River Valley to Silicon Valley- Book Review by Shri Aditinandan, New Delhi

I have had the pleasure of reading some real astounding literature of world although I was always interested in reading Hindi novels!
With such background it is very natural that when I started reading ‘River Valley to Silicon Valley’ I always unconsciously compared it with works I had read. So, in the first instance my eyes were focused on the certain things like language,clarity of thoughts ,content ,relation of the content with the meaning author has tried to uncover, interesting plots and most importantly flow and the smoothness in the change from one set of events to another.
That's why I needed one more quiet reading! Only after that I could have been able to form my opinion!
For me it was like a journey of an average Indian child, who during his phases of life turns from a teenager to an adult along with his innocent dreams. I am really impressed by the honesty of the author. I found nothing artificial and things come out straight from the heart. It is missionary in the sense that it wants to let people know the story of struggle and success in the end! As the plot is not cooked, you will miss the drama as we generally find in novels but what keeps one engaged is the simplicity of the book! It takes you to the world where you yourself find being the protagonist of the novel. Where we struggle everyday and survive...some times we do meet with the failures but success also comes in our way! But nothing happens overnight. It requires a lot of grit, determination, urge, honesty, focus and most importantly guts to dream high and then to go after your dreams.
The progression of the protagonist from a very ordinary 'gaonwala ladka' (village dandy)to an Indian Foreign Service officer is a beautiful tale of truth. The initial hiccups in life, coming from some where that one can't find even in the big atlases ,taking admission in one of the most notorious colleges of Patna , doing well and then thinking of coming to Delhi University where the language generally spoken is English, is terrific in it's composure, mind you the author speaks Hindi only till then!
The growth of intelligence and maturity without distraction in city like Delhi at such a young age tells us the deep inculcated 'samskaras' and firm head.Two brothers with same background and privileges but with different levels of awareness ,thinking and goals is also an important point taken by the author. It shows why inequality exists! It’s all in one's mind and attitude.
The love between father and son is another aspect which makes us feel much attached with the story. The constant guide, the lamp post of a brooding child on whom he leaves all his inhibitions, scare and doubts! His constant looking back at father for his questions is the enigmatic relation that we all Indians experience but it some how remains unsaid! True tribute to a father!
Although, it may sound little off track from the title 'River Valley to Silicon Valley' but when we read the subtitle carefully we understand the relevance and meaning of it!
In the end, we tend to miss the journey of our beloved country India, this is the beauty of this book .What author tries to express with his story is the 'graph of our development' and the stage where we are today and what could be the impact of such development. But as I said we miss it and when we finish reading it and look at the title we start searching the meaning of it...that's why I needed second quiet reading. Point is there but one must not only involve with the authors journey because his aim is different, his motto is different, his message is different. It's not a book to read and keep aside but rather inquire ourselves what all it asks us, not only to think but to ponder over...