Book Review: A window to our future

In the year 2028, ten-year-old Anoushqa goes about her life the usual way: she studies at the Sloping Valley High School, has doting parents and Grampa, does her homework every evening before catching up on some primetime television, and aspires to become a news anchor someday. 

One of her realities is that she hasn’t ever witnessed the rains. In her universe, the last it rained was in 2018; as her mother puts it, “one fine day it rained and no one knew it would be the last time they’d see little drops of water falling from the sky.” This is too heartbreaking a tragedy for us to even imagine. But Anoushqa and her family live with it like any other day – with some (major) changes. You cannot venture out of the house without donning some heavy “sun saver” and black clothes. Since there is no rain, they drink a chemical combination of H20 that is sold at Rs 50 for a 50ml bottle, and take dry baths with a dryer. 

Even so, Anoushqa wonders what rain really is – “how does water fall from the sky? What does it look like? What’s a rainbow?” – because she cannot fathom it when Grampa shares treasured memories of his childhood of setting afloat paper boats in small puddles. She loves talking to Grampa – listening to his stories, life philosophies, ideas and sharing hers. When he falls critically ill and wishes to see it rain one last time, Anoushqa embarks on a quest to make it happen. 

In her debut novel, Roopal Kewalya takes the disastrous reality of water shortage and narrates it through the innocence of a 10-year-old. Her first challenge is to figure out who exactly can help her. She knocks on various doors – from Dr Gargi, a scientist in the same pursuit as hers, and a questionable magician who assures that he can make it rain for a sum of Rs 20,000 to even the Prime Minister of the country. 

Following various dejections, the book ends on a positive note – no surprises here. But it is really Anoushqa’s journey and the sheer earnestness with which she sets upon it that gets the reader going. One finds oneself rooting for little Anoushqa as she makes her way through the shady alleys of Delhi to a reclusive magician, or when she finds help from her girlfriends, by chopping off their long hair to collect the princely sum for the magician.

The Rainmaker may be written through the eyes of a 10-year-old, but it is a book that must be read across ages. Not only does it sensitise and call for our attention to the water crisis, but it also brings the message home that if you really want things to change, you can work for them in your littlest, earnest ways.