Hook, Line & Sinker.

Once again I have the good luck to receive Chhimi Tenduf-La's latest book as a gift. A gift that puts a smile on my face for more than one reason.

I turn the first page and I am taken aback. This is a totally different story from his first book, The Amazing Racist...but then I start to read and there it is - the easy style of fluid words that seem to pour forth with ease from this author. Chhimi has a way with words that one could say hooks you and holds you captive to his tale.

‘Now I see you sitting in the corner of Grade Three, knees drawn to your chest. You’ve never been in a sauna, I know that, but this is what it’s like. The sun heats up the tin roof above you, so you sweat till your muddy t-shirt is drenched, but still your teeth chatter. You shiver. It’s fear, it’s sadness, it’s anger.’

‘Prabu squatted, his backside just half an inch off the sand, his arms hugging his burnt-matchstick-like legs. To his right, a girl, maybe his age, likely Tamil, plaited hair and frisky eyebrows, selling Frangipani flowers to tourists.’ - Panther

It seems he is an author capable of adding humour to any situation, which is not that easy to do and yet, from the moment you turn the first page you are caught hook, line and sinker. You just can’t put the book down. Now there are some books that are good and others that are slower...however Chhimi Tenduf-La writes in such an easy and captivating style that, you don’t feel like placing a book mark in your book, to read it later. You just feel like you really need to read one more page and then another and another, until you have read the whole book.

I can only compare this feeling to an addiction of sorts. The feeling one has when they have strange urges, unbearable longings and insatiable desires.

Yes ! he is a writer that unlike others, totally relaxes your mind as you read. I will be honest and say I would generally not read books that even remotely revolved around our Sri Lankan war memories...yet Panther paints many pictures, amidst the facts, that tell a tale. This is not just a story but it’s a story with a morale, a message and flavour...yes ! once again Chhimi Tenduf-La has given us a winner!

Panther has a lot of interesting twists and turns but the subtle twist at the end is the one I liked best.

Ps: Not giving that away...Panther is well worth reading to find that out for yourself.