Lowland

Good book
Quiet
Meditative
At first I found it false and restrictive.
All that silence.
Totally lacking life
Later I realised it was intentional
To morrow the restrictions the characters were feeling
All had such tough lives

1. Udhayan. Rising with the sun. But he died so young. Before 30. For a cause. Worthy? 50 years ok they are still fighting.

Kills a policeman for no reason other than he's a policeman. Brainwashed. Terrorist organisation truly.

Yet.. cuts a lonely idealistic fellow. So young. Shot in the back.

2. Gauri. Used and uses. Left pregnant. After knowing he didn't want a kid. She didn't want one either. So baby brings mixed feelings. Trapped by udhayan . First his parents. Then his child and brother. Truly suffocating. Implicit in having had the policeman killed. Not called to account. The guilt. Not able to reach out. Hiding in PhD work. No maternal feelings.

3. Subhash. Too nice. Takes responsibility foe udhyan and gauri. And bela. He does all the naming. An act of owning. And yet. A crippling fear that keeps his Daughter at bay for years. Till she is 34!

4. Bela. Poor child. Loveless marriage. Hurting. Thinking she couldn't get her mum to love her. Blaming the father for not having kept the mother. Not understanding the lack of love between them and the shadow of udhayan between them. His blood running in her still. Also the mother's. Keeping aloof. Her cutting remarks to her mum are the first sign of explosive feeling in her.