G.B.Prabhat, the author of Eimona, has impressive credentials. He is a pioneer in offshore consulting business and a well known name in the global IT/business consulting space. Eimona is his second novel, and after an interesting opening, rapidly paces to an amazingly engrossing read, very rich in words and full of events and eminently suitable for a non-stop read.
The humor and the depth of characterization, the distinct messages and thoughts centered on each of the characters are indeed telling. The new flat world is forcing disparate cultures to come together in an enmeshed way – with business and new-found prosperity accelerating the pace of life like never before, resulting in practices and events that were unthinkable a couple of decades back. These happen quite routinely and have the potential effect of denting the fabric of society and traditional family values.
Eimona is certainly amongst the early attempts to capture and bring out in its own brilliant way that these advancements come with a trade-off. Invariably society and most individuals pay a price for pursuing things that are centered on the such things as “live for the moment,” or “follow-the-group syndrome.” The deleterious consequences of such a mechanical life, characterized by hollow plastic smiles and superficial values, generally follow hauntingly and unfailingly. Prabhat’s work is woven brilliantly, combining wit, humour, false values, aimless materialism, simplicity, and virtuous life, and raises serious questions.
The novel is set in Madras in India and captures the nuances of Eimona, a place that does not physically exist on any of the continents but alas perhaps exists everywhere in this flat world. Clearly the message is universal even though the setting may be contextual.
What is Eimona? It is the reverse of anomie – “an affliction that causes the victim to have social interaction that’s lower than the usual standards in the group, a sort of rootlessness,” For Subbu, the 84-year-old simple man who is the key character in the novel, the world as he sees it is changing so fast in all its facets that established norms turn upside down. The way the change in norms are captured and presented makes the reading absorbing, filled as they are with good humor and deeply thought out observations.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!
2 - Suresh Soundararajan
Let me do a quick review and not try to recap the whole story..
In the new flat world the new-found prosperity is accelerating the pace of life like never before, resulting in practices and events that were not possible a couple of decades back. As these happen more and more they have the potential to affect the very fabric of our society.
Eimona captures this and brings it out in its own humorous way that these "fast" advancements come with a trade-off. Invariably society and most individuals pay a price for pursuing things that are short-term/follow-the-crowd focussed instead of having a core-set of values that doesn't change.