Life has a lot to teach us. And in every little incident it teaches us how to look up live life cheerfully although it just might be tough at the moment.
Raindrops in her Heart by Indrani Bhattacharyya is a collection of 12 write-ups by the author about her real life, citing examples that are reflections on certain personal emotions which are quite common in everyday life to most urban people who have made a machine out of themselves. Yet that does not really deter Bhattacharyya from trying yet again and find those little incidents which in the process leave a deep mark and then help us to find ourselves.
The first of the write-ups Bridging the Unbridgeable is about a young girl of four years and her reflections on the birth of her little sisters. It talks about her thought processes on the arrival of a new guest and consequently someone who would command more attention than her in the family. Her thoughts are first bitter jealousy and then moves onto the more mature and sensitive attachment towards her sister. In the end we see both sisters turning out to be the best of friends.
The next anecdote is on the narrator’s mother and suitably named Time to Claim Your Luggage, Mamma. It describes the relationship of the author with her mother, which is like most mother-daughter relationships. Over the years it changed little, carrying the same essence, and in the end the author decides to reconcile with her mother due to her immense love which had accumulated in her over the years of their separation.
The next one, Roots Calling, is a sort of reality check for the author who writes only in English and is not too comfortable with her mother tongue Bengali. A meeting with a renowned author makes her realise this shortcoming and she makes amends by wielding her pen in Bengali too.
A multifaceted crystal Called Love is the tale of a couple who rediscover their moment of love after eight years, which was thought to have been lost amid the daily dreariness called life.
Some Likes and few Dislikes Make Life is a conversation of the narrator and the friend, in which the author comes to know that the little likes and the dislikes are parts and parcels of life. Nobody else had any command on them. They were judged by merely the consciences of the person.
It Happened Once is a very-close-to-the-heart conversation the author has with her sister. It underlines the fact that once a person’s trust is broken, she becomes entirely shaken up but still should have the courage to bring up the broken pieces to start over once again.
The piece with the title name Raindrops in her Heart explains the fact that how an entire lifetime is not enough to understand a person. The excitement and enthusiasm each day to rediscover the other person in a new manner is in itself exciting. A Day from a Grad Student’s Diary is the description of a day in the life of the author while doing her PhD. Her seemingly boring life in and out of her laboratory suddenly seems more cheerful on the discovery of the fact that how much she actually loved what she was doing.
But There was Light relates the author’s encounter with a little child whose innocent advice momentarily changed her thought processes and she was able to come out of her depressing shell. When We Met is a strange yet funny incident of the author’s first impression about her mother-in-law whom she had considered to be too strict and scary, which in the end turns out to be far from truth.
Inner Garden describes one incident that made the relationship between her and her husband was made strong.
All in all, Bhattacharyya comes up with combination of sweet and salty everyday tales which make her quite readable and the raindrops straight from the heart.
