IF I COULD TELL YOU

I picked this one at the airport book store on my way back home from Bangalore.The author is Soumya Bhattacharya.

It is an epistolary novel ,the story is narrated in the form of letters from a father to his daughter.The father adores his little girl,but a lot of things go wrong in his life and he feels that he owes some kind of explanation to his daughter,who is too small to understand what is going on.So he keeps all these letters addressed to her,hoping that one day she will read them and forgive him,for the way their life turns out.It is a melancholic story about the absolutely fragile relationship between a father and his daughter.

I dont really know what to say about the book because I did hope it would end differently.I felt the narrator was trying to seek some kind of redemption through his letters.It is a story which starts with dreams and then goes on to show hopes being thwarted,dreams being shattered and short-lived happiness.

Do not pick it up when you are feeling particularly low,is all I have to say.

Of course Bhattacharya does justice to the title......taken from Audens verse.."If I could tell you"

If I Could Tell You

Time will say nothing but I told you so,
Time only knows the price we have to pay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

If we should weep when clowns put on their show,
If we should stumble when musicians play,
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

There are no fortunes to be told, although,
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you I would let you know.

The winds must come from somewhere when they blow,
There must be reasons why the leaves decay;
Time will say nothing but I told you so.

Perhaps the roses really want to grow,
The vision seriously intends to stay;
If I could tell you I would let you know.

Suppose all the lions get up and go,
And all the brooks and soldiers run away;
Will Time say nothing but I told you so?
If I could tell you I would let you know.