Book: When Life Turns Turtle

We are proud to present a work of fiction by one of our founding members, Raj Supe.

Raj is able to accomplish a lot in this book, offering us a captivating story, fluent narrative and profound analysis of some fundamental predicaments in life through his beautifully crafted characters.

Raj is a prolific writer and thinker, leading a simple yet rich life on the banks of the river Ganges in the spiritual town of Rishikesh.

His insights into life in Rishikesh are presented in the book as it is the place where a major part of the story unfolds.

The main character, Indraneel, is a successful film maker from Mumbai. He arrives to seek solace in Rishikesh after an unsuccessful love affair. From an extremely busy show biz life, he suddenly finds himself in the slow and serene pace of life by the famous river. Life at turtle speed.

Beauty and the sacredness of the Ganges mesmerizes him as he watches millions of ascetics, householders and overseas visitors flocking from all over to its banks. The time for reflection amidst all this chaos, outside and inside, kick starts his journey of self inquiry. His meeting and budding friendship with Shamantak, owner of a bookshop, takes him to some of the power haunts of the holy land both in places and people.

Indraneel extends his stay in Rishikesh through the monsoon, the coming winter, spring and a whole year passes by. The changing hues of the sky and the river, the fast tempo of numerous events and discussions carries the reader on the roller coaster ride of constant curiosity.

The biggest hook that sustains and deepens the readers’ interest is entwined in several discussions from the significance of several rituals, relevance of key messages from some cultural and spiritual texts of Hinduism, and the life of the ascetics living on the banks of Ganga.

The big natural disaster of Kedarnath happens and the action shifts to ‘Karma Yoga’ and its various dimensions. What keeps the reader breathlessly galloping through the 468 pages of book is this process of self discovery. Only time will reveal how many lives will be transformed by this brilliant work published by Platinum Press, an imprint of Leadstart Publishing, in the Spirituality-based fiction genre.