Poorvapar

Ramesh Chandra Shah's is a rare intellect, perfectly at home with the Tradition and at the same time contemporary enough to engage in a dialogue with the outsider. His insights reflects in  the novel, Poorvapar, wherein he addresses the eternal dilemma of the Indian mind-the acceptance or rejection of the world. It is a difficult theme explored in a novel way through the schizophrenic characters of Bansi and Bantu, one passionate about life and the other disillusioned from it.

Wading through the inevitable self-doubt, dilemma and self-critique, the novel arrives at the acquiescence of the unbroken flow of life-inherent in the beauty of Karma. As Bantu experiences, the dichotomy after all is not so discordant to him-"I felt there was something of me in Bansi, there was a part of me sitting in penance with him in the wilderness. Our paths were different, yet both necessary."