Penning down stories of real life characters

R J Bala’s book Othiriperile Ichiriperukal deals with 21 women characters the author encountered in his life.The book travels through various interesting episodes in these women’s lives as witnessed by the author and are depicted humorously

KOCHI:In the journey of life, we come across many  people but remember only a few of them. It may be because of the impact that they leave on us through sharing stories, moments of happiness and some memorable experience. The book Othiriperile Ichiriperukal by RJ Bala is a culmination of stories about different women in his life.

The book is a collection of memories related to a few ladies the author encountered in his life and these 21 real-life characters are genuine and real.It deals with different characteristics of each and every lady with their humorous incidents in a subtle and witty way. It’s not about their struggle and success stories. The author has captured all the interesting moments that happened in his life.

Bala says, “In my life, I have met many women. From my mother to my teachers, relatives and friends.Normally when someone writes about a lady, they usually do it based on the success stories of these women, but I chose to share the stories of women whom I know.”While reading the book, it’s like having a small episode of humour which includes a Mother’s love, Sisters naughtiness, crazy neighbour and a foody colleague. The book encompasses the idea that even if we have met many people, we see only a few.

The book is intended to share laughter and has some funny moments. The stories are about women where the majority of them are Malayalees except one who is a Nepali.The author recounts an incident where a Nepali woman, his neighbour was pregnant and she climbed a tree to pluck mangoes for herself. Other ladies in the locality looking at this with surprise”.

The author started his career as an RJ in the state and later got a job as a banker in Abu Dhabi.Speaking about his venture into authoring a book, Bala says, “I used to write and post small stories on Facebook. People saw these post and started giving positive responses. One of the characters in my story was my mother Rita George who was named Ritaamaa in my stories. This was highly appreciated by many.”
This motivated Bala to write a book and publish it. Published by Dream Book Bindery, it is available at Rs 120. Along with the stories, beautiful caricatures by RJ Muzafeer make the book more interesting.
The book cover designed by Alex Kurian attracts the readers because of its illustrations where the image is of a cloth hanger symbolising the life daily life of women.

Singer Sujatha Mohan wrote the forward note for the book. She has also included the people that came across her life and the little moments of joy that she experienced. Bala says, “After reading my book, people have given me mixed feedbacks”, he said.

Bala noted that some said they were not used to reading books because of the complex words but language used in his book is comparatively simple helping them to infer it easily.The author has typed the book in a mobile application and says, “This is my dedication to all the women in my life.”