Elixir: A Dream of a Story A Story of a Dream

by Sinjini Sengupta

Where does our mind go, when we fall asleep? Can dreams weave a layer of parallel existence? Can there be another reality beyond all that we touch, see or feel?
It is a normal day for Manisha. She wakes up from sleep and goes to work. On her way back home, she walks into a coffee shop. The cafe is empty but for an old man behind the counter, and another man at a corner table. Later in the night, this man comes back to her in her sleep, and then, every night thereafter. A new journey begins, and a transcendence. A story weaves itself around a life unfulfilled, and a destiny, beautiful and fated.
But... where does this journey lead her to? Will Manisha be able to find her way through these parallel worlds?

264 pages, Paperback

Published December 2, 2017

About the author

An alumnus of Indian Statistical Institute, Sinjini Sengupta is an erstwhile Actuary converted into an award winning writer, columnist and public speaker. She writes in several literary genres ranging from social columns to poetry, novels to screenplays, stories to film/ book reviews. In a brief period of about 2 years of her writing career, Sinjini has won several national and international awards as a writer and as a speaker, a few of which are as follows:
• Iconic Woman Award – Women Economic Forum 2017
• South Asia Fellows of Nature anthology winner (anthology publication)
• Rhyme India winner – national level English poetry contest by Times of India
• Published in “She the Shakthi” - Feminist poetry anthology
• Best screenplay award (ELIXIR)– Pickurflicks (from 550+ films intenationally)
• Featured by ICICI Bank in their Advantage Woman Initiative.
• Featured among Top 10 women bloggers in India by Women’s Web
• Finalist at Quarter-finals of the World Championship of Public Speaking
• TEDx speaker (Sinjini spoke on gender neutral and sensitive parenting)
• Keynote speaker at Valley of Words – International Literature and Arts festival

Sinjini is also the Chairperson of the International Women Economic Forum for the Gurgaon chapter, and in this capacity, she speaks and conducts events and workshops around Women Empowerment issues as well as on Creative Writing and Communication skills. Sinjini has also been invited to various national and international conferences to speak on topics of social causes and women empowerment.

ELIXIR was first launched by none other than ANITA AGNIHOTRI, a writer of immense heritage and fame, at the Valley of Words International Literature and Arts festival at Dehradun on 18th Nov ’17, where the author Sinjini Sengupta was invited as the KEYNOTE SPEAKER at the festival.

ELIXIR is now available on Amazon at - http://amzn.in/an4Cofk

Reviews

[Vinay Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review at A Bookworm's Musing

A debut to remember, that's for sure. The tale was engaging, loved the central character, though her life itself was sad to read about. I could imagine this being real for many too, and wondered if I had to choose between two such worlds, which would I choose? Definitely one book that I would read again.

[Bhaswar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A much feted writer, columnist and poet, Sinjini’s first novel Elixir has a genesis as intriguing as its contents.
It was typed as a 2500-word short story on her Blackberry en route home from office one evening, discovered by her husband a year later and converted into an award winning short film, the screenplay for the same also penned by her and won her numerous accolades.
With that rich a preamble, Elixir awed me even before I had turned the first page and read the first word.
Sinjini is wonderfully gifted with the power of words- her writing inexorably drew me into Manisha’s twin world; the real world of her effete marital existence overpowering her more successful work life and the metaphysical yet vivid universe which Manisha frequents, transported on the vehicle of her dreams.
The author adroitly eschews the reason for Manisha’s escapism. The narrative espouses that one does not need unbearable oppression to escape. By no stretch of the imagination does Sinjini paint Amit, Manish’s husband as the devil incarnate nor her workplace, a trauma. Her parents, especially her father have been supportive and her upbringing not unusual. Also, unlike James Thurber’s mild Walter Mitty who fantasised to draw strength for his humdrum existence, Manisha is an intelligent woman of the world who can stand up for herself in the real world. Her declaration of divorce to Amit, on their tenth anniversary, her ability to hold her own at work and defending her dreams to her doctor are proof enough.
Yet Manisha is disillusioned with the somatic world around and succumbs to the charms of the mystery man of her dreams- his touch, his care, his lovemaking. The parallelism allows her dreams to permeate to the real world- the mud on her body, the grass sticking to her feet. The hypnopaedia becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and Manisha juxtaposes her make-belief world as a reality. And here is where Sinjini excels; in weaving a credible tale with the magic and lilt of her language.
What did not work for me, more than Manisha’s repetitive escapades was the causative force of one as empowered as her to abandon the players in her real world; Ashutosh, her father and Amit to a lesser degree. It was unfair and selfish, I felt to be so consumed by self-gratification. It would have been better had Manisha cut completely loose, the moorings that tethered her to the real world. How would this narrative have played out, I wondered if Manisha did not have a miscarriage? Would she have been able to abandon her procreation as easily and with equal élan?
What message does Elixir leave for those fighting impossible adversities in real life and yet having the strength to soldier on?

