“JAI HO!”
If a song that we all know is nowhere near A. R. Rahman’s best can be the first Indian song ever to win an Academy Award, then imagine what we can achieve if we really do give our best!
JAI HO!!!
to the brilliant Rahman and the rest of the Slumdog Millionaires!
“I just finished reading Ashok Banker’s Prince of Ayodhya, and it was absolutely awesome.”
This review appeared on Hawkeye’s blog.
I just finished reading Ashok Banker’s Prince of Ayodhya, and it was absolutely awesome. As some american dude mentioned in a letter to him here, J.R.R. Tolkein’s work is childs play compared to this.
An unfair comparison since the Ramayana is a story that was in existence before, and Ashok is retelling it in a contemporary way, whereas Lord of the Rings was an original piece of work. However, having read the first piece of his work, I have to read the rest.
Perhaps in some strange, late attempt for me to connect with my hindu roots, (albeit in a pop way), I also bought the Mahabharata TV series when I was in India. The Mahabharata was badly produced then, and it looks terrible now, but I’m skimming past the quality of the production to absorb the story in a quick way (as I said – this is 21st century pop hinduism at its worst).
I can only hope Ashok Banker writes the Mahabharata soon….
“It is like no Ramayana you’ve encountered before.”
This review appeared on Pandu Nayak’s blog.
Its been a while since my last post, but there’s an easy explanation for this hiatus—I found a most incredible series of books to read! And that’s been taking up all my spare time, leaving no time to blog.
So what’s this series? The surprising answer is that it’s the Ramayana! (For those not familiar with the Ramayana, it is one of the two great epics of Hindu mythology, the other great epic being the Mahabharat.) The answer is surprising because, of course, anyone growing up in India has learnt the Ramayana from innumerable sources—from aunts and grandmas, from the celebration of Diwali, from Ram Leelas (popular enactments of the Ramayana), from Amar Chitra Katha, and perhaps even from the Ramayana TV series. So what could possibly be so exciting about this series of books? And what is this series any way?
The series is a collection of 6 books written by Ashok Banker. The first in the series is Prince of Ayodhya. Mala had heard high praise for this series from her niece, and so she brought back a copy of Prince of Ayodhya when she returned from her recent trip to India. I read the first few pages of the book on the very first day she was back, and was instantly hooked! It is like no Ramayana you’ve encountered before. It is written like a fast paced thriller. Each chapter ends on a cliff-hanger or a mini-climax, making it near impossible to stop reading—you have to start the next chapter to see what’s going to happen next. Like all great epics, it is a grand story of good and evil with powerful, heroic, courageous, despicable, and beautiful characters.
And it is told with loving detail. Most tellings of the Ramayana I’ve encountered focus mainly on describing a series of events. Of course, the main events are the same here. But Banker adds so much more: he develops the characters beautifully (e.g., I hadn’t appreciated how evil Ravana really was!), the inter-personal relationships are fascinating, the social and cultural backdrop is described beautifully, and the introduction of various minor characters enhances the richness of the tale. And, above all, it is exciting!
Finally, I have to note that the preface of the book is worth reading. It tells the history of the Ramayana from Valmiki’s original, to Ved Vyasa’s account as part of the Mahabharat, to Kamban’s Tamil retelling, to Sant Tulsidas’s Ramcharitramanas, to more recent accounts by Rajagopalachari. The fascinating thing here is that all these accounts purport to tell the same tale and yet they differ even on very basic events. For example, Banker notes:
One instance is the ’seema rekha’ believed to have been drawn by Lakshman before leaving Sita in the hut. No mention of this incident exists in the Valmiki Ramayana.
This shocked me—in my mind the ’seema rekha’ is a very central plot element in the Ramayana! The point is that for such ancient epics there’s no sense in which there’s an “official” version. Which means that all you can do is to enjoy each retelling on its own merits. If you take this attitude, rather than constantly wondering if a particular plot element was “really” part of the Ramayana, you’ll thoroughly enjoy Banker’s version!
“As much as I love Prof. Tolkein’s work, he doesn’t hold a candle to what you have acheived.”
And this heartfelt effusive review appeared on the Readerswrite Page. My reply appears below.
Mr Banker,
I just finished reading the entire Ramayana series and I don’t know what to say. I was simply blown away by the scope and events of this incredible tale. Thank you so very much for bringing this to the rest of the world. As an American living in Australia, I would have probably never even heard of these amazing stories had I not, on a lark, picked up the first book from the library.
I feel so calm when I read these. I feel like I am reading a story that has always existed, and that feeling is like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
I laughed, I cried (more than once, mostly from feeling sympathetic pride and fellowship), and I had my jaw hanging open on many, many occassions.
I want to read these books again. I look forward to enjoying them for the rest of my life. I have told nearly everyone I know to go out and read them! In my own small way I am spreading the faith. I want everyone to read these books. They are incredibly important to the world and to literature in general. I really, really, really hope you write the MahÄ?bhÄ?rata, as I have heard its even better than the Ramayana. As much as I love Prof. Tolkein’s work, he doesn’t hold a candle to what you have acheived. Thank you for your work and thank you for bringing such joy to an avid reader such as myself. You are truly blessed by the devas. Thank you again.
