Tea-20 by Vinod Kumar S [Book review]

Getting into an unknown city and getting impressed by its beauty is a pleasant experience. But, walking into a city, after doing a lot of research about it and seeing a lot of pictures of the city and yet getting lost at its pretty sight is even more enjoyable. Reading Tea-20 was such an experience. Having read some of Vinod’s short stories I already knew what to expect from Tea-20. But, what impressed me the most was the way in which those little roses were packaged as a bouquet and presented in front of me.

Almost half the stories in the book talk about good practices and ideal philosophies. Some of these stories can be directly put into the moral instruction school books and some of these stories are so good that they can form a part of the Chicken soup series. One story talks about a young girl’s action which melts a frosted heart and another story talks about another young girl, who teaches the people around her the real value of the money. There are a couple of stories which gives advices to the urban youth. The conversation between a beggar and the protagonist on the New Year’s Eve is an eye opener.

But, my favorite story is the one in which the protagonist learns the most important lesson about life from his dog. I have read it 5 times till now and would not mind reading it again and again.

Right from the first story, I was expecting to read about Sachin and voila there was a full story about the Master. Knowing the author personally, I feel that if the book didn’t have a story on Sachin it would have been an aberration. JJ

There are a couple of stories which are entirely deceptive. I found them to be childish. The story about beauty and the beast did not have any impact on me. There was a thriller towards the end of the book which was a good read, but was certainly a misfit in this wonderful light hearted collection.

I enjoyed the stories related to the IT industry. They provided an insider view and I was able feel the author’s emotions. The fight between an auto driver and the IT employee was cinematic but nevertheless amusing. I loved the funny story “Nowhere to run”. But, the pick among the lot was the story in which the guy goes to see his bride. It was a complete laughter riot and I enjoyed every bit of it.

The biggest selling point of the book is the simplicity of the language used. You need not run to the dictionary once in a while to understand certain words. It is just a collection of pragmatic examples from the author’s daily life. After completing the book, I was able to understand the author’s writing style. He thinks of a message and weaves a story around it and takes it to his audience. We love stories and so we enjoy the story and accept the message along with it. It is more like giving a small dose of medicine along with sugar. The Author has achieved this with silken grace. Hats off!!!

Is this book so very good that there are no negatives about it? Absolutely not, the simple text used in the book makes people take the author too lightly. The message may not reach a bigger set of audience because of the quality of the prose. The grammatical mistakes which pop up here and there did divert my attention from the book. I would blame the publisher/editor for not reviewing the text clearly.

But, having said this, the message shared in the book is very noble and should reach more people. The feel good stories are ever green and make you feel better when you feel down and out. It is aptly named Tea-20 and is certainly the perfect companion for your tea time, if you don’t have a wife or a girlfriend. If you do have a GF, gift it to her too…

Thanks for this wonderful collection Vinod.

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