Review- Humorously Yours

 Sometimes all it takes is an anecdote.

Sometime you dont need a story. A beginning, an end, a message in between. Sometimes, an anecdote is all you need.

While reading through Amitabh Sarwate's "Humorously Yours", I was often reminded of Malgudi Days by R K Narayan, published in 1943. And thats an actual compliment for the author. Short tales from the grounds of Deccan Gymkhana from Pune, the chapters involve few members of the gymkhana talking to each other, with a character named Barkhurdar always as pivotal point of these talks, and the one who drives each chapter, some times by being an active participant of the tale being told, some times a passive participant.

Despite the name, the book is more of tales and anecdotes which range from subtelety including hope, ambition, faith, and then in some cases, crazy situations.  The cover of the book was OK. There is a good art work in the book which makes it interesting, but cover could have been more engrossing. Its my personal opinion, the back cover would have made a better front cover for the book.

There are certain good things about the book. The chapters are all interesting anecdotes. None of them appear boring. You can pick up the book any time when a chapter ends and a new tale awaits you. As this is not a book of stories but rather of anecdotes, author has focussed just on one character and rest are just few names and milestones on the road. Every chapter is interesting, every tale is fresh, and you can recommend on his writing style that he builds up interest as soon as the tale starts. Amitabh has explored a number of topics ranging across the horizon to compile his list of tales. He has chosen well. He has also been successful in making the character of Barkhurdar memorable and interesting.

I dont really have any major complaints from the book(Except occassional missing quotations for spoken dialogues, which doesnt cost anything because you understand who is speaking and to whom).

 As I mentioned previously, not all chapters are funny but some of them are very subtle and dormant in their ambition. However, because of the same, a couple of chapters end up going nowhere. Also, a few chapters really go into details which is often not needed to drive the chapter. The tale and the anecdote is itself good and there is not really a need to drive the "how" when the "what" is interesting itself. These details sometimes break the continuity of the chapter. 

Its also my personal opinion that characters like Barkhurdar should remain ambiguous for the life of the book. Revealing his back story, kind of rubs a bit of charm off him towards the end.

But, these are just minor complaints. Amitabh delivers each chapter like a master story teller where each chapter most of the time ends up taking a path which reader wont often expect. Amitabh tries hard to build up a setting of Deccan Gymkhana the way, I assume,  he would have seemed through his own eyes. This book certainly has the mileage and the potential to drive a home run.

I would go with a rating of 4.5/5 for the book

You can purchase the book from here

https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B089NS4D7H/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_d_asin_title_o01?ie=UTF8&psc=1