Last Song Of Dusk

A BOOK REVIEW
The Last Song Of Dusk
By Siddharth dhanvant sanghvi

‘The Last Song of Dusk’ is a captivating saga of one Anuradha, with a voice to which "even the moon listens" and a handsome doctor Vardhmaan who not only fascinates young women to feign illness to visit him but also is a wonderful story teller. "What she was really moonstruck about was his knack for telling stories…"and their never ending trials and tribulations with life and fate .The two become best friends and lovers, with such intimacy that it seems as though nothing can come between them.Even Vardhmaan's stepmother Divi-bai’s evil and awful intentions and venomous actions cannot set them apart till their only son,Mohan dies by falling from a window in the house. Tragedy transforms their marriage into a bleak landscape. Like Anuradha Mohan too possessed the quality of mesmerizing people with his sweet enchanting voice but his wish of having a violin remains unfulfilled and the words “mummy,I want violin” reverberates in Anuradha’s ears ever after he dies . .
Anuradha then moves to her beloved Radha-mashi ,a rich widow’s house vowing never to return to the place which sucked up her Mohan and in the company of her wicked and conspiring mother-in-law. There she meets Nandini, a weird and lonely child artist with “ a trace of leopard blood in her veins” and a strange ability to walk on water which enamours Anuradha so much that she can not help befriending Nandini. From then onwards she perhaps turns into a soul-mate ever pervasive in the absence or even presence of Vardhman whether they are in the heartbroken old castle, Dariya Mahal by the sea or she is alone in Matheran for a holiday. Though initially Nandini could not digest the idea of seeing Anuradha pregnant and wishes otherwise, she only proves to be good company for their silent and calm second child Shloka.
Though the story begins on a very clichéd note describing a man enthralled by a exceptionally beautiful woman and by introducing Nandini Hariharan (“ the beedi -smoking beloved of the art world”), who has been hardened by her parents' savage marriage and for whom walking on water is absolutely normal ,it shows the author’s acute insight and tendency to paint an unusual streak. And then there is Sherman Miller the young child who is utterly besotted with the wild Nandini which doesn’t seem fake at all. 'Dariya Mahal', the ruined castle by the se , a place bearing a secret of that of desperate unrequieted love of a 19th-century Englishman,Edward. The death of Edward harbingers to the place an awful silence and lonliness and never lets its occupants have any rest and also curdles any joy that comes its way.The introduction of such a place probably brings in a different shade in the story and makes it all the more bewitching and fairy-tale like.
Streaks of feminine independence in an extremely subjugated society are shown to come from unexpected places by the lives of Anuradha’s widow aunt, Nandini and even Anuradha’s life when she dares to order a chicken sandwhich deliberately to make Vardhaman understand that his being vegetarian would not make Anuradha change her taste nor is she ready to become a subservient slave.
Love, loss, betrayal, death and melancholy you may find in abundance in the not so long a fable but wisely, Shanghvi has included many enchanting details to relish and sensitize which makes the reader hooked to the complex story of exquisite friendships, immense sacrifices and dangerous desires.
The plot written in a simple language with many poetic phrases goes on and on meandering, adding twists and turns, but never treading a singular path. The sub –plot weaving details of Nandini’s friendship with Sherman Miller, a more than innocent child or Anuradha’s with pallavi, an innocent and wise friend and a neighbour who had a hole in her heart or the episodes of Nandini with Khalil Muratta and Llibya Dass portray Sanghvi’s incredible genius to produce an unusual saga. Nevertheless the last song of dusk, a legacy from a mother to a son, always echoes in the mind and heart of Shloka even after he leaves India and lives in Australia.

Mr siddharth shanghvi, you have written the most pretentious, perverse, utterly idiotic book i have ever had the misfortune to read. whats with The Unimaginable thing that guy does to his wife? the burying of the live baby? the rape of a 10 year old girl is not at all unheard of, true you have described it not worse than many others, but whats with your fascination of shocking people? hate to repeat myself but you are not being objective and detached. your pretentiousness is like the see-through transparent dresses your 'hellcat' nandini chooses to wear. sorry to burst the bubble but people do not want to read about your masochist perverse sexual fantasies that you so blatantly decided to publish.