The author of the book Chasing New Rainbows, Manika lal works for Indian Railways as a Public Relations Officer. This is her second book. The first Forever Vigilant — A book of Short Stories on Empowerment was published in 2010. Her forthcoming book Chasing New Rainbows will be released tomorrow.
The book revolves around the lives of two women and the brother of one.
In the words of the author, “Kalpana has it all — marriage to the man of her dreams, two lovely children and an elegant affluence, everything she aspired for in her youth. Yet, she cannot shake off dissatisfaction and restlessness; her constant companions.”
Vasundhara enjoys a challenging and rewarding career but she cannot ignore a yawning vacuum stretched around her that desperately wants to get filled. living lives that throw up more questions than answers, they bump into one another after a gap of nearly twenty years. A story of two friends who look back into the shadows and move ahead towards light. A new beginning for their quests… towards new dreams, new goals and new rainbows.
But this is not all. The story is just not about two women who have reached that stage when they feel the need to reinvent themselves; it is also about the families they belong to, who have made them who they are, till they decide to take their lives and destiny in their own hands.
It is also about brothers who suffer the consequences of carrying the burden of the dreams of their parents. When the resources of a family are unfairly shared between the children in a family due to arbitrary reasons such as their gender, everyone suffers in the long run.
The boy, Akash, who is Vasundhara’s brother, at the gut level holds his parents responsible “for the theft of his dreams before he has had the chance to dream them, to have his goals defined for him before he has had the chance to think for himself. And also, for the theft of his childhood.” The main tragedy is that since this is outside his awareness, it cannot be challenged or healed.