My Take - Life Over Two Beers by Sanjeev Sanyal

Life Over Two Beers is an anthology of short stories and a few poems by Sanjeev Sanyal. The book had been lying on my shelf for a couple of years but I had always deferred reading it because I had inexplicably presumed that the book will disappoint me. However, after finishing the book, I am pleased to be proven wrong. The book is a gem hidden underneath the piles of mass-manufactured popular fiction by Indian authors, waiting to be discovered.

The writing is crisp, lucid, and vivid. The stories evoke a vivid picture of the 21st century India and Indians belonging to different social strata. The writer relentlessly yet in a playful manner exposes the hypocrisies of society, and the double standards of the apparently ‘eminent’ and ‘illustrious’ personalities. Each of the stories successfully holds the attention of the reader and keeps her enthralled till the very last word. I hardly finish reading books in one sitting but I just couldn’t bring myself to put down this one until I finished reading it from cover to cover.

I am impressed by the fact that the writer used simple, colloquial language to tell some really thought-provoking tales. Sanjeev Sanyal through his simple yet insightful stories forcefully drives home the point that one doesn’t have to be arcane in order to be insightful, even simple language when wielded correctly holds the potential to be profound. Though I enjoyed each and every story as well as the poems yet some stories and a poem absolutely won my heart. They were ‘The Bench by the Lake’, ‘Before You Judge Me’ (poem), ‘The Conference Call’, 'Books', and ‘The Intellectuals’. I have to stop myself here otherwise I would have enlisted the entire content list.

Even though I finished reading the book a long while ago, yet I couldn’t bring myself out of the stories, so beautiful were they. The writing style is such that it leaves a sweet nostalgic aftertaste that lingers long after the book has been finished and placed back on the shelf. I am so glad that I decided to give this book a chance despite my negative (grossly erroneous) preconceptions about it.

“May Knowledge be filled by Imagination.”

My rating – 5 ⭐ 



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