Bhopal: More than 1700 odd books/booklets have so far been written on Bhopal. Raag Soorma Bhopali is yet another attempt in this direction though with a difference. This is the first humour book that looks at Bhopal through the eyes of a Bhopali.
It is perhaps first attempt to see Bhopal through the eyes of Soorma Bhopali… that famous character of Bollywood movie SHOLEY created by Salim Javed.
The author is a Bhopal based technocrat turned artist/sculptor venturing into the world of letters and creating yet another of his artworks. The book is tri-lingual…Hindi, English and caricature / sketches.
It is a unique mix of history, archaeology, anthropology and Bhopaliology! The book is replete with Bhopali humour and seeing everything from that weird sense of humour every city dweller loves to identify with. Appropriately the book is unique in many ways; for instance it is the first coffee-table book on Bhopal, it has no page numbering, no index or set chapters. A reader is expected to find his way through the book hunting for things he is looking for and in the bargain brows things he might have skipped otherwise.
The book meanders through the history of the region, from the period of Ashoka to Bhoj to the Afghan soldier Dost Mohammad Khan, who set up his dynasty here, leading to the Raj of the Begums. It also deals with the socioeconomic scene that resulted in the development of the Bhopali culture and its unique sense of humour.
The book also contains the Bhopali jokes and the ‘andaaze bayaan’ that truly characterizes the Bhopali persona.
Being an artist the author, an ardent fan of RK Laxman, has used his sketching skills to develop this into a comic book of cartoons and caricatures to make it immensely readable for all age groups.
In Mr MN Buch’s words “Jayant Gaur has written a very light-hearted, extremely readable book which tackles the serious issue of chronicling and archiving. Being an artist he has been able to graphically illustrate the humour, the culture and the behaviour of the people. This book is perhaps the first serious attempt to bringing to us a true picture of Bhopal in a narrative that really reads take a book of humour. The “Raag Soorma Bhopali” is available in all the leading book stores across India
excellent idea. will ask Anju to by it.