Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss by Rajeev Balasubramanyam

I'm not sure New-Age is still a thing, but I'm old so to me it is.  This book is very definitely set in that sort of mind set - all a bit Burning Man with a side order of Coachella.  I'm not too sure about all this "follow your bliss" stuff, and, it turns out, neither is Chandra but after a cataclysmic health event he decides to give it a shot.  To be honest, by the end of the book he really doesn't seem to have found his bliss or any answers - at least that reflects life.

The first thing that strikes me is that Chandra is an Indian man of 69, even worse he is an academic.  So, the fact that he reads on the page like a much younger man is very confusing.  I know we are all different and that the us we show the world is not necessarily the us we show at home but even so he feels all wrong for a man with this background and of this age.  There is the necessary juxtaposition between the academic stereotype and the new man he is trying to become but he never really feels "real".  The only character that really lives on the page is his youngest daughter, Jasmine.  Everybody else just feels "off" in one way or another.

There is some humour in the book but nothing laugh out loud funny.  It raises a wry twist of the lip or a toss of the head in acknowledgement, but nothing more than that.  Most of the humour comes from Chandra and is actually quite hurtful, in that it stems from his dislike of his actions or himself.  The book is quite uncomfortable reading in places too, particularly when Chandra goes to The Retreat in Eisalen and takes part in a weekend long "class" that is supposed to help you identify your "strings" and your "critical voices".

Stripping away my natural cynicism and native born stoicism (you don't get to be touchy-feely when you are brought up in the North of England during the 1970s) allowed me to get past all the pseudo-science espoused by Sunil (Chandra's son) and his company IMB - Mindfulness is a buzz word that is currently making me very twitchy and it is everywhere, including this book. 

Once you can get past all that it is actually a rather charming story of a man trying to reconnect with his family and for them to accept each other as they are.  How we perceive an act by a parent towards us is not how the parent necessarily perceived it and vice versa.  This is the lesson that Chandra appears to be on the path to learning.

The storytelling itself is smooth and draws you in, to the character of Chandra and the situations he finds himself in.  The fact that he never really feels "right" on the page is probably more down to my preconceptions and biases than the author's prowess.  I was surprised to learn this was a first novel as it does feel very accomplished without being overly slick.

A reasonably good read that may make you re-assess your familial relationships.  Or, it may leave you, as it did me, with a sense that all this soul searching really isn't worth it and just keep on keeping on.

THIS IS AN HONEST AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF A FREE COPY OF THE BOOK RECEIVED VIA THE PIGEONHOLE.