Slow…

Author: Digonta Bordoloi
Publisher: BecomeShakespeare.com, Mumbai
(Pp 302, ISBN: 9780992285937, Rs 250)

Indian fictions get fresh tastes from a host of predominantly debutant authors. Digonta Bordoloi’s Slow is one such instance in the trend. The author unfolds his provocative way of storytelling, revealing a narrative around nature, topography and lifestyle in nostalgic notes wholesomely sliced into picturesque landscapes, people, humor and tragedies. Well, Slow… is a story of a boy, who is not extraordinary but different from ordinary ones. Born in a corner of Assam, Baba the toddler experiences changes in trends and lifestyle which he gains when his family moves from one town to another. Each time his father’s job takes the family to a new place, Baba hooks to surroundings that define life into a new stricture.

Life still goes on for Baba in different stages of life, navigating geographies of plains and hills of Sibsagar, Kohima, Silchar with new friends and achievements. But he always prefers to walk when the world around him is gearing up run. This doesn’t mean people around Baba always overtook him. He sees things around him in more precise ways than others while moving in slow pace. A luxuriously sensual and provocative story that defines a lifestyle and philosophy of a less explored geography is what all it has woven in Slow… a mix narrative of beauty and irony.

– Jyaneswar Laishram