The Witch In The Peepul Tree - Book Review

By -

 


Author : Areefa Tehsin

Publisher: Harper Collins

Price: 399 INR

Pages: 327

Genre: Period Drama/ Historical Fiction/ Murder Mystery

Buy At: Amazon

About the Book:

It is Makar Sankranti,1950, when sixteen-year-old Sanaz's body is discovered in her father Dada Bhai's house in Bohrawadi, Udaipur.

A few of those in and around the house that day are the cruel zamindar Rao sahib of Singhgarh, the devout degenerate Hariharan, the young Bhil Nathu, visiting from a remote tribal village to inform Dada Bhai of a leopard kill, the attractive night soil worker Parijat, and the acerbic widow Sugra, who rolls a rosary and wishes for the jeevti dakkan-the living witch in the peepul tree-to be her secret ally.

As the shadows grow long, it becomes clear that something sinister walks the halls of this grand old house. What unfolds is a genre-bending tale of suspense, intrigue and something so much darker.

Review:

The story is set in 1950s, in a newly independent India, all the pivot events take place on the day of Makar Sankranti with kite flying competitions, cheers and revelry happening in the background. It doesn’t read like a murder mystery. The murder happens in the first chapter. Then the book introduces us to all the characters who frequented Dada Bhai’s villa throughout the day, the lead players around the household, the possible suspects. We get a glimpse into their individual lives, their thoughts and aspirations. There’s Rao Sahib – the Zamindar, Sugra – Dada Bhai’s widowed mother, Parijat – the untouchable nightsoil worker who collected feces from Dada Bhai’s household early morning, Hariharan – the middleman, Nathu – the person from Bhil Tribe. The narrative proceeds from their perspective. We also meet some supporting characters – the larger-than-life Dada Bhai, his sons engrossed in flying kites on the terrace, the sly servant Ismail, the old housekeeper Badi Bi – a child widow, Sugra’s daughter Khadija, a discreet visitor – a transgender, Parijat’s husband Bhoola, another Bhil Doonga, Dada Bhai’s saree-clad wife Mena who teaches the women of the neighborhood to read and write, etc. Each of them has a role in the tale.

The chronology of events shifts from before noon to morning and then to the start of the investigation late afternoon by the inspector and his aides. The first half of the book is when the context is set, the characters introduced, their histories and lives laid bare. Each of them has something to hide. The second half is when the investigation begins and the unraveling starts to take place. The secrets are slowly spilled open, the mysteries revealed one after the other. Some are just shocking, unexpected yet understandable. What lays at the forefront is not just the murder mystery, but pitiful caste discriminations, the sorry lives of those belonging to the lower rungs of the societal hierarchy, the backlash against attempts for women empowerment, the weird belief in superstition devastating lives, the hypocrisy of ideals and action and the holiness vs unholiness of religion. This book makes not just a good read but an essential one.

The narrative is crisp, no detail gone wasted, no lengthy descriptions. The author marvels in brevity, providing such apt visuals of the scenes with few words. Character building and world building is what keeps the reader going. The ever-present witch in the peepul tree has a mention in every chapter. But there is greater evil in humans than the invisible spirit residing on the tree.

Few Quotes that stayed with me:

“They didn’t need to purify money. Money had no caste. It passed effortlessly from the bed of a prostitute to the begging bowl of a leper to the praying(preying) thali of a priest to the bloodstained plank of a butcher.”

 

“Nothing in this household went to waste. The worn-out odhani were converted into curtains, the torn curtains to scrubbing cloths, the threadbare scrubbing cloths stuffed in blankets, the blankets used as pall for the dead.”

 

“But what do men know about childbearing and birth? Except having a few more pegs of mauda with other men as the wives are lost in screams and agony and fluids pouring out of their wombs.”

 

“Death was an urchin running unbidden around the house. Toppling things. Poking needles. Throwing tantrums. Spilling pots. Ripping curtains. Raising hell.”

 

“Beatings didn’t matter. She had learnt early on that life was a sum of your scars.”

