An anthology is a very powerful presentation. An anthology has the power to be distant yet reinforce themes ideas and feelings like nothing else. It is the living of different lives interconnected by similar strings of relativity and emotion that bind together scenarios and characters into an expressive expression of a time and city.

What makes Anekdota by Dr Debapi Roy unique is the fact that it is neither an anthology about a place nor about time, although many might argue that it is the contemporary anthology of Kolkata during the pandemic and while that is true, we have a different opinion. It is an anthology of something far more important and of far more nuance. Anekdota is an anthology of people.

Anekdota can easily be classified as a memoir of memoirs for regular people. Multiple dynamic characters play excellent roles in showcasing the common struggles and this rhymes across the city. It is purely contemporary in the sense that it sheds light on a topic that is rarely talked about in Indian literature.

ANEKDOTA IS RARE

Anekdota is rare and we say this because it talks about topics that are generally missed out in the crowd of other thoughts, ideas and topics. It is an eyepiece into the lives of working professionals and it sheds a light on the nuanced lives of these characters. Anekdota is a celebration of holding out the sacrifices as well as the moments these characters experience and it is a celebration of life. Dr Debapi Roy has created a masterpiece in storytelling through vivid anecdotes by these stories.

ANEKDOTA IS A DOCUMENTATION

The pandemic is a monumental and catastrophic event in the history of our human civilization and any records whether fiction or nonfiction will serve as a guide to understanding the problems and the situations of the people who had to live through the pandemic. Anekdota does brilliant justice to these times by bringing out the raw emotions and the mental picture of people who had to live through the pandemic. Rarely does a piece of work like this come out in the Indian literary scene that manages to encapsulate everything that has happened and the impact it had on the minds of people. The characters belong to different classes and different echelons of society and this book manages to capture all the different or similar experiences of these individuals.

A RARE WINDOW INTO HEALTHCARE

Whenever we come across any piece of literature that has been composed during any biological catastrophe, we often get to hear from regular writers about daily life. While that is alright, it is rare to find a good anecdote from someone directly involved in curing the pandemic, we rarely get to hear about the struggles of the pandemic from a healthcare professional. This is what makes Anekdota a more than worthwhile read. Anekdota comes from someone actively involved in relief measures during the pandemic. Therefore, the window Anekdota manages to showcase is perhaps one of the most accurate depictions of the state of human minds during a pandemic.

While there are anecdotes from doctors that talk about life during the pandemic, Anekdota goes a step further, it talks about the healthcare professionals themselves and this is quite a rare occurrence as this is quite rarely talked about.

To conclude, Anekdota is for the living, breathing and thinking soul, it is a testament to storytelling, it is a testament to untangling complex issues into a soluble and comforting amalgamation that is simultaneously beautiful.

Should you read Anekdota? We would suggest that you not only read Anekdota but grab a second copy because after reading this book you would want to hold onto it and preserve a copy of Anekddota as it preserves yours and our emotions during one of the toughest times in our living conscience.

Get your copy today at purushottam bookstore as well as on Amazon and Flipkart.