[Vikalp Trivedi · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has happened second time in a row this year that the book I am reading has a very promising premise, a good start and an intriguing narrative style. But all these things fade after an extent and both of the books, which are also the first two books of this year become two of my most disappointing reads ever. Earlier this month it happened with Kavita Kané's 'Fisher Queen's Dynasty" and almost a week later with Sinjini Sengupta's 'Elixir'.

I picked the book with a lot of expectations because it's synopsis was very intriguing. A woman lost in a tasteless marriage, a stark corporate job, and a seemingly meaningless life. But after an incident her life changes and the story moves to a parallel existence and a dreamy reality. First of all the narrative style was almost poetic and narration of some scenes were breathtaking. But this poetic narration is victim of bad (almost no) editing and over-dramatisation. The book depicts about the clothing of all the characters and it is very particular about that certain aspect. But unfortunately it is perticular about that aspect only. No differing characterstic is given to any character. They all seem quite monotonous. To be honest. Pace and chapter length is also a very big problem of the book. Some chapters which are so intriguing are ended very quickly and others- the ones which are dominated by the clothing style of the characters- are needlessly stratched. The pace was really very slow, although being a 264 pages long book it seems eternity to end the book. I struggled really hard to end the book.

2 Stars.

[Kanad Basu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elixir is the debut novel of Sinjini Sengupta. I have been following her blog for a long time. There is a pattern in her writing. Her characters are real, and yet their fates are sometimes not what we see everyday. But, if you look deep into the characters, their fates are what our everyday fears are. Sinjini brings out such a fear of loneliness in this book.

The protagonist, being ignored by her husband and in this eternal cycle of career and family, started losing out on herself. She first suffered from depression and then transferred herself to a different land, where she was no more lonely, she was happy. How this transformation happened and what was her fate forms the crux of this story.

Sinjini's writing is lucid and pacy. You'll never feel bored of this book. She adds her personal touch to the book with references to Denver's songs. I wish she had put "Tamasha" as well.

All in all, you won't be disappointed. Go give it a try.

[Maitabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

“…The desire melts down the fear, the stones of the grief. The icebergs, they are melting…Now, that she is crying. Her tears are washing her down, bathing her clean of her prejudices, breaking her open off her own cage she had made herself for so many years, lifelong. There, she is changing. There she is braver, She is braving it, yes. Look, she is crying!”

– Elixir

Have you ever tried living in your dreams? Have you ever felt that your dream is better than the reality of your life? Or, have you ever felt that a dream is taking over your real life, consuming you, literally with every passing day? A dream, something so mundane, is actually catapulting you to a whole new world, a world that you have perhaps begun to love, live, long for and experience ! Something that has become a reality in many ways ! Well, Elixir, author Sinjini Sengupta’s debut novel, published by Readomania, is all about that- a dream. Elixir is a story of a dream, a dream that is far more exhilarating than the reality. A dream that lends a new lease of life to a woman and then, perhaps constructs her end too. Elixir will make you take a seat, talk, ponder and gulp copiously what love, pain, angst, loneliness and, perhaps, unalloyed happiness is all about.

Synopsis: Elixir revolves around Manisha Roy. Manisha had lost her mother at birth and was brought up by her father and grandmother. This void though, remained unfilled all her life. She grew up to be a beautiful girl, academically brilliant and professionally successful. She married Amit Roy and her marital life was like any other in an upstate urban set up with luxurious galore. But, somewhere she remained bereft. And, one day a casual visit to a cafe changed the entire course of her life in a surreal way. Manisha dreamt about the man she saw at the cafe, and thereafter dreamt of him every single time she slept. Did she really see anyone at all? Slowly, this dream became the naked reality of her life, overlapping the real and the dreamy world in a bizarre way. Manisha started living parallely. Hypnotic, in a way. On one hand, a clandestine dream that promises pure bliss and inner contentment with the man she was hopelessly falling in love with. And, then her real life with Amit, office and other basic banalities of being Manisha Roy. However, in no time, she finds herself choosing her dream over reality, thus inviting a dreadful and agonising end. Did Manisha manage to save herself out from this dark chassis of human mind, or she succumbed to it, is what Elixir is all about.

Narration: Elixir keeps you embraced with its scintillating narrative throughout. It seamlessly touches the deep parched knots of a woman’s vulnerabilities inhabiting in a tenantless heart. With rain, sea and shores backing her narrative steadfastly, the author chooses to narrate this piece with a subtle dash of melancholy running all along, which works well. Elixir is as much within Manisha Roy, as much it is about the cacophony of the world around her. And, the author has handled this unevenness with aplomb. Needless to say, some brilliant imageries lent an everlasting effect on the narrative that lingers around you even after you have closed the book. A commendable effort by a first time author.

