Blind Faith

After her father commits suicide, Mia, a young TV reporter in London, falls into depression. However, she chances upon a young Indian spiritual guru Karna, who seems to have walked straight out of her father’s painting of the Kumbh Mela. Intrigued, Mia decides to follow Karna to India and marries Vik, an Indian businessman, in order to do so. Vik's mother Indira is an exceptionally beautiful woman who is struggling to come to terms with her advancing blindness and her tumultuous relationship with her son. Mia's life soon becomes a rollercoaster of emotions as she pursues her inexplicable attraction towards Karna while at the same time dealing with the eccentric behaviour of her husband Vik, with Indira's shadow always looming over the course of their life and their destiny. The answers to her questions lies in Kumbh, where the mysterious of life unravel in myriad ways.
To begin with, the plot of the story is wafer-thin. There is really no story to talk about, if you discount the illogical premise of a girl seeking out the mysteries of her dad’s painting in a foreign land. The plot is contrived and illogical. In an effort to weave a mystical story, the situations and events have been lent an unrealistic touch and they come across as forced. For example, why on earth would a girl need to marry just to move to another country to seek out a mysterious person. It takes Mia many days to figure out the true identity of Karna when it was most obvious as to who he really was. Why did Mia need to put up with the eccentric and unstable behaviour of Vik and remain trapped in a loveless marriage just for the sake of an elusive infatuation. Indira's behaviour throughout the story is over-the-top and illogical. In fact every character in the book seems to have a very distorted sense of logic and they seem to exist in a world of their own. The narrative is also contrived while the climax is pretty tepid and confusing. The readers would surely wonder as to why Indira – who shares a love-hate relationship with her son Vik – is finally moved by his death when she had failed to show any emotions for him throughout and subjected him to utmost cruelty and neglect. Overall, the book does not make for an enjoyable read at any level.



Author:- Sagarika Ghose

About the author:- Sagarika Ghose is an Indian journalist, news-anchor and author. She has worked at the ‘The Times of India’, 'Outlook' and ‘The Indian Express’. She has penned two novels, ‘The Gin Drinkers' (1998) and ‘Blind Faith' (2004)

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