Dear Matt,
(Please, just call me ‘Ashok’, I’m not a formal kind of person – never worn anything but jeans and tee shirts.) That is the most touching and heartfelt comment on my work I’ve received in a while (well, this year at least!) and I’m so pleased that you evidently felt while reading the series much as I did while writing it. Thank you for taking the time to write and express yourself so openly. You made my day!
Ashok
PS: Yes, I am going to be bringing out the Mba (as I call it, because it’s no less than doing a degree – the ‘third’ in particular, if you get my drift) but I have another work coming out apart from that, and trust me when I say, it’s better in a very different sense than my Ramayana Series. It’s called Gods of War and it is an extended prologue to a very different kind of story that far outdoes what I attempted in the Ramayana, mainly because it’s contemporary and takes on contemporary issues head-on, while operating in a landscape of my own imagination. Check it out when it comes out later this year, around August-September. It’s only a long prologue, and the real story happens in the subsequent four books (it’s a quintet) but it is the best thing I’ve ever written to date…apart from the thing I’m currently writing and can’t talk about just yet! As you can see, here, there are always more stories!
Snippets From The Blogosphere: Reader Review Roundup
These are a couple of little reviews found on the web.
(Thanks to Arati for sending me the links.)
Jessour’s Blog “Alarming Thoughts”
In the Shadow of Her Wings, by Ashok Banker. This is a heck of a story – an assassin (hitman?) is hired to take out the head of a problematic new nation within India’s borders. He was warned that the inhabitants had faith on their side, and he’d have to live with the consequences of his actions, but he had no idea just how literal any of that would be. Fantastic story with a great karmic ending.
Vasu’s Golden Drops blog
Everyone, who knows the Ramayana, will have their own perception, view and opinion about it. It would be fascinating to read such perceptions and see how it differs or relates to our own. One such series about Ramayana is that of Ashok banker. His narration is outstanding. I’ve gone through three books of his. His Book I named Prince of Ayodya was marvelous and Book II siege of Mithila was an absolute page turner. I’m presently into his third one of the series “The Demons of Chitrakut�. Next time if you wish to spend your money into books do remember this series because it is not just a book that u read but an experience u go through!
Still here, still writing…
Just a brief word to let you know that I’m still very much here, writing hard.
I’m deliberately avoiding posting on this blog about mundane everyday things because every amateur wannabe writer with a blog does that, and some of them are quite readable too, I admit, but I prefer to ’save’ my energy for the longer, more demanding marathon of writing a long fictional series which requires me to immerse myself in a quasi-fictional or even itihasic world for years and to give it my all.
I’m avoiding reviewing the latest movies, books, music, TV shows, etc, because I watch, read and listen to far too many of them. Often, I’m reading more than ten books a week, watching twice as many movies and TV shows (always on disk, I almost never watch live commercial television – too many ads), and listening to a very wide range of audio experiences ranging from podcasts to lectures to poetry readings and audiobooks to all kinds of music. I also visit numerous art galleries and consume culture in every possible form. I would be a full-time reviewer if I was reviewing every cultural item I consumed! I compensate for this by listing a few selections from my recent consumptions in the right-hand sidebar almost daily (scroll down): those I list are usually worth a look, and some are highly recommended. I’ll leave it to you to decide which is which! 
I also don’t comment on current events, political upheavals, terrorist attacks, and the like, because I think the media and the internet are full of such controversies and of countless such commentators and virtually every possible viewpoint is already out there. I also find such commentary to be either pointless muckraking, shameless exploitation or worst of all, blatant self-promotion. I’ve been a newspaper columnist, a fairly well-known one, and I hated every minute of it. There are worse ways for a writer to earn a living – writing for films and television, for example – but not many.
I also don’t do book readings, signings, soirees, literary festivals, interviews, media appearances, judge contests and the rest of the mutual backscratching and networking that passes for ‘being a writer’ in today’s literary world.
Which means I’m not just ‘low profile’, I’m pretty much ‘no profile’ all the time.
And that suits me fine.
At some point, my new books will be in stores, or available online, and those who are seriously interested in my work will read it, or not.
My job, as I see it, is to write, and only write. I love it truly, madly, deeply. And don’t see much point in having worked all my life to finally be able to write full-time, spend the rest of my days reading, viewing, being with my family and otherwise doing as I please, in order to become a slave of the system all over again!
I’m free. And intend to stay that way.
And I’m always accessible to you, dear reader and well-wisher, 24/7 through this blog’s Readerswrite Page or the various Facebook pages devoted to my various series.
Is that enough for you? Do you want more of me? Do you wish I would keep in touch more often?
Well…wait a few months and see how many books I’ve been finishing in the past couple of years (some of which I began over a decade ago!). And once you start getting your hands on those books and reading them, and, I hope, enjoying them as immensely as you enjoyed my Ramayana Series, I think you’ll agree that my time was well invested.
Jai Shri Story! Jai Shri Novel! Write on!
Sold out on pre-order! 
Available only from me directly. 
Available only from me directly. 
Available only from me directly. 