A Bit of Everything

by Sandeep Raina

Varmull, nestled amidst the mighty Pir Mountains and the Jhelum River, with its small-town familiarity exchanged in quiet lanes, has always been home. Until violence overwhelms the streets, and there is no option but to flee. For six punishing summers in a sweltering Delhi barsati, Rahul, Doora and their young son try to push back their memories and their longing for Kashmir. Around them, the city remains rude and alien. Their landlord calls Rahul a Muslim-Brahmin because he eats meat; his Pandit relatives want him to join a Hindu extremist group. It isn’t then long before Rahul flees again, this time to England, where he hopes he will not have to make these Pandit or Kashmiri? Professor or husband? Rational intellectual or wounded exile? Expat or refugee? As he struggles to survive his foreignness, stumbling from one accidental relationship to another, a series of bombings in London blasts Kashmir right back into his life. And he knows he must attempt the journey back home. A devastating exploration of what it means to lose one’s home, A Bit of Everything lays bare the many ways in which the violence of a land tears apart the everyday lives of its people.

Genres: India

272 pages, Paperback

Published January 30, 2023

About the author

Sandeep Raina was born and raised in Kashmir, where he graduated as an engineer. His work has enabled him to travel across the world and explore new cultures. He has spent much of his life in Delhi, Istanbul and London. When he lived in Turkey, he was stirred to write about migration, and a novel came to life in England. This is his first book.

He has also written short stories, which have been published in The Times of India, The Hindu, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Wire and Khaleej Times.

Reviews

[Langlen Chanu · Rating 5 out of 5]

One wrong electric connection had stained Rahul's study forever; A gun spilt blood on hardbound book.
The rationality that comes from knowledge make him drove away. Later his escape make him lost his wife, departed from his son.

Almost the book reflect Kashmir's history - kings and queens, it's invasions, mountains, deep snows of winter, blossom of spring, Chinar tree, Shemal tree, tree laden of fruits : Apple,Cherry, Plums which passed down from generation to generation, stories of love, hope, beauty, peace.

Stories along the river Jhelum which ran deep and quiet in Varmull, churning pebbles, cockle shells, flint, crystal and everything else in its path into fine grains of sand.

Living in Austria tell us different ways how the main protagonist cope up with life which is far more contrast than what he thought living there might change the stories which is no longer his.

But when return to Varmull after disowning for 25 years , it narrate us another dimension of life when an old feeling crept in the happiness to be found in small things, an abundance of time dusty streets where roots ran deep inside.

The love hate relationship which had been going for centuries between faiths, neighbours, and the rhyme riddle taunts were invoked everytime with each different conversations throughout the pages.

Thank you #westlandbooks for this copy.