A Series of Events that unfold in this book show us how
With the success of his heart-touching books like “Art of War To Art of Living” “Bombay Review”, “Magic of the Mind” and so on, Ravi Valluri, a prolific Indian author, dips his quill in ink, the result of which is his another deeply engaging book, a magnum opus entitled as “ A Tale of Parallels”. The book is an anthology of short stories in which the writer consummately paints a melange of men and women who resonate with every class of readers. Moreover, the writer displays a remarkable emotional and social sensitivity and thereby adroitly weaves a tapestry of life by shedding a flood of light on the spectrum of human emotions particularly in the context of mythology. The premise of the book is inexplicably interesting and greatly gripping. It has the ability to keep the readers hooked till the final story reaches its meaningful conclusion.
Having read Ravi’s two best selling masterpieces “Art of War To Art Of Living” and “Magic of The Mind”, the fact can not be refuted that the author has quite an intense propensity towards spiritualism and most probably in order to fully comprehend the different dynamics of religiosity and theology, the author must have taken up both intensive as well as extensive studies of our scriptures, the influence of which can quite palpably felt as we flip through the pages of the book “A Tale of Parallels”.
Hence, this book most pertinently has it intriguing evolution based on a slew of popular mythological characters from the epic of The Mahabharata.
When it comes to subtle creativity and abundant flair for writing, Ravi is indeed second to none. The way he has intertwined the stories and themes from the epic with the contemporary re-tellings makes him stand apart with somewhat a lofty stature. As the author represents the contemporary times, thus, his stories doubtlessly are about the present scenario. They take place in the contemporary fictional settings, but the themes that they explore are inspired from the epic. Here lies the remarkable genius of the author! Each 15 stories and a one act Play ( The play in the final part of the book intensifies the beauty of the book all the more.) have different meaningful versions of life hidden in them. Reading a short story collections in one sitting is Ill-advised, particularly when they are folk tales with mythological connotations. Somewhat similarly this book can be sixteen nights bed -time companion for the readers as all these stories are free standing and depict different scenarios
Most of the modern day story writers are of the opinion that plot is the soul of a story. Therefore they invest a chunk of their energy in weaving a well knit plot but in their dogged pursuit of creating a fully cohesive and coherent plot, they wittingly or unwittingly leave their characters in somewhat neglected state. Here deviating from the prevalent culture of story writing, the author of this book has been fully cognisant to the needs of his characters. It is the commendably convincing portrayal of most of the characters through whom the narratives are unfolded and on the shoulder of whom a well organised plots have been erected. Sublimity of style and lucidity of language are the other hallmarks of this book which certainly place it in the catagory of Modern Day Classics. little we learn from history.