Chirdeep Malhotra
Book : Equations Of A Being
Author : Ashutosh Gupta
Publisher : Notion Press
Pages : 161
Price : Rs. 175
“Equations of a being: A Being Who Gathered Moss” is an unconventional book. I repeat. It is an unconventional book. From Indian standards and perspectives, it certainly is. Just a glance at the book and a general reader can be intrigued, mesmerised or confused, or all the three. From the start till the very end, I found new meanings in the compelling quotes of the book every time I read it and the various thoughts expressed by the author seemed to take myriad connotations.
For only a coming-of-age and prodigious author like Ashutosh Gupta can think of such a book, which combines his musings on reason, abstractness and existentialism.
This book contains the author’s musings on various themes in the domain of abstractness of existence, impersonal musings on love, crumbling humanhood, feminism, virtuous existence and so much more. “Waking up Being an Artist”, “Traversing along That Alley between Beauty and Sensuality”, “When I Strolled along the Edges of Love” are the headings of some of the chapters which contain musings and moorings on these themes.
These are in the form of quotes, not verses and the whole book contains them presented in the typewriter font. The book coalesces thought pieces pertaining to the existential spectrum, blending emotions, intellect and imagination to celebrate a being in totality.
Take for instance the following quote from the book-
“The male ego and feminine manipulation are two sides of the same coin, the coin of woman’s historical subjugation. The former is on the verge of becoming toothless but the latter is elegantly turning the tide”.
The author depicts his artistic persuasion, the enriched and disintegrated fragments of his existence, and the conclusions based on his interactions with the physical and abstract elements of life in an unbridled manner. The subtitle of the book “A being who gathered moss” is so apt, which connotes that the being has been so immersed in his thought process of “Equations of a being” that he has gathered moss. However, this moss has accumulated only externally since the being has been enlightened from the inside in totality. Also, one may agree with some of the author’s thoughts and disagree with some, and it is only the reader’s perspective and prerogative, but one should approach them with an open mind. This is also because the author has taken strides in such an unconventional genre of immense intellectuality.
However, only people who have a thing for such unconventional genres, those interested in philosophy or those interested in thoughts on existentialism and abstract reflections should go for this book, for if one has a penchant for conventional genres, this book can be boring.
Also the general reader may find it a little difficult to comprehend. However, this book has added some very memorable and ingenuous quotes to the realm of existentialist literature.
“As long as I am writing, I am on the verge of a homecoming”, this along with many other crispy and quirky thoughts are included in this book. The author should be commended for attempting such a piece of literature, and considering that he has also written a short e-book “The Constituents of Virtue” which has also garnered reasonable acclaim, one hopes that he writes more on these themes. Wishing for more homecomings from the author, so to say.
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