About the Author
Satya Vyas was born in Bokaro, Jharkhand. He was told by his family that studying is a good thing. He took this seriously, so seriously in fact that he studied arts, science, commerce, management, and law. An alumnus of the BHU law school, Satya Vyas is a logistics professional at a Navratna company and has published three bestselling books.
About the translator
Himadri Agarwal is a fourth-year student of Ashoka University with an interdisciplinary major in English and Creative Writing. Her previous translation, Three Stories by Rashid Jahan, was published by Bee Books, Kolkata, in 2020.
About the book
.A MUCH-LOVED CAMPUS NOVEL, SET IN BANARAS HINDU UNIVERSITY WRITTEN BY THE WINNER OF THE SHRI DWARKA PRASAD AGARWAL AWARD 2018, AUTHOR OF DILLI DURBAR, CHAURASI, BAAGHI BALLIA
Bhagwandas Hostel at Banaras Hindu University can be mistaken as being like any other college hostel, but that would be a gross error. For, among the corridors of BD Hostel roam never-before-seen characters: Suraj the narrator, whose goal is to woo a girl, any girl; Anurag De, for whom cricket is life, literally, and Jaivardhan, whose melancholia gets him to answer every query with ‘ghanta’.
Follow the adventures of the three friends and others as they navigate undergraduate life in one of India’s most vibrant colleges, plan to steal exam papers, struggle to speak to women, find friends in corridors lined with dirty linen, and forge lifelong bonds amid bad mess food. First published in Hindi in 2015, Banaras Talkies has remained on the bestseller list since then.
A slice-of-life novel, it captures college life with all its twists and turns. Written with the idiomatic flourish that is the hallmark of Banarasi colloquialism, this comic novel is one of India’s great coming-of-age novels.
The Thank You blog Review
1.Writing style & Narration
A creative story is one with all the elements of descriptive writing perfectly in place. The story is about three law students, Anurag De, Suraj, and Jaivardhan. Their hostel and college life in the city of Banaras is full of fun, entertainment, and life lessons, that take them through a roller coaster ride throughout the three years.
The author’s way of storytelling is reader-friendly and highly relatable where the readers could look back to find that their friends in college were one of three characters or themselves were like one of these happy-going college goers.
From day one, Aurag de becomes the problem solver of their gang, which makes his other two friends, Suraj, and Jaivardhan, be with him throughout the story. Every city in India has a distinct aura that is irreplaceable. From food, people, places, lifestyle, beliefs, and thoughts that are unique to that city and make the city what it is, everything has its dose of authenticity.
2. The Aura of Banaras
Throughout the book, readers can experience the aura of Banaras through the colloquial language, the food, and the Ganga ghat, which add up to painting the city of Banaras vivid in the minds of the reader.
There are many references to day-to-day happenings in the life of hostellers. The ragging paves the way for help and friendship with seniors. The mess food that gives hostelers a reason to complain, a student who has Cricket running in his veins, a student who wants to write poems and impress any girl, a student who enjoys jokes, attends class for attendance, and helps friends get proxies.
A series of events, which these three friends think eventually happened in their lives. The loss of a college identity card by Suraj, Anurag finding no trace of his phone, and a newcomer getting a room for himself to carry out his plans are all in a way connected that gets revealed as an unexpected twist at the end of the story.
3. The Art of Translation
Talking about the translator of this book, he had done his job in the best way possible, having to nowhere compromise.
Be it the way of writing the conversations with the fun factor of the regional language not getting lost amidst the flow of the story.
Bringing the uniqueness of each character’s travel along the way as the story progresses, he has preserved the originality, which is hard when translating stories of regional background to English.
A work of translation is successful when people across the globe experience the fun in the story as the readers in the regional language enjoy it.
Banaras Talkies has hit the boundary of success of being one of the best-translated novels too.
You can buy your copy of Banaras Talkies here.
This book will not only take you through the city of Banaras but will walk you through your unforgettable days of student life.
On every page you turn, you will recollect memories of many of your college friends who were similar to characters in the book in one way or the other.
To sum up, this book will be a great read if you ever lived a fun-filled and entertaining hostel and college life where every day came as a new fun ride and a part of an adventurous journey.
The review is a part of the book review program by blogchatter.
I thank the authors and blogchatter for allowing me to read and review the book .
