Review of Turning Back Time by Shravya Gunipudi

“Death is a terrible curse”- which the author highlights in the novel giving hints from stories of four inmates at an old age home where the central character, Alia worked on part time. The author presents the story in an “engineered” manner depicting every social evil and the psychological aspect of humans in connection to social conventions, family planning, rural and urban life.Though each story ends with the death of the character, it actually doesn’t end the novel, rather it asks the readers to think and find out where we lag behind in today’s world. And what joins each story is the element of “love.” We all fall in love, whether successful or unsuccessful, it takes us through an experience of lifetime.

 

Raman’s story, which tells us about his father cheating on his mother, and Raman and his brother choosing the wrong woman to lose their virginity and at an age when they would be identified as children. Later, they corrected themselves and lead a normal life until Raman moves to the city and events occur one after the another, giving a clear picture of what really happens in today’s society.

Hema’s story of complete misfortune, right from her birth to marriage and the lives of her daughters, still does take place in the Indian society. Thus, the proverb “History repeats itself” is after all true. Hema’s story mainly deals with gender discrimination.

Girish’s story of unsuccessful love tells us, “love” is still a taboo in Indian society. His mother died of hearing of “love marriage” shows the depth to which the taboo is rooted. What we dream as children are just stories of fairy tales and it can only be a reality if people come out of their narrow minds. Love can never be evil and arrange marriages will not always end up to be the most successful one every time.

Sita’s story deals with sexual abuse within the family and only perverts like her uncle can commit such unexpected sin. This can also be a lacuna on part of the modern Indian society where girls in south Indian states (among Hindu community) are married to their maternal uncles, which is accepted among the community but if we think with the mind of a civilized culture, that would just be considered a case of sodomy, rather than a pious relation. There is no point on raising finger at girls and accusing them of having illegitimate relations when the society doesn’t look into the matter to find the truth. 

As the story ends, the author also highlights that nothing stays forever. Alia can cherish her moments with Mayank only till the time they are alive, because “forever” ends with none. 

About the technicalities, the novel could have been presented in much better way but whatever the case maybe it has gripped me from beginning to end and this is what most novels fails to achieve. A good novel must have a strong hook and “Turning Back Time” had it.

Review by The Bibliophili Team