Book review of Happimess by Biswajit Banerji

There are times when I crave for light entertaining reads. Times, when all around me I only see is an absurd unrest created by us humans. On those heavy on mind days, I love to read books like Happimess by Biswajit Banerji, they make me laugh out stress and simultaneously gives me food for thoughts, underlining the irony of problems that are potentially very severe. And what’s more, satire is genre I love to read.

First of all, this book took me by surprise. You ask me why? And I say, this book Happimess by Biswajit Banerji, felt like the shortest read, though mind you, it wasn’t. The moment I started reading it, I was in violent riots of laughter that brought pain in and around my stomach. And seeing the riots that are happening in Delhi, mine was relatively more calm and had a musical lilt to it. Ah! Unfortunately, the laughter riots spread like wildfire around me. I found my family guffawing in all sorts of tones and tempo while I deadpanned read them some of the most hilarious anecdotes from this book. It was really an incredible experience to see my no reader of a family connect with this book so easily. 

And come to think about it, it’s been a long time since I laughed so

much while reading a book. And all the credit for that goes to the author Biswajit Banerji for writing an absurdly hilarious and a perfect satire.

Biswajit Banerji’s book Happimess, is a collection of eleven short stories. Each story is a humorous reflection of our ordinary life and the mess we create; from the house rats to electrical gadgets to insurance policies, their agents and etc. I couldn’t decide which of the stories I enjoyed the most, because for me all were equally good. Even the Acknowledgement and Introduction parts were quite fun to read.

Humour and satire have never ever grown on trees – so as to be plucked and served on a platter the easy way. They are present in plenty though, within us and all around, in everyday actions, situations and familiar objects – even a blade of grass

Biswajit made sure not stretch the stories with redundant words. Furthermore, the narrative and the prose were so pitch-perfect and masterfully done that I simply didn’t realize when one story ended and the other started. Same goes with his sheer talent with the use of language, Uff, I could go on and on, with no end to my words. Writing this review makes me want to settle for the second round right this very second now and read it all up again. Happiness by Biswajit Banerji has the arresting charm of slowly settling in your memory, and gushing back unwarranted and making you giggle at unexpected places. 

I went through a set of emotions, which is very difficult to describe when I finished reading it. Infact, I felt deeply sad that it was over now. I found myself wanting to magically add a few more stories into it, so I could go on reading. Well, a reader’s heart is always irrational when it comes to good books. 

Can’t wait to read it? Buy your copy of Happimess using the link below.