Book Review : Quichotte

Quichotte’s world is full of parallels and metaphors in uncharted valleys of life, journey through them is via personal discoveries and mystery solving of personal baggages and scary old relationships.

Weaving around popular culture, known personalities and their world reinterpreted in personalised way through the story of Quichotte, the pills salesman in America. Still reminiscing his roots now and again going back to his childhood and India in rushed and brief but indulgent.

While reading Rushdie’s previous books I have been quite disconnected and felt effort to reach essence. Even in Quichotte has lot of extraneous subjects and topics, storyline digress into multiple folds but there is mastery with which all lead upto one goal of Quichotte attaining epitome of his journey with his beloved.

Recently I read the concept of objective reality and imagined reality in highly acclaimed “ Homo sapiens”.

Ever since the Cognitive Revolution, Sapiens have thus been living in dual reality. On the one hand, the objective reality of rivers, trees, and lions; and on the other hand, the imagined reality of Gods, Nations, and Corporations. As the time went by, the imagined reality became ever more powerful, so that today the very survival of rivers, trees and lions depends on the grace of imagined entities such as The United States and Google.

I dwelled further drawing my own parallel from to the story of Quichotte to this concept. Quichotte has objective reality about his life, which is lonely, boring and purposeless. He finds purpose, be one with his beloved. Almost impossible destination which he makes it possible by his desire and will, he compels cosmic power to conspire and make it happen. To seek a destiny he creates an imagined reality, a gentle man’s passion and desire for love, creates a son from meteoroids for a journey to valleys of revelation.

Our objective reality as human being is always heavily clouded with imagined reality we keep making up with our expectations and baggages of our unfulfilled desires. Relationships, expectations from them weigh on our imagination.

The living being are mysteries to others and to themselves as well. Mysteries were the perfect analogy of human life as well as death and let’s not even talk about real pandora’s box ‘life after death’. We know nothing about ourselves or our neighbours. Rushdie reveals a lot about everyone of us in nakedly brutal yet simple way via his character’s self discovery.

Keep the mental appetite before savouring ‘Quichotte” !