Character: Pick up any character from Elixir, and you know deep down ‘who’ he/she is without any direct mention. I would like to believe that the author probably had picked up her finest brush to paint out perfect images of the characters she envisaged. Leave aside Manisha or Amit, even the minor ones like the nurse Lobo, driver Singhji, cook Bimala, Balky or Amma for that matter, you know where they are coming from and what they are all about. And Manisha, you feel her skin to skin, quite literally, trust me! Manisha is such a real portrayal that you will find a strand of her in you, hidden, peeping through suddenly, in sobs and smiles. You may not be able to identify with her always, but a part of you will cry for her till the last word of the story. And, that I feel is nothing but the outcome of an amazingly skilful characterisation.

Language: Ornate, measured and words sprinkled deftly keeping in view the need of the situations. One of the hallmarks of Elixir is the definitely the language that was in display. But, what caught my attention apart from this stunning exhibit of words and phrases, is the glimpse of poetess Sinjini Sengupta, who popped up every now and then. Take this- “…A pitch darkness engulfs the space, the same black as the distance of the stars, eons of light years away…and, from within the abyss of past, a familiar sound hits the air. Sticks of matches, rubbing, striking up the brown dots into flames. A candle lights up somewhere, against the soft beats of the raindrops. A delicate flame flickers through the shining darkness, one that can only light up, and not burn down….” I felt, there is a subtle lyricism in the language that the author used, which gives the narrative a different rhythm, making it ebb and flow with time, people and emotions. A beautiful attempt !

Editing: It is a fact that a story like Elixir that churns the inner chasm of human emotions cannot stand without tight editing. And, Elixir does get some crisp edits for things flow seamlessly. It is yet again an effortless and sincere contribution in making Elixir what it is.

What could have been better ?

No artwork is perfect, and in that sense in Elixir too, there are pockets, which could have been a shade better.

I felt the narrative was slightly dragged in the prologue. By the first few pages the mental texture of Manisha was quite clear and established well. And in that case, building the party scene (explaining every guest) to let the readers know what and how she felt, was slightly drab.
Similarly, towards the fag end of the story, I felt the author was swirling around more or less on the same thing. Specially, some emotions and scenes were kind of repetitive, and the narrative was wobbling precariously. I missed the tightness of the narrative that I felt in the first half. I felt exasperated. I wish the author tried something different to address those situations. Also, the edits could have been a bit more crisper towards the end.
Elixir is painful, yet a beautiful experience to behold. It is as much a heartwarming read, as it is a heartbreaking one. It is story that will stare dart at your face and ask some quintessential questions about love, life and marriage. It’s unmistaken beauty lies in the depth of the characters and their emotional clamour, which is honest. There is nothing right or wrong. You live to feel the world around and also, you need to feel the world around to live. Elixir is a stupendous debut by author Sinjini Sengupta. Her deftness with the dynamics of human emotions and sensibilities is par excellent. Grab this novel now, and gift yourself an experience to cherish. Elixir, and just that !

P.S: Did I just say that this is one of the best debuts from the house of Readomania?

[Luvena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard of this book at a Christmas party last year, when I was requested to moderate the panel discussion for it's Bangalore book launch. As luck should have it, I received the book about 2 weeks before the launch - 2 weeks that were so horrendously busy, that I was simply unable to read it beyond the first thirty pages. I'd heard that a moderator should be well versed with the book she was showcasing, but in all honesty, the book launch was a resounding success and the panel discussion was organic, yet genuine with brilliant inputs from the panel members.

But here's the thing - I'm so glad that I didn't read the book before presenting it because had I done that, I would have been a horrible moderator, putting my foot into the discussion and speaking as a passionate panelist instead.

The best part is that today, February 3rd, is a date mentioned at a key point in the story. So it does make it apt to write the review today, doesn't it?

The first thing that one of the panelists at the book launch mentioned was that the book had a Mrs. Dalloway kind of feel to the writing style - a writing that was a lyrical yet prose - lyrical prose. This stream of consciousness multilinear derivatives of the protagonist's mind and thoughts took a little getting used to, but it didn't take long to sink into the plot. The language is lyrical, full of descriptive words, adjectives, alliterations, metaphors and brings the imagination alive with the narrative. I did, however, laugh at the frequent use of the word 'pray' bring back memories of school English literature texts.

So the plot - and I'll get that out of the way first, is fairly simple - complicated only with the fact that the plot deals with the mind and all its variegations. It was simple where the plot involved relationships, and yet complicated just the way relationships are. It was a simple plot, yet, as matters of the mind and resolution of its loops go, the simplicity was drawn to pages of overdrawn exhaustion. Perhaps it was the exhaustion that got me to rush and know what happened next.

The biggest draw that this story had for me was that it was relatable - I could relate to it.

