Chitralekha
~ By Bhagwaticharan Verma
A while back i read this book " shirt ka teesra button " by Manav Kaul who establishes a dialogue between the characters of "Crime and Punishment" and "Chitralekha" ; and what a delight that was.
Chitralekha has been on my mind since then, but to its credit , it makes you question things. It's not a simple story where the initially seemingly good guy becomes bad at the end and the bad ones turn out to be good, but it makes you feel that it's not in the entirety that we can separate the right from wrong.
The premise for the book is a Guru who sends two of his disciples on a social experiment to find out what is that we call " Paap".
And it goes into this rollercoaster ride from there , the pilot of which is Chitralekha, a beautiful dancer who is as much to a Yogi as she is to lust and desires of world.
Book inclines to the philosophical side and a bit to the spiritual side as well.
But the dialogues between the characters about "dharma" "Paap" "Punya" "dhyaan" and "Vaasna" are to die for.
Beautiful Read.
