It is that time of the year when light reigns supreme – candles, diyas, sparkles and more illuminate our homes, streets, towns and cities, bringing people to banish darkness like a little child punished.
This year, however, the light assumes new meaning. The light that we all have collectively yearned for. A light to take us out of this tunnel that has been plagued with an unknown but feral virus, making us, or someone we love, suffer or worse, wither away. This year we wish this light to be truly a prelude to good times.
For me, this light come from books on many occasions. And hence, on this day, I wish to share with you 5 of my favorite books that give new meaning to light. They border on perils – political, emotional, social, psychological – but emerge on the side of hope.
All The Lives We Never Lived takes us on a walk down memory lane from the eyes of a son who was abandoned by his mother at a young age. Many lives. Many possibilities. Few Materialize. Everything else remain in the realm of hope.
An Unnecessary Woman acquaints us with a 70-years old translator of books who hasn’t given up on life even though life has sort of moved on without her in the bus. A Hermit. An Observer. A Reader. And a Hope-keeper.
Underground Railroad brings the story of a young girl whose days of ruthless slavery ignite in her a desire to wreck every possible fibre of her mind to devise a plan to escape. Debilitating Circumstances. Undeterred Aim. And a beacon of hope on the other side of the underground tunnel.
Blindness throws us into a dystopian world where the residents in a city suddenly start going blind, without the knowledge when can light return to their eyes. Amid violence and discrimination, decay and survival, somehow, miraculously, a bunch of people uphold a sliver of hope.
Stoner holds our hand and let’s us into his world where he struggles to attain respectability in almost everything in his life – profession, love, family and more. But no stomping of losses stop him from trying, and hoping, and walking.
I hope you find your light, this #Diwali, and always.
SEEMITA DAS 