 

About the Author:

Arefa grew up treading jungles with her naturalist father. She was often found trying to catch a snake or spin a yarn. She’s the author of several fiction and non-fiction books and contributes to dailies and magazines like The Indian Express, The Hindu, Deccan Herald, Scroll.in and Outlook Money. Her picture book 'The Elephant Bird' was read at 3200+ locations in India from the slums to the Presidential library on the International Literacy Day, 2016 and translated in more than 40 languages. A few schools in India and Sri Lanka are using her books as textbooks and supplementary readers. 'Do Tigers Drink Blood and 13 Other Mysteries of Nature' is being translated in Chinese and 'Amra and the Witch' has been translated in Hindi. Her books have been shortlisted for awards like FICCI Best Book of the Year Award, NEEV Book Award and The Hindu-Goodbooks Best Author Award. She was appointed the Honorary Wildlife Warden of Udaipur district and has pursued nature conservation through her writings and columns. Find out more on www.arefatehsin.com

 

 This review is powered by Blogchatter Book Review Program.

Top post on Blogchatter

Comments

  1. Tomichan MatheikalJuly 4, 2023 at 7:20 PM

    I liked the book too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AmbicaJuly 4, 2023 at 7:43 PM

    True, nothing went to waste in those days. Also, human lives remain the same, whatever the era. It's a gripping tale and I enjoyed the way Arefa Tehsin has woven the plot.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Queeristan by Parmesh Sahani

By -
Image
  Queeristan (Amazon Link) Thanks to Audible Free Trial I listened to this amazing non-fiction on LGBTQ inclusion in Indian workplaces. Author Parmesh Sahani identifies as gay Indian, working closely with Godrej higher management and employees for years to create an inclusive workplace, both legally and in spirit. This book is a result of those years of experience, research, collaboration with individuals from difference spectrum of the society and organizations who has successfully transitioned into a queer friendly one.   Indian history is inclusive. From the Khajuraho temple architectures, to Konark to the Rig Veda, there is existing proofs even 2000 years ago of Indian inclusiveness of queer. It’s the draconian British law that criminalised it, which was scraped in 2009, came into effect once again following a sad judgement in 2013 and eventually was scraped off for good in 2018. I am in awe of the lawyers who fought this legal battle- colleagues and partners – Arundh...
9 comments

Popular posts from this blog

Empress Ki : A story of an epic scale

By -
Image
Empress Ki Poster (behance.net) Empress Ki is the most elaborate, gripping, and thrilling series I have watched this year. And at 51 episodes , it is the longest Korean drama series I have ever watched. Even though the number seems daunting and too much, it’s worth it all. If you like period dramas, you won’t want to give this one a miss. It was in 2016 that I first read about Empress Ki, the historical drama that had garnered much praise and accolades from the audience and critics alike. Most Korean dramas are just 16 or 20 episodes long. So 51 seemed never-ending to me then. It wasn’t until 2017 that I decided to at least try the first episode. And I was hooked. But owing to the various circumstances I didn’t continue watching it. It was just last month that I remembered this epic story and watched it to completion within just a few days. Believe it or not, midway through it, I was almost literally pulling my hair out, in anticipation of what would happen next. I wou...
Read more

Autumn In My Heart

By -
Image
‘Autumn in my heart’ is a tragic love story. It has tears in almost every episode. It is one of the four ‘Endless love’ season themed dramas- Spring Waltz, Autumn Tale, Winter Sonata, and Summer Scent. Two babies are born on the same day- Eun suh and Shin ae. By mistake, they are exchanged by their families. While Eun suh’s childhood is a happy one spent with the parents and the brother Joon suh, Shin ae’s is a tiring one spent working in the restaurant and dealing with a thug of a brother. After 14 years due to an accident to Eun suh, the parents come to know that their blood types don’t match and that Eun suh is not their daughter.  After huge emotional turmoil and numerous heart breaks, the children are switched back again, disregarding what will become of Eun suh and Joon suh. Both are never used to living without each other, and miss the childhood days immensely. Joon suh’s family leaves for the US for 8 years. The separation is heart wrenching. After 8 years, Joon suh...
Read more

