There is always a world out there, unexplored. There is always a life out there, fascinating. There is always a hope out there, unachieved. There is always a benefit out there, unclaimed. There is always a sanity out there, unattained. With so many material things out there to accomplish, why would one want to restrict themselves from searching for the same to achieve?
Don't we all live in a material world, where our necessities overpower the basics that we have? These necessities, then make us search for means to achieve them and on failure of finding them around us, we tend to leave our motherland, only to realize later that how much we miss it and uncalculated the decision was. It's not that everyone fails when they leave their motherland in the quest for meeting their material needs, but not everyone is lucky enough to sail through the tough times.
I recently read The 365 Days, a book by author Nikhil Ramteke who currently stays in Sharjah, UAE and apart from writing, he is also a qualified painter, nominated painter and an avid traveler. In his book, The 365 Days, he writes about the situation of Indian workers in the Gulf, who move there to make money in the search of a better life for them and their family back home. He also writes about how their hopes are crushed in an unknown land.
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| Book Review : The 365 Days - Nikhil Ramteke |
The story is of Shijukutty, a Malayali fisherman from the capital city of Kerala who leads a good life with his family, but wants to better it and in the chase of the same leaves his family back in Thiruvananthapuram flying all the way to the Gulf. Further the story is about the problems he faces there, the hopelessness he goes through because of the deprivation of basic necessities in a foreign land with the only salvage being a few acquaintances, who have been going through the same.
While the narration of the book, The 365 Days, speaks volumes about the migrant worker class in the gulf who lives in camps with a meagre environment to survive. The promises made at various levels from salary to stay, from work to scope, are all shattered in the foreign land right from the moment of their arrival. All their dreams of a happier life becoming mundane tasks and the only emotion that is on display is work. The issues are also beyond work, following the law, understanding the culture and surviving the odds only to fall prey to the system that doesn't work in your favor.
On a whole, the subject may not be new but the alarming perspective is. Fiction may be the route taken to narrate the plight, but it is very real. The day to day life of the workers is explained in such a way that you fell for them and it justifies the title of The 365 Days. Also, almost every chapter has an illustration associated with it which summarizes it. I would recommend this 178 page long book, The 365 Days, to readers interested in reading an almost real story and want to understand the situation of migrant workers in the Gulf.
Other Details:
Copyright: Nikhil Ramteke
Published by: Write India Publishers
ISBN: 978-81-932988-4-8
Genre: Fiction
You can order a copy of the book from Amazon.
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