With this book, the author debunks the glory and glitter attached to the field of Civil Services, writes AKSHITA RAWAT
The fourth novel of Dr Suchita Malik, a distinguished professor of English literature, was released on February 25, 2017 at the Indian International Centre, New Delhi. The book is titled, Scent of the Soil. The event was graced by the presence of Dr Shashi Tharoor (Congress MP), Amitabh Kant (member of the IAS and CEO NITI Ayog), Pavan K Verma (former diplomat and author) and Kapish Mehra (CEO, Rupa Publications).
The honourable guests praised the author in their comments on the book for inculcating sensitivity and magic in her words. At the event, Suchita Malik gave the credit for the idea for the novel to her visit to Bhutan along with her husband and other bureaucrat families. She said that she had realised on the trip how the civil servants were missing out on all the fun because of their work commitments.
Malik has been acclaimed widely for writing Memsahib’s Chronicles in the past. Her other books include Indian Memsahib and Women Extraordinaire.
This time the author has presented a deep insight into a civil servant’s life. Protagonist Shubhojit Sarkar feels a massive turmoil in his personal life even after touching great heights in the professional front. His recently won Prime Minister’s award testifies for that. The relationships with his estranged wife and children however cause him great pain and sense of loneliness. Things change for Shubhojit when a sudden health crisis strikes him causing the whole family to reunite.
He goes down the memory lane into his childhood days where everything was much simpler. He realises that he had more meaningful friendships at a young age than now. This makes him decide to go back to his village to live a more serene and unencumbered life, where he could be free of the structures and rigidity of society. A decision like this needed guts and his family’s approval because he was nearing his retirement.
The novel revolves around this decision of his to go back to his roots and follows the ups and downs in his life henceforth.
Malik has beautifully combined the elements of nature and city to present a modern-day picture of the life of a successful bureaucrat. She debunks the glory and glitter attached to the field of Civil Services.