Five rivers and a thought process

Manpriya Singh

Navrisham Kaur Grewal in her debut book, The Mysterious Disappearance of 5 Rivers, goes beyond the balle balle façade to capture the true essence of the Sikhs

Balle balle, butter chicken, Santa Banta jokes, Bhangra, dhol beats and lately Yo Yo Honey Singh; just when the world knows about Sikhs. They just don’t. “I wanted to break the stereotypes about Sikhs,” states Navrisham Kaur Grewal loud and clear before moving onto any further conversation on her debut literary endeavour The Mysterious Disappearance of 5 Rivers. An anthology of 12 short stories on Sikhs, the book comes with real characters. The ones that have been etched after years of keen observation since her childhood. “The stories and people are fictional but strongly inspired by real life. Each of the 12 stories is prevalent in today’s times.”

Story so far

There’s 5 Cars, 4 Dogs, a story describing a Sikh housewife in Delhi’s posh Greater Kailash. Then Son of a Cabbie, ‘which talks about the son of a cab driver in Canada and his daily struggles’. A Recurring Dream gives insights into the psyche of a boy settling abroad, his struggles, longing to be back home and be with his parents.” She adds, “They are the stories of my people and some of the touching facets in their personality that I wanted to share at large.”

A result of keen observations made during childhood. “Right since the summer vacation days, I’ve spent two months each year in Punjab. So, I’ve had an opportunity to observe the people and culture much more closely than if I had stayed in Punjab itself,” shares the author, brought up all over the country and currently based in Pune. “During holidays, people head to exotic places for vacations, but for me, it’s Kila Raipur.”

More to come

“A businesswoman by profession and a writer at heart,” sounds compelling enough. The desire to turn an author was propelled by a concept she wanted to share with everyone wanting to get published. “Crowdfunding by Wishberry helped me with the backing of a lot of people who believed in my project.” People like her, founder of country’s leading robotics company, Metalmate Robotics by the day and storyteller on the inside. At 33, the narrations have just begun. “I must be having raw material for at least 60 to 70 stories.” While a sequel, could soon well be on its way. “They will definitely be stories of my people. The one that will break the stereotypes but in an entertaining way.”

Which is as much about struggles, hardship, victory, vision, sensitivity, ordinariness, extraordinariness and so on. Balle balle!