Chiranjivi (The Beginning)-Vasant Kallola

Book: Chiranjivi-The Beginning

Author: Vasant Kallola

Publisher: Times Group Books

Everyone wants to live forever, but according to you, is that a boon or a bane?

Chiranjivi-The Beginning by Vasant Kallola is set in the aftermath of the Mahabharata, a 1000 years after the war. The story chronicles the story of an ordinary boy, Govind, as he traverses the length and breath of the country to gather enough power to face a powerful sage who has decided to annihilate the Earth. The sage is one of the Chiranjivis and is so powerful that normal human beings cannot touch him. Would an ordinary man be able to face an extraordinary sage? This is a story of how resolve stands against power and how a wish for survival can make an ordinary person, extraordinary.

Chiranjivi-The Beginning is an interesting take on the stories post the happenings of the Mahabharata. The story is based on Ashwatthama and through flashbacks, we see what happened in his life that led to the events of the current book. Written in a mix of novel and a play, the language is in the present tense and is engaging enough for a reader. The storytelling is good, with a mix of theatre, mystery and suspense. The language of the book is easy to understand. The one thing that didn’t work for me was the abruptness in the scenes. Govind was on a journey that was supposed to be dangerous, but in every scene, the build up to the suspense was good, but the things ended quite quickly, almost as if the author was in a hurry to move on, which was a big dampener for me. I would have recommended the author to add a bit more flesh to the story, and dividing the complete thing into a trilogy as compared to a duology. The ending of this book was satisfactory.

Coming to the characters, the character of Govind was given due focus and throughout the story, we see his character arc getting developed as required by the story through the various situations that he faces, and the people he meets. Coming to the character of Ashwatthama, we see his character developing was well, albeit to the negative side as he hatches his nefarious plans to fulfill his objective. Other than these 2, none of the characters got their due focus, whereas there was ample opportunity to detail a few more of them.

Overall, a good concept that could have been executed better. The book scores a 3.63/5 for me

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