Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag Book Review

 

Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag Book Review 

We often wake up at night when we hear the noise of a mouse or a cat entering the house. Even the entry of ants would disturb my Mom and she would light up the torch and look for ants to kill them. His Dad always had a guilty feeling. 

The Dad always believed that a person had to work hard to earn money but his son was earning lots of money with less effort. There is an ant on the wall He catches the ant, crushes it and kills it. This shocks the girl as she wonders why the ant was killed unnecessarily. 

The girl asks him how he can eat peacefully despite a lack of hard work. This makes him think. The problems for the ladies arise because of the words spoken by them. We all have wishes as kids One such wish is wondering whether we have some hidden superpowers which will be revealed all of a sudden. 

We wonder whether we are born into a rich family and that we might get the money after experiencing all the hardships. What if we win lots of money in a lottery and become rich all of a sudden? If we had such thoughts as to how our life would be different. This book is one such rags-to-riches story. Ghachar Ghochar has been translated into the English language. 

It was originally written in Kannada by Vivek Shanbhag I had read the English translation of the book written by the Indian author. This rags-to-riches story is not about getting rich because of hard work. What if a person becomes instantly rich?

This book is about how a joint family views the sudden wealth in the family. Our hero narrates the story. His family comprises his parents, elder sister and his uncle. He tells his story while sipping a coffee in the coffee shop. He is a regular at that coffee shop. 

While they were a middle-class family... his Dad was the breadwinner and was doing a normal day-to-day job. He used to tally the income and expenditure with the help of the whole family. His uncle does a Masala business which takes off all of a sudden and he earns a lot. 

So, the entire family shifts from their old neighbourhood to a new location. They also take certain things which the mother considers as priceless while shifting. But none of those things would be apt for their new bungalow. So, those things are kept in the godown. 

During their childhood, the situation was very different. It is described beautifully. If leftover biscuits are spilt while eating the ants would take those biscuits in no time. The ants would always be there in the house which was a huge disturbance. 

We often wake up at night when we hear the noise of a mouse or a cat entering the house. Even the entry of ants would disturb my Mom and she would light up the torch and look for ants to kill them. As there were a lot of ants, they disturbed the narrator's Mom even without making noise. 

The family shifts from such a place to a huge bungalow. The narrator goes to see a girl who is a prospective bride. He doesn't tell the bride's family of his earlier situation. He tells them that he is a director of a company. No one knows what he does as a director. 

His mother would have asked him to buy her a saree with his first earnings when he was a child. He studies well but eventually joins their own company as an employee. He doesn't make a note of his joining date or the date of receiving his first salary. 

The family has become so rich Hence the mother won't ask for a saree. She has a lot of money. The narrator doesn't note the transition period. His wife is unaware that her husband never goes to the office. 

He wakes up in the morning not knowing what to do as the uncle looks after the family business. His uncle is busy all the time while the narrator's Dad feels guilty. He doesn't feel involved as the family is reaping the benefits of someone else's hard work. 

The Dad almost feels like a sage. The family keeps entertaining him to ensure that he doesn't feel that way. The new girl to whom the narrator gets married knows him as the director of a company. During their honeymoon, the narrator spots an ant on the wall. 

He squeezes it and kills it. The wife is shocked to see him kill the ant unnecessarily. Though he says sorry to her for his act He wonders how to explain to his wife about the sleepless nights they had because of ants.

 First, they killed ants without letting the others know Eventually killing ants became the norm... as the ant was their enemy. But towards the end, there is a twist which makes us feel whether they were actually killing ants. 

The wife begins to dislike the husband's behaviour. She would have shopped during the honeymoon and brought gifts for the members of the family. The wife is eager to give the gifts but the husband is not as he doesn't earn. The gift wasn't bought with his money. 

The company is run by the uncle and the narrator is just given a post. The money is deposited to the narrator's account and he feels bad about it. The girl asks him how he can eat peacefully despite a lack of hard work. This makes him think. 

But he would have gotten comfortable with it just like killing ants. So, the wife goes back to her home and never returns. Meanwhile, a strange lady calls out to her uncle with lots of love. But no one is bothered except the Mom who asks the lady who she is. The lady says that she wants to meet her uncle. All the other family members are inside the house. 

The lady has Dal inside a box. The mother asks the lady to go away But she is adamant about seeing the uncle. The family members think that something is going on between the uncle and the lady because of the behaviour of the lady. 

But they are not sure why the uncle is not going out to respond to her. But no one dares to talk against uncle as he earns for the family. The Mom starts to scold the lady. The biggest problem for ladies is the words that they use. 

The lady can't bear this insult and starts crying. She puts the box down and the Dal spills over. The smell of the dal is talked about in detail. The wife will be the only person to raise questions. No one else dares to. The wife eventually disappears. Does she come back? 

The narrator thinks about all this while sitting in a coffee shop. Now the family has confidently returned to their past habits. The family members would be talking with a lot of freedom at the table after the wife's disappearance. The narrator feels relaxed as the wife is not there. 

Some people can't handle sudden wealth and might feel guilty. Some people have power in the family because of the money that they give. The other members won't be able to question it. The book talks about getting used to all this. I can't reveal much as it will act as a spoiler. 

The title of the book has no meaning at all. The meaning is revealed at an important point in the story. The cover image, the title and the story are all covered in this small book. The book will make you ponder and will make you ask a lot of questions. 

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