“I have never liked the Ramayana, ever since I was a young girl…”
I have never liked the Ramayana, ever i snce i was a young girl and heard the epics at the knees of my grandmother. She told the ramayana with such devotion and fear for bad deeds that it made me squirm. I did not want to be sermoned yet again through a story that too.
I loved the Mahabarata though, and got the entire gang(consisting of all the sisters, brothers, relatives of all shapes and sizes) to request for those stories. Not too much protest there, everyone liked the Mahabarata. It was such fun, and real, and most importantly you could enact it the next day. I made copious mental notes and organised the entire troop the next day in the woods to either create the chakravuyvha, or rode into battle with Krishna as Arjuna to defy the arimies of Kauravas. There were nuances that you could incorporate, ideas that you could improve upon and you could actually be mean, nasty and all the rest without being reprimanded by some “maryada purushotam”
30 years later my son then 12 years old was so engrossed in a book that he blackmailed me to do all his chores for the weekend. Suprise! that was book written by Ashok Banker, on the very epic that i had no liking for; The Ramayana. I read all the seven books in the series subseqeuntly.
Banker makes Rama, Sita and the other characters all seem so real , human and so fallible. I loved the fact that they too suffer from self doubts, from pressures of making decisions, and not necessarily being right all the time. Having them think like human beings rather than Devas was interesting and definitely enjoyable. Yes they did have super powers and it was bestowed upon them for doing all the right things. But it was more like a reward for good work than their birthright.
The tale is told in the best traditions of storytelling,making no pauses or stops to tell the reader about Rama the AVatar. (Thank the Lord) The first six books engaged me with its story of a fairly simple tale of a man and his trials.I waited with bated breath for the seventh book and finally got my hands on it the moment it arrived ont he stands.
It is a good read, engaging and interesting but Banker resorts to what other authors have done before him. Deified Rama. What saves this book is the way the characters of Ravana, Surpanakha and others have been potrayed. The Anti Hero is so machivellian that he invokes admiration inspite of his destructive intentions. Banker’s, Ravana is unabashedly ambitious, intelligent and uses all means that he has and some more to WIN. A war is a war is a war.
I am glad that banker has resisted the temptation to write about the Uttarakhand and has ended his epic retelling of the Ramayana with the winning of Lanka.
“I read Byculla Boy by Ashok Banker….it’s brilliant!”
I read Byculla Boy by Ashok Banker a few years back- it’s brilliant! I could hear, actually hear, the people talking out of the book and he’s got everything down correctly from the pork vindaloo to the “Tchah, men”! Two thumbs up, if you’re interested.
“I still get goose pimples when I recall the books…”
A voracious reader like me mentioned that a writer called ashok banker is attempting to rewrite the ramayana in 6 volumes-i was sceptical-what is there about the ramayana to be re written-these tales are part of our oral traditions-what else can be written about the the maryada purusha-i read the preface to the first book-ganesha guide me-the preface raised goose pimples- and these prefaces were humble-not like gb shaws prefaces which overshadow the story-the story written in 6 volumes-converts the whole tale into human terms-i laughed and cried with rama, seeta, and lakshman-brilliant- if you do not believe me- sulekha readers- i challenge you to read the first book and stop with that-that is not all ashok banker has started re telling the mahabharatha in 18 volumes-a challenge to sulekhaites- anyone who reads the first volume of ashok bankers ramayana- and stops at that , contact me-the story teller of this generation- i still get goose pimples when i recall the books.
“That age old story by Valmiki…”
For those philistines who don’t know who Ashok Banker is, he is the author of Ramayana. That age old story by Valmiki has been jazzed up and served with a new twist, thanks to Mr Banker. Please buy a copy today and be a part of the magic.
“The opening pages of Banker’s Prince of Ayodhya immediately bored me to tears…”
First impressions are not always the best ones. The opening pages of Banker’s “Prince Of Ayodhya: Book One� immediately bored me to tears. It took a little patience and a chapter or two for me to get engrossed. Once I did, there was no looking back. Definitely recommended.
“This book has been a profound influence on my metaphysical metamorphosis…”
Though not philosophical, this truly legendary book has been a BIG influence on my thoughts and helped me get over an existential and nihilistic mindset.
Review of Vertigo: “It was a hot Monday morning when I started reading the book…”
Let me confess.

I always thought that Indian writers and Indian literature was a little above soft porn and a little below melodrama a la Ekta serials.

In fact, I wouldn’t be caught dead with a Indian writer’s novel on my person. Imagine my irritation when this book found itself in my house, and that too a second hand well worn version of the book.

It was a hot Monday morning when I started reading the book, what kept me into the book was the stark reality and the logic amongst the characters, be it Jay, the Marketing guy, his collegue and companion, or his girl friend, Tuli.

All these people are someone who can look around and find almost everywhere all around you. And this is where the author has won hands down.

The author hasnt prepared a dream for us to dream about, he has prepared a mirror to our society, and so beautiful is the mirror, that we are forced to see our reflections in it.

The novel basically is the life story of the main protagonist, and how he rises in his personal and professional life, with the help of many and almost all women he has ever met.

Once again, Ashok Banker has not created any miracles or any out of the way happenings for Ajay. He has shown the generation next and all the others coming after them that there is no comparison or alternative to those golden qualities of hardwork, talent and then lady luck.

But.. what actually made me remember this novel after almost a year of reading it, is this character which still makes me squirm in embarassment whenever I think about the novel and it’s characters.

