Dark, light and shadow of the streets

Human capacity to adapt and survive, to pursue hope and seek joy in the darkest of times is the sombre but powerful theme of Loveleen Kacker’s latest ‘Platform No. 10’. She weaves a tale of unnerving raw emotion through the life of Ami a street urchin living on the platform of Delhi’s Nizamuddin railway station.

The meta-commentary on the apathy the entire populous has cultivated towards the downtrodden and suffering comes to the fore through the life of the newly widowed affluent Janaki’s life. She manages to unmask the banality of life to reveal a complex tale with layered character motives that seem convoluted but are driven by base human needs.

Ami is an orphan, among the hundreds scraping a living on the platforms. He stands out from the other kids due to his blue eyes, fair complexion and general anglo looks. He was abandoned as a child on the steps of an ashram in Patna. After experiencing a terrible traumatic ordeal he along with his best friend Majid ran away from the ashram and ended up on the platform.

He is hopeful, inquisitive, innocent and caring, traits that made life rather hard on the streets. His constant confrontations with the darkness of the world, the evil in people and rare humanity carve him anew.

Janaki is a break out widow of the rich, genius Hotelier and now deceased Kishore. She is perceived as an abrasive, arrogant and uncouth to all the relatives mourning the loss. Through her we are introduced to the antithesis of Ami’s life. However the contrasts are shallow and limited to the wealth.

The thread of gloom, despair, desperation and destitute for love, care and attention bind their lives together. An incident puts them on each other’s path making for an explosive upheaval of their lives. As their lives come together they leave deep marks on each other.

Loveleen’s characters not just limited to Janaki and Ami but the supports are expertly crafted. Majid with his lofty tales remains an enigma throughout the tale. Shetty Dada is the gang leader who controls all the nefarious activities on the platform.

His platoon of underlings who aid him in his various undertakings are given enough of a focus and character depth to make them substantive to the narrative. Khala is a rival to Shetty Dada who runs her own gang of kabadi boys. Prakash is Kishore’s brother, charismatic but lacking the wits to go with it.

I rate the book a 3.5 out of 5 stars for its realistic gritty portrayals of the hard truths of the world. It had a lot more potential, the characters were giving interesting back stories which felt short lived and ended abruptly with no real resolution to their arcs. This is both the charm and drawback of Loveleen’s writing. As in life, the unresolved arcs pose questions with no real answers.

This is both infuriating and in line with the kind of tale that she constructs in her book. A definite must for any fans of the grey area of literature which falls between fiction and non-fiction. Be prepared to be repulsed, devastated and over whelmed by the tragedy and betrayals. It is a dark tale with a faint glimmer of light and in the end that is all one can hope for.

By: Shirish Amerineni