Dr V Gopalakrishnan

Dasaratha's Son Dr V Gopalakrishnan

Dasaratha's Son is the story of a first born son's struggle to live up to his scholarly father?s high expectations and to fulfil his childhood promise to his depressive mother. Raghu's long journey from a small village in rural India to eventual success in the industrial world is marked by his compulsive need to respect the traditions of a Brahmin family even as he struggled to keep his siblings together in the face of changing social norms and eroding family values. The story chronicles little known aspects of life in post-Independence India, highlights the complex relationships in a traditional Hindu joint-family and provides a behind-the-scenes view of the cloistered life of taboos and rituals into which children of orthodox Brahmins were born. It lays bare the stark realities of the life of most Tamil-speaking Brahmins of India, whose only wealth is their 'upper caste' status. The paradox of Hinduism with its stifling social practices as against the anchor provided by its basic enduring human values is subtly brought out in the story. Dasaratha's Son adds a new dimension to the Indian concept of Karma through the life cycle of the 'big brother' and sheds light on ?Relationship as a maya? - a virtual concept - created, sustained and destroyed in the mind akin to the concept of Hindu Trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, anchored in the Absolute Brahmam. Written in first person, in a cryptic style, it is full of wit, keen observation and a gentle acerbity that can be provocative in places. It carries a vision of an'Olimayamana Ethirkalam? which is almost a Tamil equivalent for Dickens' title ? The Great Expectations. It also provides an antithesis of the typical image of an IITian built up by the media as a successful NRI techie? here is a man staying back in India, fighting it out and coming out with success.