THE LAST SURGE BY PRAMIT SARKAR

ABOUT BOOK

"...the day we face each other, she will be sorry; sorry for rendering me emotionally impotent. And that will be my victory." Their blazing courtship was nearing marriage, before fate played its vicious card. Rimi dumped Gabriel and married the choice of her family but Gabriel decided to remain single. Why did Rimi take such a drastic decision? How did Gabriel keep up his singlehood? Did they meet again or did fate succeed in keeping them apart? How does Sneha fit into the picture? Crafted with the characteristic flavours of Bengal, THE LAST SURGE brings you the tale of an ace football player turned relationship counsellor and what made this protagonist a great brother, a greater father and an even greater romantic.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Although a native of Kolkata, Pramit Sarkar spent a chunk of his adolescence in Bhubaneswar. Following his board exams he returned to Kolkata, but as it turned out, he was back in Bhubaneswar to pursue his graduation from the Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar. And it was during this phase that he discovered a passion for writing, dishing out various articles for the college newsletter 'Wistaz'. Besides being a member of the Literary Society, he was also a member of the Training and Placement Cell, the Alumni Cell as well as a co-founder of the social activity club, 'Souls for Solace'. Completing his graduation in 2013, he then joined Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited as a Grade-A officer, but left his job within a year to follow his heart. Presently, he also covers wedding stories as a freelance writer. One may write to the author at princeofmistakes@gmail.com or visit his facebook page www.facebook.com/thelastsurge

REVIEWS

REVIEW BY ENAKSHI JOHARI

Summary

“The last surge” is a story plotted in the streets of Kotkata. Gabriel, the protagonist, is a dab hand at playing football. The female lead is Rimi, who is an orphan, but lives with her aunt. Gabriel falls in love with Rimi during his quest of finding out the person who hid his shoes during the final tournament of football and eventually loaded the dice against him. The elegance and the magnificence of Rimi makes him fall head over heels in love with her, at the first sight. And Gabriel is taken unawares when Rimi reciprocates the same feelings for him as well. But love is always a mystery- sometimes glorious and sometimes painful. The tables are turned when Rimi decides to marry someone else, leaving behind Gabriel, at the altar. The thorns of betrayal suck out life from Gabriel, each day, unless he finds solace for his yearning heart, by adopting a daughter (Sneha) and deciding to stay bachelor lifelong. He leaves football and instead becomes a relationship counselor. Such is the irony of life.

Probably Gabriel thinks that things will be easier after deciding to move on. But who knew what life had in store for him. When his sister, Esabelle, narrates the story of his long lost love to his beloved daughter, her daughter decides to find Rimi, for her father and get the answers from her. Lo and behold, Gabriel meets Rimi in his office but thing get heated up. He surrenders to destiny with fate accompli. And in the attempt to avenge the treason meted out to him, he meets with such an end that is blissful in its own sense.

My opinion

The novella is a bodice ripper set in the land of Bengal. The theme is appealing. The characters are crafted very well. Somewhere the climax of the story resembles the climax of the Bollywood movie, “Raanjhaana”. None-the-less the depiction of relationships is impeccable. The story gives an insight into the relationship shared by an adopted child, with her father and that is ethereal.  Love is unpredictable, it makes you realize how weak you are and how strong you can be. The love struck protagonist, Gabriel, is successfully able to grab the attention of the readers such that they feel connected to the story. It is always said that a women is the only creation of God that has the ability to fit into different roles of life, perfectly. But Gabriel proves this saying wrong. A perfect brother who caters to the needs of her sister- emotionally, psychologically and mentally; a perfect father who cherry picks the opportunites for his adopted daughter and tries to make life, a bed of roses, for her; a die-hard romantic who continues to suffer through the pangs of betrayal even though there is a chance to move on and have a life of his own. On the contrary, the female protagonist, Rimi, has been portrayed as the person who is all things to all people and believes in calling a spade a spade. The author has put forward a balancing act in sketching the character of these two people.

Overall, a delightful story!

REVIEW BY MEGHANT PARMAR

Life's treated on merit. You be the judge, jury and the executioner. Actions count and deeds matter. Relationships are formed. Some subtle yet trivial and some pleasing yet enlightened. The author perspires to get people from all walks of life together to carve out a niche out of the crumbling stones. So does it work with the readers? Let's tend to it.

The melodramatic quotient of the story is effective. By and large life's essence and faith and loss of trust are given equal weightage in the book. The presentation is what sets the story apart. From making believe the actions to a lull before the storm and then to overlooked aspects it kin of caters to the ignorance of the masses. Then it treats ideas on merit with it's mastered narration. It hits the nerve wrecking points with ease and spills over to the facts of life rather quickly and swiftly. The bluff of everything being straightforward is present but it is far from easy. It's an accurate messed up recipe of life and relationships.

The plausible downside of the story is lack of a definite end. Introduction of a completely new character towards the fag end makes the book lose its charm. The situation spills out of hand with rather a very over dramatized finish. Sticking to the basic outline was more of a good idea.

All in all the book has some excellent expressions and maneuvers around it's own idea with good command. Rather being a plain fiction it's more of a motivation and self help kind of a story which gives space to all. The lack of a picture perfect ending mars the book but before the ultimate showdown the story runs the show with panache. It's a soulful read.

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