The book opens in the present-day scenario, where a rather unsure Loveena of mid-thirties is boarding a train to Pathankot. Her already raw senses are over burdened by the onslaught of experience of a train station environment. Yet her insecurities are deep seated in her psyche and are result of the generational trauma she endured during her growing up years by the hands of her equally tormented mother Neena, reviews Deepak Kumar Jha

Book name: Dreamcatcher

Author: Monika Singla

Publisher: ISPCK

Price: Rs 295

The (“Dreamcatcher”) is the story of Loveena, the protagonist of the book who is a sensitive soul. It beautifully narrates the journey through her trials and tribulations, her realisations, her pains and her metamorphosis and an ultimate ‘coming of age’ which leaves her in a state of expanded awareness of self as well as her surroundings and people there in.

Author Monika has orchestrated her sound knowledge of literature, language and the subject & object to bring on paper the story of a child Loveena, till she finds solace passing through life’s labyrinth, unfortunately all nurtured in close walls of her family.

The just published book revolves around Loveena’s mother Neena who attained motherhood through Loveena after a long wait of ten years. Neena’s intensity thus shifted to being extra protective about her daughter from the negativities of the world.

Having brought up in a rather affluent and rich family, she desires nothing less for her daughter. And even though Loveena had both her parents-Neena and her father Dev, it was her mother and mother’s stories which were to carve her life and make her the person that she would become. And the story’s trajectory thus turns to Loveena’s mother Neena’s life.

Neena’s husband Dev was a victim of his own sense of helplessness for his lack of understanding the business of Neena’s father and inability to take it up for posterity, even though he was the sole son-in-law the family had.

His job as an assistant professor of history in the university projected him as most suitable boy for Neena, when a friend of Neena’s father told him about Dev and his docile nature. Quite obviously Neena’s father believed it to be the significant trait suitable for her pampered daughter.

As Neena entered Dev’s life and his house after her wedding, it was bustling

with Dev’s family. Neena was immediately overwhelmed by the sheer number

of people and was unable to adjust to this new environment which was totally unlike her solitary and exclusive upbringing in an affluent household.

Sensing Neena’s hesitation and reservations, Dev’s family too accepted her into their family but without completely absorbing her into their lives. So, even though

Neena was married into Dev’s family she could never truly become a part of it.

Dev’s detachment or lack of desire to correct this situation further acerbated the relationships. Troubled relations with in-laws, Dev’s indifference clubbed with an anguishing wait of ten years to attain motherhood further fed Neena’s sense of mistrust and suspicions and her belief that the world was a dangerously bad place.

Loveena who was born as a happy child with a calm, pleasing, innocent disposition was always eager to embrace everybody, never earned approval for her behaviour from her mother. Neena always dismissed these traits as incompatible with the ways of world. Thus, growing up, Loveena’s world protected by her mother, remained confined within the four walls of the palatial house with the house help Babli as a constant companion who too gets married leaving behind a void in Loveena’s life.

Finally, Loveena finds her suitor in Sanand and her engagement to him was greeted as the most welcome news by everyone later on which did not worked due to triggers of Neena’s fears. For Loveena this incident proved to be the one which augmented her belief in Neena’s words that world is a bad place.

Her father Dev too gone followed by passing of Neena. Loveena finally married, not to start a family but only to drown the haunting hollowness of her soul into joys and laughter. Vikram was a colleague of Loveena and the only thing she knew about him was that he was a divorcee with two grown up kids. Soon this too developed a marital conflict.

Unable to handle this situation any longer Loveena decides that she needs to get respite from her choppy life that and decides to leave the house and Vikram.

She goes looking for solitude in a place away from the chaos of the city, away from the prodding eyes of the society.

Her life’s journey takes a new turn as she arrives at Pathankot where she embarks upon a spiritualistic journey. Armed with the strength of her soul and her renewed faith in life and self and the world in general, Loveena finally finds herself ready to go back to place from where she herself had once run away from all her life challenges a long time back. Her tumultuous relationship with Vikram’s place was when she had shunned everything to cross over into next phase of her life. She was now ready to go meet Vikram as a new person. But this time she isn’t running away. This time she is running towards meeting life head-on.