The Fight Backs/ Short Fiction/Sharad Tripathi/
Notion Press, Chennai, 2018/ ISBN 978-1643246284/ pp 92/ Rs 180

About the Author

Sharad Tripathi, an advertising marketing professional and an entrepreneur from Meerut, India, is an observer of life and a patriot at heart. He is a former Team Leader at Dainik Jagran and a former manager at Indian Express.

Sharad Tripathi believes in reading and accepting varied and different viewpoints, as is obvious in his opinion about himself,

‘I love to be in constant touch with friends and love to read varied viewpoints.’

‘The Fight Backs’ is Sharad Tripathi’s debut novel published in 2018.

About the Book

‘The Fight Backs is a beautifully written tale of contemporary modern times where several lives are intricately intertwined in a single thread,’ opines the writer, actor and award winning director producer, Rutwij Vaidya in the Foreword of ‘The Fight Backs’.

In a dedicated effort to achieve the coveted dream, Author Sharad Tripathi presents a novel with a practical outlook, as he says,

‘One of the most beautiful parts of life is to be able to execute what you dream and what you do best. There was a longing to write a story, and ultimately here it is – The Fight Backs.’

Representing different strata of the society, the author presents the main protagonists of the story depicting their own perspectives of the contemporary society.

The novel commences with a philosophical outlook in the most practical scenario.

‘As I stare at the ceiling on a Sunday afternoon, the screeching noise of the fan hurts me.’ (p.1)

The author describes the tireless and continual churning of lives in an effort to make both ends meet and even to satisfy the ever-swelling desires of the human mind and heart.

‘The mind is constantly grinding and girding.’ (p.1)

The author makes use of the figures of speech with ease and preciseness while keeping the language simple and lucid at the same time.

‘I yelled silently’ (p.1) is a perfect example of the use of oxymoron to describe the state of mind of the protagonist.

At the commencement of the novel, the readers are convinced of the fact that story, in most aspects, conveys their own experiences to a large extent. As they leap forward, they merge with the smiles and tears of the characters, who, no more belong to an unknown territory.

The ever increasing materialistic attitude of the society and its influence on the intimate relationships find a suitable expression in the novel.

‘Many times, materialism engulfs us….The strength of a relationship is directly proportional to the materialistic benefit we derive from it.’ (p.2)

The rapid and progressive technological progress, having its impact on the society, positive and negative, is aptly presented as the reminiscence of the good old days when technology had negligible or no interference in human lives.

‘My younger days were better. At least when playing in the rain, we used to be part of the rain without inhibitions.’ (p.5)

The stories of the characters have a stark resemblance with those of the readers. The moments of happiness, gloominess, tensions, fury, smiles and tears- the readers find all flashing from their own memory lanes, as the stories take a beautiful turn towards the midst of the novel.

‘Behind every smile was a story to be told.’ (p.12)

At times, the events in the lives of minor characters, too, take the readers in the stride and fill them with an inspiration to move forward in life despite the impending obstacles that normally demotivate and are instrumental in pulling one’s spirits down in difficult circumstances.

‘As he drove, Pranit acknowledged, no obstacle is big enough to let determination not pass through.’ (p.14)

Sprinkling hope and cheer, optimism and positivity along the path, the novel seems to be teeming with positive vibes, necessary for the protagonists to be able to achieve the toughest of aims that they had drafted for themselves.

‘When a team exudes positive vibes, positive things start to happen, and the way to the destination becomes clearer.’ (p.46)

The practical lessons of life, the hard earned wisdom through real life adversities and the ultimate truth of life prove to be the eye openers for the readers as they divulge deeper into the characters and their lives.

‘It is only when we face adversity, setbacks and misfortunes we realise how futile and fragile our life had been. Then the best place to go is ‘inside us’….Outside is no place to look at.’ (p. 31)

Love, the basis of all existence and the ultimate force that bids all earthlings together into united Universal beings, becomes the genesis of the story as the novel reaches midway and progresses further towards establishing peaceful harmonious and everlasting stability in the lives of the characters.

‘In a vibrant, blossoming evergreen relationship, people encourage each other to reach their respective goals while sharing each other’s hopes and dreams.

….So we may not be gazing at each other, but we are looking outward in the same direction, towards proving ourselves, towards some salvation. It is only then we help each other in our fightbacks.’ (p.55)