your shoulders. The raindrops fell into your cup as well even as I was standing there.

Both our shoulders got wet." The entire visual is described beautifully. Though Cobalt Blue by Sachin Kundalkar was originally written in Marathi it has been translated beautifully. I had felt this way about Murakami's books as the translation is very strong.

Jerry Pinto's translation felt like the spine of the story because it is always the magic of words. If you want to buy and read the book You can click the link in the description. This book is not an explanation of LGBTQ relationships.

The scenes are not there to merely showcase someone as a queer person. A queer person is part of the scene which makes it inclusive. This is a very inclusive work. Every art form should include everybody and not just highlight their differences. which I personally felt is very important.

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