I could relate to it because it drew a parallel between relationships and how the dynamics within those relationships play a role on the mental health of those involved. I could relate to loneliness and how chronic loneliness could end up in a desperate attempt to seek an escape outlet. I recognise fantasy and the make-believe world that we can visualise and seek comfort in - where no limitations and social rules apply, and yet, we come back. And the book explores that possibility of shifting into a reality of dreams - that is what happens to Manisha, the protagonist, who believes the water she drank at a cafe opened the gateway to her dreams - the pathway to finding herself

I could relate to it because there were bits of my own experiences there - sometimes in exact measure, at other times blown out of proportion indefinitely - but they were there. The strictures that society places around the acceptance of someone's mental situation that is different to their perceived normal is horrendous. Manisha's husband's reluctance to see the value in paying attention to his wife's emotional needs simply because he was raised in an atmosphere of constant attention was a crystal clear mirror to the patriarchal torment that many Indian / Asian women suffer. The overbearing mother-in-law's insistence on calling Manisha too proud / too successful for her own good, or too lazy and pretending to be ill while her poor baby was struggling to make ends meet - uff ! I wanted to get into the book and shake that woman!

Aarrrghh!! I wanted to scream when I read of those moments where Manisha's father experienced his son-in-law' cold demeanor when he visited and the 'brushing aside his presence as invisible' bit was a little too close for comfort. Is such behavior so permissible in our society just because we don't openly speak about it and call it out? This is real stuff because it really happens! It really does!!!

I must say, the author has really put in the effort in developing the characters, at least surrounding the narcissistic profile and I knew what a shit that Amit was, lol, and what he was capable of just by reading his initial behaviors.

Eventually, albeit through this alter-world that Manisha goes to, there is a gradual move towards finding herself - towards those eternal questions and answers of being enough, being beautiful, being free, and having the permission to be free were touched upon. The fleeting moments of confusion were there for the readers to tag along into.

I can see why the movie would have so much potential with the antagonist thriving on a controlling, self-obsessed personality disorder with a very low emotional quotient along with your stereotypical Indian family that fails to accept the daughter-in-law but holds high and insensitive expectations of her - the drama is palpable - while at the same time, the floating, lightness of illogical dreamscape adds a lovely color of artistic vibrance.

To nail it down, I liked it - the excessive narrative tired me a bit, I felt it was overdrawn at times to scream, "Enough already!!" but the mind does go in circles at times, doesn't it? It also takes its own time to learn that it is enough already. The ending scared me a teensy bit but that is where I change my dreamscape when I go to bed tonight!

[Deepak Imandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea and the reality of the concept are inspiring, yet the execution is a bit dragged on, which justifies the three star.

[Anjana Basu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elixir
ShinjiniSengupta
Readomania
INR 250/

This is a story about how you can find your way out of a situation with effortless though deadly ease. Manisha is an executive in a demanding job with a demanding marriage that in ten years has not taken a turn for bliss. Her husband Amit is under his parents’ thumb and her mother in law Anita has it in for her because she has classified Manisha as ‘spoilt’ and wants to keep her separate from her father.

The tale moves through an unidentified city – it could, given the bustle be Mumbai – delving into Manisha’s life, work and marriage. On the face of it, everything except her marriage seems to be in Manisha’s favour. Despite her competitive colleagues, she wins awards and is in line for a trip abroad but what nags at her is a persistent headache. As the song goes, she has rain in her heart and identifies with the slow drip of crystal droplets.

One day, for no reason at all, she steps into a coffee shop and spies a man in a corner. Between the coffee and the glimpse, she is addicted. The man keeps returning to her in her dreams and merges with her soul – so much so that her dream life becomes more real than her every day bickering with Amit does and she resorts to a mysterious brown bottle hidden behind her books to ensure that she can return to her dreams when it suits her.

Elixir is a different take on escapism. Sengupta has chosen to make the experience more mysterious by refraining from the usual drugs and alcohol fix that most escapists too scared to make the ultimate break also indulge in. Nor does she turn Manisha into a real world artist who expresses her angst through the passion of art and eventually finds her spiritual love calling out to her in some distant corner of the globe like Eat, Pray, Love.

Instead, Manisha, like many urban working wives, shuts out the world through a bottle. To indulge her dream world, she resigns from office and devotes all her time to her bedroom. There her chosen life unfolds with eyes shut tight, an experience in which she paints and sculpts while the man of her dreams is a constant erotic festering. Of course, if you were to quibble, an elixir is a potion; not tablets but perhaps the coffee was the initial elixir, the port key to a conceptual journey through the mind.

Sengupta’s style is poetic – she lingers over descriptions of the rain, Manisha’s feelings and the fog in her mind, creating an alluring miasma. Occasionally, this does slow down the pace of the story and though the sensitive reader will understand that Sengupta is trying to recreate a hallucinatory world, constant rain and headaches can be repetitive. However, an alert editor could not have taken care of that.

