A Letter for Gigglepot-Ambalika

Book: A Letter for Gigglepot
Author: Ambalika
Publisher: Become Shakespeare

What if you get a letter one day that changes your identity?

A Letter for Gigglepot by Ambalika Bhat is the story of Ashima, or Gigglepot as she is fondly called, and how her suspicions about her family get confirmed once she receives a letter from a distant relative. As she starts a journey to uncover the truth behind her family, she finds more than what she bargained for. Traipsing the gossiping villagers, truant college students and chatty colleagues, would Ashima find the answer to the question which always bugged her?

There are some stories that just follow a linear storyline and the protagonist gets their 15 minutes of fame, and then there are stories that speak to you, one that tell you and make you imagine things as they happen. A Letter for Gigglepot is one such story. The manner in which it has been told is quite interesting and Ambalika has this flair of telling stories that enchant you and keep you gripped to the story. The premise of the story was quite simple, one where the protagonist goes to find her roots as she wants to get away from the confusion that her identity gave her, but the way things take place make the village of Imry sound extremely inviting. With parallel mini stories that added a tangy twist to the plot, the reader cannot afford to slack and skip parts as things connect to each other in the end. The descriptions are extremely vivid and paint a wonderful picture of things as they happen- a cow on the road, an overloaded mazic and what not. There is a rustic charm in this book, and anyone who had loved the tales by R K Narayan would definitely enjoy this book. The one thing that could have been better is about some places where the story lost the connect in a couple of pages. The climax of the story was truly and utterly unexpected.

The characters in the book are created with utmost care. With nosy colleagues who are compelled to peek into the lives of their colleagues to the chatty rickshawwallahs, these are the characters we would encounter in our daily lives. Ambalika took these ordinary characters and put them into this extraordinary situation to weave this wonderful tale of whodunnit. I liked Ashima’s character in the manner it was sketched, specially her inquisitive nature and her eagerness to explore museums. Another character that was interesting was that of the village of Imry, as it felt as it had a life of its own with the description of the places and the people.

The one thing that stood out for me and deserves a mention is the language of the book, that is very indigenous and there were places where it fit the bill perfectly. Another mention to the author’s bio, which I would implore one to read.

Overall, the book gets a 4/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book here.