Book Review: In the Glow of Your Being by Govind Mishra

Title- In the Glow of Your Being

Author- Govind Mishra

Translator- C.B. Karki

Publisher- Niyogi Books

Genre- Translation, Fiction

Length-254 pages

Format- Flexibound 

Rating- 5/5 stars

Sahitya Academy Award Winning Author Govind Mishra's "In the Glow of Your Being" resonates with a love which is pure yet illicit, powerful yet dangerous. It challenges the age-old ideas of morality, chastity and love and questions their validity in the present society where the accountability falls only on the women and they are judged on these false parameters. 

The narrative begins at a conference hall where the protagonist Anant observes the ethereal beauty of a married lady named Subarna and immediately falls head over heels in love with her.As their interaction increase Anant learns that behind the veil of a reserved and happy woman, there hides a person who is emotionally broken and desparately searching for freedom and love. Her husband Ramesh does not bother about her happiness, likes or dislikes. The fact that she is a working woman does not affect his perception of her. For him, she is nothing but a machine whose sole purpose in life should be to take good care of his family and children.

Will Subarna be able to find her true self?? Will she be happy again? To get the answers you have to go through this amazing work.

I absolutely loved the author's keen observation of the natural phenomena and how he has applied them to portray the abstract human emotions. The way he has described the various shades of Subarna's beauty and elegence through the perfect use of words is worth commendable.

A novel becomes an excellent piece of literary work only when it possesses a certain level of depth in it which evokes an aesthetic pleasure in the mind of the readers when they go through the narrative. This work truly belongs to that category of finest literary creations.The witty conversations between Subarna and Anant and their reflections on love is what I enjoyed the most in the novel. These reflections actually forces the readers to think in myriad dimensions.

C.B. Karki has done a commendable job in translating the work from Hindi. He has successfully retained the essense of the work through his translation skills. The title of the novel is apt and justified. The cover design by Misha Oberoi is absolutely fantastic and perfectly captures the theme of the novel.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the novel and recommend it to all. I give this work full 5 stars.

Happy Reading