Quite obviously, Manisha’s fantasy world fuelled by tablets cannot end in anything happy especially since for her ‘reality is what is not’.

Elixir will resonate with younger women readers who find juggling a husband and a career trying, especially when the husband is moored to his Whatsapp – strangely in these solitary social media times Manisha has no Whatsapp or Facebook addiction or an attendant bestie to confide in. Just her exotic purple slips as companion to her dreams.

[Deepti · Rating 5 out of 5]

“All that we see or seem/ Is but a dream within a dream.”
Edgar Allen Poe
A brown unlabelled bottle hidden away behind a rack of books is what brings Manisha alive, Manisha who is married to Amit who has mastered “the art of throwing his weight around, of keeping tight control.” While people around her seem normal, never having been “confused or angry or even conflicted at points of decisions”, Manisha, who has given up a high-paying job, is not ready to be a trophy wife.
Her childhood is punctuated by stories narrated by her Amma, from the Mahabharata and the sacrifice of Devavrata who could choose the time of his death. One truth must have stayed in her mind. “What does it matter what others say, Moni? You know your truth the best, you always do.”

Thus, when it comes to the moment of truth, Monisha knows exactly what she is meant to do with her life. She walks into a newly opened coffee shop, done up with clay and terracotta, where an old man with bright eyes, deep with wisdom, offers her a glass of water. Suddenly across the room, at the other corner, she sees another man. In an instant, she realizes that maybe it is time to “spill the water and jump out of her goldfish bowl.”
The dream catchers on the evocative cover of the book creep into the minds of the readers, swaying from side to side like pendulums. They make a tinkling sound against each other, pregnant with dreams, dreams in which they have timed Manisha in. The descriptions are soothing and poetic. “He looks so alive, and yet he is so ancient, as if he has always been, always. It seems they have known each other for a long time. Through ages, through time and back. Across river banks and temple staircases, across branches of wood on the mountain slopes, through solar eclipses and the stars.”
Manisha knows that she has a choice, either weave back her safety net or the free fall, her life between the two of them; a choice between a life of duty and one of utter freedom and happiness. She is aware of her other reality, almost in a sense, a parallel existence. “She is now beginning to understand that another world lies beneath her pillow, in the depths of nights.”
Does Manisha finally find her true home, the place where she truly belongs? The rain is a continuing motif in all the significant moments in her life. As her tears finally wash her down, bathing her clean of her prejudices, can she carry on living in parts, in half lives? Does she have a bond with the universe as she explores her possibilities, uncovers her myths?
These and many questions are answered at the end of Sinjini Sengupta’s starkly poignant book, even as Manisha tries to unravel her unusual life.
Ms. Sengupta uses language that falls on the soul as gently as snowflakes, leaving a caress in its wake. There is a delicious languor in her storytelling that carries the reader along with Manisha right till the end.
The question one wants to ask has already been asked early in the book.
“Listen – are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?”
Mary Oliver

[Priyanka · Rating 4 out of 5]

NON-SPOILER REVIEW
5 reasons to read 'Elixir':
- Poetic prose
- Unconventional, exciting plot
- Interesting protagonist arc
- Vivid descriptions
- Closed, tight ending

SPOILER REVIEW
Overall, 'Elixir' is a tense, exciting read, which left me gasping over what would happen next. I easily finished it in 3-4 days. Initially, I thought it was about mental illness--some of the portions on Manisha's 'parallel life' can feel quite disturbing. But that's the beauty of 'Elixir'--it lingers in your mind till you get the aha moment. The realization that Manisha is never mentally ill.

No, she definitely isn't. She's alert and in control of her senses and decisions. She knows what she's doing. She's made her choice--that she'd prefer her dream state over her reality. Siddharth is right--she just doesn't belong here. Even the thick-headed Amit gets the point in the end when he decides to let go of Manisha in the way she wants.

Manisha isn't a victim. She's a strong and brave soul. Her ill health is owing to her inner resistance at the start, but she's fine once she accepts and embraces her destiny. Dr. Subramaniam is right too--our definition of 'reality' is indeed quite narrow.

Two additional things stand out. Manisha's decision to pursue her passion for painting and sculpting only in her dream life. And while she hates smoking in real life and pesters Amit to quit, she actually shares a drag with her dream man post-intercourse. Interesting.

I love how Sinjini has stitched every word together into poetic perfection. And the short, crisp sentences are something I'm a huge fan of. My favourite: 'What do you see when you blow into candles, with a wish? They melt into your dreams, perhaps.'

