Life Is What You Make It

Some months ago I had read about this book - Life is what you make it by Preeti Shenoy-  on a blog, by  a very fine blogger in Hindi - Sri Gyandutt Pandey. He had said some good things about it. So relying on his word I had filed the thought in my mind to read the book someday. After some time, forgot about the book and the subject and the good things that Pandey Ji had said about it.

Recently, while I was buying a sipper for my kid from Flipkart and to stretch the bill to three hundred rupees to avoid giving the shipping charges of thirty rupees, I was looking for something cheap, priced around fifty odd rupees, when I found this book costing only fifty eight rupees. Isn't it a good deal to give  twenty eight rupees extra for a book, then giving shipping charges of thirty rupees to Flipkart? Those were the thoughts and of course there was the thought in the back of my mind that Pandey Sir had told some good things about it, while ordering the book.

Anyway,the book came and after lying untouched for some days, it was read during a short train journey.

Till half of the pages of about 210 pages of the book, I was skipping paragraphs and trying to locate the reason for which it was recommended by Mr.Pandey : a very serious and senior man. It read like a poor copy of Chetan Bhagat; (Don't get me wrong here; i actually admire Chetan Bhagat) with the same language by the characters,  over-smart protagonists, the cuss words thrown around and all that. To add to the misery, it seemed like a puppy romantic story of college kids. By this time I was cursing Mr. Gyandutt Pandey.

But,How can Pandey Ji go wrong?

So, I plodded on for some more pages and after about half the mark, and  Ankita, the protagonist is diagonised of Bipolar disorder the book picked up the momentum-  like a terminally late running train deciding to make up for the lost time and running on full notch.

Thank God! and Thanks to Pandey Ji and of course,I forgot to mention, Thanks Madam Preeti Ji, you all saved my time and the Rs. 58 I had paid to buy it.

I had a vague idea that ‘Bipolar Disorder’ is a disease related to the mind. This book educated me in a very entertaining way, as must have done the thousands of other readers, about this affliction and dispelled the many misconceptions.

I Have seen some people, because they had some mental afflictions,  were declared mad and  relegated to the backyard of the society. The lucky ones among these victims were kept at home and their basic needs were taken care of; though when they became too violent when the disease was at the crest would be tied up to some posts or trees; while others who were not lucky enough to have someone to take their responsibility; were left to roam around and suffer the ignominy of the taunts of all, eat the left over food thrown in the garbage dumps and suffer endlessly. 

The common factor in both cases was, they used to suffer till their end without any hope of cure; their life an endless dark tunnel without the hope of a light at the end of it. No one around them even thought of the possibility that these mental problems can be treated just as a physical ailment by a Doctor. All of them, certainly, were not Bipolar patients; but the fact remains that, it was a form of disease, albeit a mental disease; and they could have been saved with awareness and information. The 'taboo' associated with such diseases was and still is the main obstacle in curing the patients and improving their lives.

As the Doctor, who treats Ankita in the book says; you go to a orthopedic when you break a bone; to a dentist when you have some problem with teeth; likewise when you have a problem with the mind you go to a psychiatrst. You can't just snap out of the disease, you need to be treated to get better.

It's commendable, that the writer- Preeti Shenoy- chose such a tough subject to write her second book. She has pulled it off nicely; although the beginning was unimpressive. Overall, a good book and good writing. 

And Preeti Ji, I am definitely reading your next book- The secret wish list.