The character of Jay’s mother, the doomed woman, who dies a silent and sad death, away from the only person she ever loved, her son, is someone which will wrench the hearts of all ’career oriented young people’ and show them the stark reality of where their preferences should lie.
“As I pause at the 330th page of Book 1…”
As I pause at the 330th page of Book1 of Ashok Banker’s adaptation of The Ramayana, I am amazed to find that a single day of Rama’s life is vividly brought to life in 330 pages of this 550-paged tome. Banker’s story-telling is full of colorful imagery, mental picture of different sounds and presenting the seers and kings without making them appear as caricatures.
This old mythological tale is packaged to suit the literary tastes of the current generation of fantasy-fiction lovers without dwelling on it’s religious elements.
Banker banks on the strength of this epic saga leading us along the main arteries of the story without getting lost in the by-lanes of the minor tales this epic abounds in.
He presents an ensemble of philosophy, action, rivalry and jealousy interweaving it with petty quarrels and mundane conversations.
But I thought the language could have been better than what appears to be school-bookish.
Can’t help but pick nits, what was ‘Harishchandra Avenue’, PFs, the Dark Lord??? Wasn’t it supposed to be set in the 4th century BC !!
Inspite of this, I do not deny that this is an interesting read, wonder if it can be sustained to complete the entire series of the 7 books.
I suddenly morph into a 5 year old sitting on my mother’s lap and listening to this amazing story of good vs evil.
“I don’t usually read Indian writing…”
I don’t usually read indian writing.
They are usually all booker prize winners, or
rather deriative second generation mumble
about life as an asian in the “big” city.
But i love my fantasy.
So i figured, if i already went gallivanting with arthur, percivale and gwenevie
through finding cups to put on round stone tables, why not hang with rama?
One of the most, if not the most famous works of the indian classical age, its 20000 thousand odd verses resonate thoughout indian culture and indeed their psyche.
Furthermore it has armies versus monsters.
So, Mr Ashok has conveniently translated, adapted but not abridged it into a contemporary english novel. With essence intact and in many parts too.
My first impression?
Rollicking story that leaves a lingering aftertaste on the palate, fleshy characters, plot progression and chapter distance being evenly spaced giving a crunchy tartness.
The modern writing conceits gives it a fast and breezy aroma.
“All it took for me to finish the book was (a) neck-breaking night!”
I picked up “The Prince of Ayodhya”, a totally different genre that held me by the balls of my eyes (couldn’t resist the crappy pun). Ashok, from the start, got me to open my mind’s eye by his vivid, visual portraitures and presentments. I could hear each slice of Rama’s sword, each swish of Kausalya’s sari and each glug of Dasa’s drinking, and smell everything from the breath of a fetid rakshasa to the sumptuous repast served at the festival. Needless to say, all it took for me to finish the book was another neck-breaking night.
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Read the full review of Prince of Ayodhya and another book (by another author at Sid Chitnis’s Blog.
“The success of Ashok Banker…is to present Ramayana as a very emotion filled human story…”
How does one write a story that everyone knows by heart and still make it exciting enough, mesmerising enough to be unputdownable. If you don’t know the answer then read this six book series on the Ramayana by author Ashok Banker.
Starting from ‘The Prince of Ayodhya’ and upto the ‘Bridge of Rama’ (i haven’t been able to read the sixth book yet), the author has spun a centuries old yarn in such an eloquent yet identifiable manner that it is unbelievable.
And he’s not only re written the Ramayana, but according to me he’s re-introduced the whole drama in a very civilian way. When i say civilian, i mean in a manner i and you can identify with the characters and their emotions. For in Banker’s ‘Prince of Ayodhya’, Rama is no divine being, but a young prince struggling with his own set of emotions and realities.
And its not one person’s point of view, rather everyone who gets a fair representation in the books. Thus he’s given a colourful and fascinating view of what the thought processes of Dashratha had been and what his weaknesses were and how he coped with them. What Kaushalya feels and why Kaikaiyi behaves the way she does.
In fact he’s done such a brilliant job that even Ravana is not painted totally black. He seems to want to paint various shades into all the characters rather than paint people as black or white.
Along the way he’s also built so many of his own characters and colourful details in to it that one feels like he’s never really read or understood the Ramayana.
In the later books, of course with the entry of Hanuman and the kidnapping of Sita, he does feel the need to project Rama in a more ’superhuman’ light. And maybe in the end (in book six i.e.) he will spring some surprise as well.
And the beauty of it all is that one discovers in a very subtle or nuanced manner the real message of ‘The Ramayana’. Or maybe that’s just my take away. But the essence of ‘Dharma’ and the way it is explained in a very peer to peer manner is very comforting and eye opening. One tends to feel for the characters and identify with them.
And it is in this identification with the character of Rama that one feels empowered. If a ‘man’ (and not god) can behave as Rama does, then what stops us from behaving in that particular way, is the question i am struggling with these days.
The success of Ashok Banker, according to me is to present Ramayana as a tale, a very emotion filled human story, as i suppose it was meant to be and not as a mythological extravaganza. It is in doing so that he so very successfully delivers to us a very, very human Rama and Ramayana.
“Ashok Banker had me craving more…”
Ashok Banker had me craving for more through the Prince of Ayodhya, the first book of his 6-volume Ramayana series.
Sold out on pre-order! 
Available only from me directly. 
Available only from me directly. 
Available only from me directly. 