Certain plants in the plot never pay off, though. The paints and half-sketches found by Amit. Amit's surprise at Manisha's painting talent. The old man at the cafe. The dirt on Manisha's clothes. The froth of American cappuccino on Manisha's upper lip (after her first 'night' of dreaming). The hickey on her neck. Probably, it's all deliberate--a way of showing that dreams can manifest into reality, even if in traces. We also don't get to see what happens after Manisha signs Somani's papers. Also, if Manisha is really a gifted painter, I wonder why she doesn't paint a sketch of her dream man and try to find him. Food for thought. And I'd have loved to find out Amit's reaction when the sheet covers Manisha's body eventually--is he sad, happy, indifferent, or relieved?

The other side of the debate is what Dumbledore tells Harry before the Mirror of Erised. 'It does not do to dwell on dreams but forget to live.' Well, Manisha lives in a world where waitresses hand food menus to women and drinks menus to men. She could have shed her meekness and become an agent of change. At least, give it back to that bitch named mother-in-law. But then she had found her calling elsewhere. Because Dumbledore also says, 'Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?' Still, Manisha should have given it back to Anita.

[Rahul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Manisha, sits in a cafe where an old man serves her a cup of coffee while another man sits at a corner table. She had a long day at the office and despite the success in the corporate world, there is a corner of her heart that is void. The repeated bouts of headaches and uneasiness leave her drained of the energy. She goes home and pops in some pills and after a while falls asleep. A dream takes over and changes her life forever!

This is just a very brief story of very few characters in this brilliant book written by a blogger Sinjini Sengupta. This is her maiden attempt at storytelling and speaks volumes of the insight she has into the way of life of a highflyer in the society. The portrayal of characters gives a feel of the world around the ones who have touched the pinnacles of success. The husband Amit, who has a very successful career too, has little time for his wife! There is no dearth of such characters that one can come across in today's world where the size of a bungalow, or a car, and the branded pieces strewn around the house are a measure of success! While the pursuit of material success may be held in high esteem but the emptiness of lives of those who fill these spaces is rarely understood.

Sinjini has a unique style of writing with the choicest diction and a perfect understanding of human emotions. The setting of clouds and frequent rain paused with bouts of severe headaches that the main protagonist suffers, do appear frequently but never slacken the pace. Each character comes to life as the words smoothly flow from the pen of Sinjini.

A compulsive reading, and little wonder that this book has been made into a short film which has already won several awards at The Cannes Film Festival, Boston Caledioscope Film Festival, Kolkata Short Film Festival, just to name a few. Sinjini was a keynote speaker at the recently concluded Valley of the Words 2017, and BNLF at Dehradun in November 2017.

[Lubdhak Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elixir by Sinjini Sengupta elicits a spectrum of responses, traversing along a circuitous contour riddled with emotions of truth. Manisha’s journey is sedulously followed with deep sensitivity adding dimensions to an enigmatic character. It transcends its objective powers, the external gaze of the reader closely observing her life, her estranged relationship with her husband and most importantly her relation with her self, to a zone of profound subjective experience. Yet such intrusion of subjectivity is integral to the character development, her thoughts and emotions which delineate her inner realms are connected to a profound experience of her deeply innate spatio-temporal lattice.
The book successfully celebrates the eternal inner quest for reality, its innate realization while contemplating on a diaphanous intersecting zone between the different shades of reality.
Sinjini has successfully eschewed sentimentality while portraying her with different brush strokes while evoking a socio political platform for deeper rumination on psychology, feminism and welfare. The true protagonist of the novel, in my opinion, is the poetics of detail. The author, in her debut novel, exhibited supreme command over language, economy of emotions and finally the depiction of atmospherics render the novel a tangible experience. One could feel the space, the color, odour, temperature of the space along with Manisha, which slowly through sheer artistry over words, breaks the skin, diffuses into the blood and integrates into the whole - Manisha's experience is inextricably linked with that of yours.
Elixir is a must read not just for ever bibliophile, but for every sensitive mind, eager to experience wonder within quotidian life.

[Meenakshi Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Poetic, enigmatic and contemporary book.Devoured on Elixir, written by Sinjini Sengupta by Readomania. A beautiful read with vividity, lucid and soulful narrative. Author’s voice has the capability of transporting the reader into another world with poetic texture with tinge of fantasy and balming layers of love.
It beautifully reflects the struggle between mundane external life and the inner journey. Manisha, the protagonist’s life is a success by all the societal norms but there is something she always craves for, i.e. true love, unconditional and pure. That incompleteness was swallowing her happiness like a leech and she is left hollow and insecure despite having it all. And how she finds herself safe and loved in an alternative realm. Where there is no struggle, just surrender.
I resonated with the portrayal of a woman’s struggles and a life full of expectations and the need to be approved. That journey of realization that she is enough is depicted very aptly. Being a girl in India translates that one has to prove herself in the familial, professional and societal context and that consumes a person leaving her hollow, barren. How the protagonist weaves an alternate world for herself where she is accepted, loved as is. No layers of pretence. Only the pace of the book got a bit slow in the middle of the novel and could have been faster to grip the attention to the story a bit tighter.
Look forward to more books from Sinjini as there are only few who write about love with romance, philosophy and aesthetics. Loved it.

