Etchings of the First Quarter of 2020: Letters, Ideas, Conversations & Poems
To readers of Sabarna Roy’s Random Subterranean Mosiac: 2012-2018, his latest slim and elegant volume titled Etchings of the First Quarter of 2020: Letters, Ideas, Conversations and Poems comes as another delightful read. In this two-part volume, packaged with a selection of his poems, Roy explores the concepts of duality and constancy in discussions with his daughter. Presented as conversations over coffee and desserts, the talks extend to diverse topics with Lolita at one end and marine conversation at the other. In his poems, Roy and his alter-ego, Sandy, soothe and shock you in turns until you burst out of the last page, breathless and asking for more.
Sabarna Roy was awarded the Literoma Laureate Award for Fiction in 2019. Sabarna Roy’s Random Subterranean Mosiac: 2012 – 2018 received the Fourth Annual Award for Best Book of 2019 from SALISMANIA.com.
Sabarna Roy’s characters are all around us. He has dabbled in poetry, prose, plays and non-fiction with equal elan and delved into the emptiness and futility of life reminding us of the masters in the trade.
Two quotations from Sabanra Roy’s works will provide the above stated point:
“A question leapt into his mind: Is it possible to achieve true happiness by living a solitary life or is it important to lead a community life where one instinctively believes that one’s own desires are insignificant compared to the desires of others and one works towards fulfillment of their desires as if they are one’s own?”
“Many questions crossed his mind. Did he secretly crave to believe in God? Was he looking for a God to deflect his loneliness or was his loneliness actually a sense of pride, which was an obstruction between him and his God?”
– Forbes India
Book Reviews
I think maximum number of readings for me is from this particular author Sabarna Roy I started from Random Subterranean Mosiac , to pentacles, winter poems and now Etchings of the First Quarter of 2020. The poetry, proses and also the plays has a strong usage of the vocabulary easy to understand by all and also loved by every reader.
It has touched my heart and the synchronization is divided into three parts as the authors writes three different letters:
Let’s discuss about them -
The author writes a letter to his daughter asking her to visit him and the second letter is written to his wife where he speaks his heart out in the general topic of molestation.
Also, the third letter is the explanation over coffee of a step father and a step daughter. A lot can happen over a coffee isn’t it?
I am touched when I read these beautiful poetries and this book has given me a thought that yes you gotta ask yourself what you want in life and how you feel.
Yes its all about the ideas, the conversation and also the poems………the unread verses and also the unsaid thoughts which are penned so beautifully in poetries has added cherry on the cake !!
This book is from suspense, thriller genre of books. The story is written as play. The play has two acts with different scenes. In the first act the woman names Debashree (who was married at very young age and lost her husband at the age of 24) had a meeting with her daughter and daughter's lover to approve their relationship. Debashree is rich, standard living style, a comapny and a plan to extend the company.
While in the second her daughter was found dead. It was either the case of suicide or murder. To know the truth sher hires Renuka (ab ex IAS officer). And the story revolves around revealing the truth.
My view
The story is totally engaging. The author has been able to maintain the suspense. I loved every character for their role. They all are strong, conversation among them is totally mind-blowing. The climax is totally unexpected but yeah beautiful. I loved the climax. This book is highly recommended to everyone.
People have their own perspective of looking at different things. This is based on their experience of life or the lessons they got from someone else's experience. But there are two ways to analyse the things we observe. First the orthodox view & second one is the liberal view. As my opinion liberal view is more effective & critical in nature. It includes reasons referring to scientific approach & deep study of everything.
Savarna Roy's book is the replica of thoughts regarding such topics we can't suppose to discuss. If you real lolita, you can hate the character who influences her but as we think from the point of view of the author it is another aspect rising before us. It's like a critical analysis of the characters. In lolita, we should easily conclude that the male character is molester but why we can't observe the other aspects? His intentions used to be understood.
Another part which covers the scientific approach of the author towards different things. He travels in his writing in the world of quantum as well as individualism, digging deep roots of life, love & relations.
The topic which influences me is duality. As a physics student, I understand the concept of duality but author attached something different with this word. It's neither pure scientific not pure ritualistic.
It's about all the letters & conversations with a different approach.
Other Books
Winter
Poems
Random Subterranean Mosaic: 2012 – 2018
