Very few book covers are so impressive and so expressive as the one that of Black Hole by Tomichan Matheikal. I looked at it, I looked at it again, and then I kept looking at it for a few moments. It appeared to me as a volcano of thousands of emotions inside that are just about to erupt. The cover page is so silent yet so expressive. It was, as if, a tale in itself. So, the expectations were already set by looking at the cover page itself even before reading a single word from the book. If writing is the choicest means of escape for Tomichen, it has brought one of the most beautiful outcome. For any aspiring author, in whose mind, ideas of writing are sprouting, must read this book to understand the crux of situation building. It's a learning for established authors as well.
So, it's not only about the book cover of Black Hole by Tomichan Matheikal that is so fabulous, it is the flawless and super fluent writing style that is cherry on the cake. If I compare an author with a racing car expert driver and story as a racing car, with very few drivers I have had such an exciting journey with no jerks and no fear. It was like the car is floating in the clouds. I am highly impressed. I think it's more to do with a natural gift for writing so excellently than practice. Basically, it's the author's thought process that gets translated to his stories. And this kind of writing clearly shows his crisp, clear, and undiluted Tomichen's thought process is while writing. No interruptions, no deviations, no hiccups. Everything is so perfect. The book cover and the writing.
When I look at the book cover, I could feel how well the white space and silence been used to express so well. Similarly, it's the writing that plays the and music. Here, it is the array of words that are made to convey and bind with the reader in a meaningful tone. Black Hole by Tomichan Matheikal is a class in its own. What a superb narrative from the first chapter itself -
Kailashputar fled from his nightmares. In search of meaning. “Where will you go, my son?” asked his mother. “Where my soul finds peace,” he said. “What is peace?” she wondered. “The absence of conflicts,” he said. “You are a fool,” her eyes penetrated into his. “A coward.” “Was the Buddha a coward?” “Wasn’t he?”
This 105 pages long story or novella Black Hole by Tomichan Matheikal is absolutely and wonderfully engaging. There are a lot of revelations at various points of the story. Here's an excerpt:
Indira Gandhi was not really deaf. She could hear the music of the cosmos if she wished. But she often chose to be deaf. When she visited the Khasi Hills during the agitation for a separate state for the tribal people, however, she listened to the music of the cosmos. Shrewd manipulator though she was, there was a flicker of the romantic in her heart. Her will to power was an alter ego of her romantic libido. The clouds that kissed the hills strummed on the romantic chords stretched tight beneath her suave exterior. And she said, like the whimsical and omnipotent God of Genesis, “Let there be Meghalaya.” And Meghalaya was born.You can buy the book here.
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