[Ashima Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started reading Elixir, what first caught my attention was the imagery Sengupta has created with words. It reads like poetry, with a breathtaking visual impact. Her writing has a certain rhythm to it. It brings movement, such as in music – with high and low notes, with breathless continuation, with broken pauses, all of which evoke a range of emotions.

On the surface, Manisha is a woman who has all the pleasures and luxuries of life. But does she really? Why does she appear to consider herself unimportant, unwanted? Why does she feel wrong to want something, to expect it? It is in the way Sengupta builds the character sketch of the protagonist that the author displays her deep understanding of human emotion. She peels away the glossy, albeit weak and thin, layers shrouding the reality of our lives to deliver a relevant social message.

As Manisha balances herself between her dreams and wakefulness, the fine line between imagination and reality is blurred, lost in its own definition. The nuanced transition from one to the other is what sets a benchmark in writing literary fiction.

Elixir is a journey into a magical world, one that is beautiful, heartbreaking and deeply emotional. As the name implies, it is both magical and medicinal for the beat of your heart. So read it. Read it for the thrill and read it for the salve. You won’t be able to free yourself of its hold on you.

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[Piyusha Vir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this brilliantly written novel. Sinjini creates absolute magic with her play of words as she narrates the story of Manisha and her struggles to keep her dreams and reality distinct. Does she manage to survive the experiences that occur in her parallel world? What impact does this transcendence have on her?
A must read if you are looking for a book that goes beyond the usual story-telling of this world that we live in.

[Amit Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elixir is an exhilarating journey into a woman's mind who lives in two worlds. Manisha has everything and nothing. She craves for intimacy and warmth and thus enters into a world that gives her what her heart desires. At one point, her real world becomes the nightmare she doesn't want to wake up to.
Haven't we all felt that? At times, when we are dreaming, the dream is so lucid that we mistake it for reality. We want to be there forever.
The story flows like poetry. The imagery, the language, the prose - they all point to the brilliance of Sinjini as an author. She dwells deep into Manisha psyche and at one point in the book, you realize that you 'know' the protagonist. As the book progresses, she slowly gets under your skin.
Her lover, the person she runs to, is another brilliant character in the book. He doesn't speak much but every time Manisha is with him, you feel the warmth and love. You root for them to be together.
This is a book you must pick if you like reading stories with fleshed out characters and lyrical language.

[Nidhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is a very well written book but it is my personal opinion as it is very dark for me, I believe in being grateful for what I have as not everyone is blessed with everything.

[ad · Rating 5 out of 5]

#BEST BOOK EVER. #ROOPKATHA'S MOM WRITING IS SO SLAY

[Shwetha H.S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sinjini Sengupta is a poetess, columnist and a short story writer. By profession, she is an actuary. Her debut novel Elixir is based on mental health.

Manisha is an actuary in an MNC. She is married to Amit who is working hard for his startup. Theirs is an arranged marriage with no love, and no understanding from Amit’s end. Manisha feels lonely as her husband doesn’t give her any attention, and whenever she tries to tell him anything, he ignores her. Amit always takes his mother’s side though he knows his wife is right. In his ignorance towards his wife, he doesn’t notice that she is suddenly happy with her life and suddenly screws up at her job for which she was always praised. Her strange behavior catches his attention and bothers him. This even takes them on the verge of divorce. But what is this strange but seemingly normal life of Manisha that is troubling people around her? Read Elixir to get your answer. Or rather rush through it. Why? I will tell you.

As mentioned above, Elixir is a novel about mental health. But reading it will give readers a mental illness. Author has used “you see” so many times that it starts to get on the nerves. Every character talks like that as if there is no difference between one another. The writing or terrible editing has left too many commas for the readers making the narration unreadable. The narration is incorrigible. Even after three chapters can’t understand what Manisha is doing. Maybe that is what the author wants to convey; not let the readers understand the story. So much of description that cannot be understood has killed my imagination and made me turn to Facebook often. The author’s attempted sophisticated description about everything is suffocating. To top it all, Manisha is always wondering whether it will rain today or not. She has a reason, but this wondering is overdone, left me wondering why I am reading it. I understand that Sengupta was describing Manisha’s loneliness. But in that attempt, she makes the reader feel lonely with her book. The experience of reading this book was truly traumatic.

Read Elixir by Sinjini Sengupta if you have nothing better to read. Oops, you can’t read until the last three chapters. Till then, you ought to rush to keep your sanity.

