Wings of Silence, a very apt
title for a tale marked by some of the most subtle feelings of humans. This is
one of the finest tales, never heard of. The relations has brought alive by the
author. It doesn’t speak just about the relation between two brothers, it’s
about almost all the relations existent in a Hindu family, whether it be a
father-son, mother daughter, cousins, aunt, grandparents and even the
relationship of humanity! One might just say that this would have never
happened in real life, a brother sacrificing his career for one, who was
completely worthless, but then the author, shapes up and builds the story and
the characters, in such a way it compels you to believe it can! Each and every
protagonist is very finely described, a soft, strong willed Raj Sethi, who
hardly (in fact never, save for his diary and after winning the Gold!) displays
his emotion, the winner, the topper, Mr. perfect Saurav Sethi, the smart,
beautiful, caring, Shalini, and the disciplinarian Akshay Sethi. In the
beginning it seemed like the book would revolve around the life of Saurav
Sethi, through whose eyes the entire description is done, but gradually, after
the girl of her dreams came into his life, he was a changes man. He was more
concerned for his brother, who was a loner, who craved for company, but never
told (or signed). He understood that there is much more to life than just
medals, and being the centre of attraction. He had to give a life to his
brother first. Some of the portions, like running away from family and the
wallet being stolen from goons, did seem straight out of the movies, but when
the parts before and after it are so absorbing, you hardly care. I went through
this book in straight eight hours and felt a lot of emotions creeping in and
making eyes moist. The part where Akshay hugs Raj, Raj not leaving Saurav after
winning the medal and placing his medal on his neck were some of the best
moments! Apart from the above characters, I loved the character of Ekta, and
Aunt Sheelu. They completely symbolize the essence of a joint Hindu family. On
Saurav’s part it was definitely a very bold decision, to against his parents,
to go against himself, and I also tried asking myself the same question after
reading his situation, but I am afraid you actually need to be in his shoes to
answer such a question. What he did was something commendable, and was probably
out of the fear that he would lose his new friend, his brother. In one sense,
this was more because he couldn’t imagine his life without Raj, and although he
thought winning an Olympic gold would bring redemption to Raj, he knew it was
too much to ask for. The love angle between Shalini and Saurav was cute, and so
was between Olga and Raj (however short it may be), and Sheelu aunty teasing
them added a bit of spice, but I am glad it was not overdone! However, I just
wished Saurav would have also gone on to win the Wimbledon, but then, it surely
would have been too ‘Bollywoodish’.
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