“The Fall” [2006] – A Tribute to the Power of Stories

By -
Image
   I welcome Arun Kumar of Passion For Movies whose reviews have an identity of their own and shows his undulated love for movies. I thank him for finding time and agreeing to do a guest post in Magic Moments. It's a huge privilege. So here's a guest post by him on one of his favorite movies.   “The Fall” [2006] – A Tribute to the Power of Stories   Sometimes, you make an emotional bond with a film and dissect or interpret its vision in different ways, while a fellow movie-lover would pan it by using the most loathful words. Tarsem Singh’s visually exuberant movie, “The Fall” (2006) falls into that category. Many critics deemed it as a self-indulgent, vanity project; or as a preposterously intolerable, childish story. Does Tarsem have abundant directorial ego that drove the likes of Jodorowsky, Lynch or Gilliam, who all persistently came up with outlandishly inventive visuals? I would say yes. As a movie-lover, this so-called ‘directorial eg...
Read more

The Baztan Trilogy

By -
Image
The first movie 'The Invisible Guardian' begins with the killings of several teenage girls and elaborate staging of their bodies by the river in the damp valley of Elizondo. Amaia Salazar, our protagonist, returns there, her hometown, as the Chief Investigator for the case. She heads the homicide department. The serial killings seem aimed at young girls who don't uphold the traditional norms and have begun exploring their sexuality. Through the case, Amaia grapples with her own demons, her relationship issues and traumatic memories of abuse from her past. We get to know that her mother had abused her, being seemingly senile herself, and was then admitted to a facility. The setting of the damp valley where it rains all hours of the day, the cloudy scenery, the fog covered thick forest maintain a sinister vibe throughout the movie. It is an apt backdrop for a crime thriller, with supernatural undertones. The mythical beast  basajaun , the big hairy beast of the forest, seems ...
Read more

Katla - A mystery series based on Icelandic folklores

By -
Image
Last weekend I chanced upon Netflix's first Icelandic series released this month. The trailer was what hooked me in. Set in an intriguing yet beautiful landscape, a remote Icelandic village Vik, with the ocean on one side, a river nearby and an active volcano named 'Katla' on the other- the area a juxtaposition of black volcanic soil and white snow, this 8-episode series weaves together several mysterious happenings to form its creepy enigmatic narrative.  The volcano has been erupting for over an year making the place almost uninhabitable. Most of the residents have evacuated or permanently shifted to other places, except a team of volcanologists and scientists, rescue workers, essential service providers, and very few common folk who don't want to leave the place. The mysterious happenings start when a woman is discovered in the restricted area near the volcano- naked -the black mud covering her being entirely. She resembles a lady who used to live in the area 20 year...
Read more

Reading Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

By -
Image
Reading ‘Norwegian Wood’ by Haruki Murakami is a very revealing experience. I encounter my own thoughts, views, and somewhere somehow suppressed opinions, wishes and teenage dreams. The growth and the development in Naoko and Watanabe’s relation is very memorable, has a nostalgic essence to it. Naoko is Kizuki’s girlfriend, who is Watanabe’s best friend. They are just acquaintances, at first, meeting up in double dates, but with Kizuki’s suicide, they are devastated and broken with only each other to care for as an integral part of their adolescence vanished along with Kizuki. They grow close with time, as years pass by, taking long walks in the meadow, through the streets of Tokyo, riding together in the metro, and discussing everything under the sun except Kizuki’s sudden death. On Naoko’s birthday when Watanabe mentions him, she snaps, crying violently. She leaves the town without notice. The story turns sad and melancholic at this point as Watanabe misses Naoko terribly, w...
Read more

A Gathering Of Friends By Ruskin Bond

By -
Image
a gathering of friends is a collection of 21 short stories. The twenty-one stories in the book are the greatest pieces of fiction written by Ruskin Bond. Chosen by the author himself, from a body of work built over fifty years (starting with his award winning first novel, ‘The Room on the Roof’, and ending with ‘Tales of Fosterganj’), this collection includes well-known masterpieces like ‘The Night Train at Deoli’, ‘The Woman on Platform 8’, ‘Rusty Plays Holi’, ‘Angry River’, ‘The Blue Umbrella’, ‘The Eyes Have It’, ‘Most Beautiful’, ‘Panther’s Moon’, as well as newer stories like ‘An Evening at the Savoy with H.H’ and ‘Dinner with Foster’. Taken together, the stories in A Gathering of Friends show why Ruskin Bond has long been regarded as one of the pillars of Indian Literature. Timeless tales Ruskin Bond's stories have the essence of the hills, the trains through the deodars, uninhibited exploration of childhood and other vagaries of life. They have suc...
Read more