“Not all vessels are meant to hold water, some are for allowing water to seep away”. Haruko trailed a finger over the photograph. “Broken things are precious too.”
Kintsugi, also known as kinsukuroi, is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique.As a philosophy, kintsugi can be seen to have similarities to the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, an embracing of the flawed or imperfect.
A refreshing surprise reading this novel took me to trip back to Kyoto’s beauty and simple life of Japan. On the contrary, I can say I picked it up because of the Japanese title.
A broken heart too needs mending. Each one of us has a story about heartbreak or that unfulfilled desire, non-reciprocated love or burden of the past. This novel resonates those quiet stories in and around us.
Kintsugi- a Novel is a simple story of 6 different individuals, who are poles apart but their stories are interlinked. And their life journey takes us to traditional Jaipur lane to Japan.
Haruko, a Japanese woman, is learning the Indian art of meenakari, and the craft is heavily influenced and dominated by men in Jaipur. Haruko is beautifully indifferent to this fact, and while pursuing her passion, she inspires Leela. Leela young girl rebels the idea imposed upon her by the social system around. She is finding the source of learning at an uncanny place and giving it back to the world in an unapologetically.
It is a beautiful feeling when you know what you want in life. That clarity of thought is rare. Prakash while excelling at the professional front is totally at a loss when it comes to where to find love. His misplaced priorities come from his traditional upbringing and belief system.
Love is simple if it is there it is in front of you else there is nothing. And when you find it, you need to grab it, hold on to it and live it. Which Praksh fails to do, and so does Meena. Meena is in search of who she is ? by grabbing the opportunity to travel away from family in unknown land she gets lost more horrifically.
Of all the places I have been and travelled to Japan is very close to my heart. I now I will go there again not just once but at every opportunity at my hand. It seems the author, too had a good trip down there. Japan and Japanese people and its culture do have a lasting impact that comes out nicely here. On a side note, let me say JAPAN is the most underrated country when it comes to travel and to explore. Go there, be there once and live the culture, talk to the people. It is simply beautiful.
Yuri, a beautiful, fragile soul, is looking for love. Her failure at finding it is not her mistake. It is a burden for living. At the same time, Hajime is mending his heart while mending Haruko’s.
These simple stories are pieces, of the life around us, and are put together to make a picture with simple yet compelling writing by Anukriti, the author. She has embraced the art of “ KINTSUGI” in her writing while putting together these stories in one book.
After this, I am sure going to read her other books soon. Gald that I found this one!