[Debamita Ghosh]

I am intoxicated with the book.... Somewhere I too live in a different world... But I balance wonderfully without the pills....this book....s multi dimensional.... It's a soul craving for love...it's a soul who needed deep deep love and rejected this world for being too too shallow... It's a story about dreaming to live for oneself in a world full of love...no curtains even required to do the interiors even...it's all love...sculpting life as one wants too!! Dream?? Was it?? Or was it the deep desire to be loved in such a deep deep way... I don't know...the dream mechanism brings rescue...but was it a rescue?? Rescue from what?? This mundane silly life?? I don't know.... What I know is.... That I too have a dream man...Sanjivan...Sanjivan means.."jar kache life ache.." who can gv u life... He s still with me... In different form..rather he has a form...he s always by my side....I manage to go with this everyday infinite hurdles...just because of him... What finally...elixer s within all of us...some of us r sensitive to find it...some r not..... This s also a feminine protest against the cruelest mishandling most of the woman faces as a predicament in their marital life.... This s a big rejection of trying to fall in places by killing our desires..The motherlessness of the protagonist...Manisha...shows the world's incapability to womb such a manginificent soul..the deep water ripples she feels are the desire for a womb... Her miscarriage shows a marriage of a sensitive soul with the superficial can only bring about miscarriages...no proper fruit or no new life.. This story s actually about a dream like life... One dreams... A story within ..and a story without... Our mind digs out the desire...sculpts it and then lives there in the dreams.... A magic potion... It keeps the souls alive...it turns the baser life into gold... I cried... I felt for her....I felt the brutality of Amit..the insensitivity of him...and at last I cried for asutosh... But I am happy that her long dismantled broken soul is at last blessed with a lucid loved dream named him...let her rest in peace there....let her blossom along with her daisies and gladiola in a world of sheer love and care... At last ...salvation s granted ... Atlast she s released from the encapsulated loneliness ... She s an albatross....she flew away...rather migrated to her world... Reminding me a line from my poem.... Tomar sajano jibon majhe..Ami bemanan barabari..khaniker athithi Ami..Ami parijayi....

[Kamalini Natesan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elixir, a book within a book


So I finished Elixir, the debut novel by Sinjini Sengupta. I did not finish it at one go, and I’d like to confess, I was floating away in my first attempt; the writing was languorous and soporific, despite Manisha’s hard trials at work, both inside her being, and outside of it. Amit’s strange and insensitive conduct also got to me. Lost, are we? Well these are the two main characters in Sengupta’s ELIXIR, an interesting read to boot, and one that cast a spell of sorts on me- however during my second inning.
Is it truly possible to live a life parallely- i.e, can you actually step into another full-blown existence, even as you are trying to do justice to the one that you had been born into? Is it truly even conceivable? Well, Sengupta does a fine job of pushing the suspension of belief envelope, that anything is possible once you taste of it-and discard that voice that repeatedly says, nah, not possible! You embrace it head-on. I am a believer of parallel existences, have always been.
The first half of Sinjini’s debut novel is a bit like Bangla poetry, it whets your appetite. You need to put it away to fully savour what she is trying to build your literary and hungry mind up to. Once you’ve gotten over that ‘hump’ , if I may call it that, you are onto something rather magnetic- you inch along, then you are on a ride that has you by the….stirrups. You want to live Manisha’s parallel life with her- it’s beautiful, riddled with watery drops of romance, and perfumes and love and all that makes life a living heaven. But you return to Manisha’s ‘real world’, the one she must tackle, along with interacting with her blameless husband, who knows no better, boil tea in her kitchen, peek into her fridge, and mix with her professional colleagues. Well what do you know, Moni, as her father lovingly calls her, is quite the gal! She takes it all on, begrudgingly, but not all the time. She knows she wants out- she doesn’t want to re-enter the real world, but who’s going to buy her tale, definitely not the very worldly Amit. He’s befuddled, and he strikes out, using psychiatric means too.
What we have here is a novel with a stark message. Is the message obvious? To me it was. And the distinction lies in the fact that I know I am being made aware that I am also living parallel lives perhaps, but not with dissonance, which allows me to survive each day. Sinjini is telling the reader that it’s perfectly natural to 'allow' one's being to live thus- and infinite such possibilities exist. I believe her. I also believed Richard Bach in his novel named ONE, when he and his wife travelled through different dimensions of existence. So why can Manisha, creature hacked by Sinjini’s mind, not do likewise? Sure can too.
Sinjini’s flair for poetic prose, and her deep relationship with rain-water is superbly harvested in this novel. I could almost hear Robindro Shongeet playing in the background- no, not almost, I did hear it. My parallel life peeps into this area of my life, my reader life, and vice versa as I put away Elixir, and sip from a glass of cold water, to suppress the rising heat. Also, i might have failed to mention the fact that this was a screenplay, that Sengupta has deftly ‘rewritten’ as a full novel, no mean task this. I, even as i enjoy the art of writing, would not attempt such like. More power to Sinjini Sengupta and her creative mind!