Title: Timeless Time
Author: Susheel Kumar Batra
Publisher: Leadstart
Genre: Literary Fiction
First Publication: 2022
Language: English
Book Summary: Timeless Time by Susheel Kumar Batra
A bit self-conscious Sanjeev Kapoor a.k.a Sanju baba, goes through all the bittersweet experiences of growing up – fearful respect towards his father, love & affection from mom and sisters, bullying and friendships in school, and initial forays into the world of sensuality.
In his university days, he starts loving and later growing in love, his sister’s friend’s sister.
While his academic pursuit develops a keen interest towards science in him, and his love of literature from his younger years remains his constant companion, his life journey gives him a philosophical perspective.
In this semi-autobiographical fiction novel, Sanju baba narrates his life, with its mix of good, bad, and ugly experiences and encounters, leaving his readers with a promise to return with more.
Book Review: Timeless Time by Susheel Kumar Batra
In a society where so much of life involves shouting over or silencing other people, it is essential to discover your voice and be able to make it heard in order to establish your place and be respected for it. This was a lesson that Sanjeev Kapoor, aka Sanju Baba, learned the hard way in his own life. It is the life journey of Sanjeev Kapoor from birth to adulthood, filled with loss, hardship, struggle, adventure, success, and happiness, and is narrated by him. The story is also about the moral and personal development of Sanju from his childhood to youth to adulthood: how he grows up from his childhood fantasies and mistaken impressions, shaking off his vanity, self-importance, and mistakes of the undisciplined heart, and learning the true meaning and value of life.
Timeless Time follows Sanjeev Kapoor as he navigates the ups and downs of growing up, social scuffing, and wades through the turbulent life towards a state of emotional independence, returning with a voice ready to give testimony of his journey. Though the journey is long and beset by troubles, the novel feels more like a celebration of freedom told with an underpinning of joy than bleakness, with Sanjeev seeking out self-realisation and fulfilment in life and love, boldly rising above the obstacles the world throws in his path.
As Sanju’s story unfolds, we get a glimpse of how much his path in life is determined by the opinions of others around him. We watch his dream and we watch those dreams destroyed, we see windows of opportunity open and close with slams that echo like the screen doors of the old house. We watch his world collapse upon him, and yet we see him struggle to make the most of the life he is given.
One of the biggest messages in the story is that people are complex and imperfect. You can love a person with your whole heart and not love everything they do. When characters are drawn this way, as they are in this book, they become living, breathing real people, and that’s exactly how I felt the entire time I read this book. As it turns out, there is a lot of space left in Sanju’s soul to change, to grow, and to become someone he’s always wanted to be. This is about finding yourself again, about personal growth, and about being passionate about your life. Susheel Batra has an exceptional command of language and the ability to wield words in the most useful way to tell whatever part of the story he needs to. Everything is concise and to the point, but it is done in a way that doesn’t sacrifice emotion or detail.
It amazes me how such a simply written novel could be so moving and inspirational. This book is a character study, a slice of life, and a story full of introspection on the part of the protagonist. There is quirkiness, whimsy, and humor, as well as wisdom, insight, and life lessons to be learned. In the end, this was actually an incredibly ordinary story, but Susheel Batra found a way to show the beauty in that. Life, for the most part, is fairly ordinary with a few extraordinary moments sprinkled in, and we have to find the beauty in that ourselves. Timeless Time by Susheel Batra was a happy, refreshing, and unexpected read about family, hope, and standing together.
