Author: Camron Wright

Publisher: Shadow Mountain

ASIN: B01HN509IW

            Lost and Found

“This will appear selfish. I’m ready to tell my story, not just because it must help others, which I hope it will….but because it’s time. I try to make sense of my past. I hope that by freely talking about all of this, is to somehow…I’m hoping to forgive God.”

                                                                                         - Chellamuthu (Taj Rowland)

This is a book that could make you want to revise your belief in the process of Life, that some call God. That even as Life can ordain immeasurable and prolonged suffering, nothing is permanent, and the wheel can turn to also bring in its wake, unbounded joy and gladness. The above adage is beautifully illustrated in a quote from one of the important characters in the book, an old lady called Papathi, who provided valuable support to Chellamuthu’s mother Arayi when her son went missing.

“Life never stops child. Even when it’s noisy, unpleasant, painful. It’s still the sound of duty, of love, of family, of laws older than time that help us to ultimately find contentment…. to be happy. “                                                                                                                          -Papathi

The main story goes as follows:

Chellamuthu, the protagonist belongs to an impoverished family in a South Indian village called Erode. He is kidnapped at the age of eight and taken by force to an orphanage. Once there, after a long wait during which he made an unsuccessful attempt to escape, he is taken to the  USA and delivered to an American couple, Linda and Fred Rowland. There he is  brought up in a middle class semi-urban American milieu. Good performance in school earns him a scholarship to the UK where he gets to live with an Indian family. This experience, starting with the spicy food, awakens dormant memories in him of the time when he was a village boy in Erode. He determines to find out the story of how he ended up as he did in an alien land. In this search, he is encouraged and supported by a female friend called Kelly. How this quest worked out is the subject of this very engrossing read.

The character of Arayi, especially her longing to find her missing son has been depicted with great sensitivity, as is the persona of Papathi, who provided Arayi with much needed support. Another character that stands out for sheer outrageousness is Kelly, who drew out Taj Rowland’s Indian identity with well chosen questions over the course of  their journey to their classes at the University of London and back.

Chellamuthu’s story has been depicted with great virtuosity and skillfully brings to life the travails and synchronicities that beset him. The struggles, the conflicts and self-doubt that Chellamuthu underwent are not glossed over and presented as a stepping stone to the truly miraculous ending. This book is a testimony to the rhythm of the yin and yang in our lives, i.e. just as the good times do not last, so also do the bad times. If we go through the latter with courage and conviction, even greater blessings can be ushered in for a greater circle of people.

Warmly recommended to one and all.