‘The Palace of Illusions’ by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is a mythological fiction with its plot spun around the Mahabharata coupled with a female narrator Draupadi.  Reimagining the world-famous Indian epic, it has been told from the point of view of an amazing woman. To learn about a female point of view in a patriarchal society, Draupadi, from being born from fire up till her deathbed, forms the plot of this engaging tale. The storyline entails details about her relationship with her brother and her sister Sikhandi, the loneliness that she felt in her father’s palace, her swayamvar which otherwise had ulterior motives. Her life as the wife of the five Pandavas and how she triggered a catastrophic war. The book also speaks about the secret love that she harboured for a man who wasn’t her husband and over the top this epic is also not free of the saas-bahu saga. The silent but smart tussle between her and her mother in law is well depicted.

The story weaves us through the entire lifetime of Draupadi starting from her birth when her father used to differentiate between her and her brother, how her dreams kept creating hope and desire inside her. How the destiny took turn and her dreams were shattered. Her self-esteem was mistaken to be her arrogance.

Chitra Divakaruni’s characterisations hasn’t portrayed Draupadi in a pitiable manner. Draupadi is illustrated as a powerful woman with white and grey shades. All the layers of her character are skilfully brought to the surface. She is depicted as a woman with her brains in the right place. Her fabricated mind, her pride, the tinge of jealousy that she harbours, her constant battle with herself, etc are all efficiently narrated.

All the characters are so ingeniously described that they literally come to life in the minds of the readers. Especially, Karan and Krishna are so vividly described as one shall feel more affectionate towards Karan and shall love Krishna even more. The epic scenes of Mahabharat are sequentially knitted together into a beautiful story. They are well-paced, and their chronological order makes perfect sense to the reader. The book is layered with beautiful lines and worded with a good vocabulary. The events in the story takes place in a logical manner and not narrated because they are meant to be told. The story is well-paced, and all the characters are beautifully brought to life. The emotions are dealt with the right amount of details. The story revolves on how Lord Krishna was the only hope of light and source of happiness, guidance and knowledge to her. How the events took shape, and everyone misunderstood her and blamed her for creating the entire chaos. How she had compromised with her ambitions and kept her strongest desire to herself in order to save the relationships she was entangled in. How her inner turmoil killed her within and how sometimes she felt miserable and helpless. How a girl grown with sumptuous lifestyle learnt to live in austerity.

Divakaruni has given women an equal status in society, showing them to be more than just daughters, mothers and wives of great heroes of the epic Mahabharata, the injustices borne by the female protagonists constantly reminds the reader that no matter how much women assert their roles in society, if men believe that they are superior to women, equality will not prevail.

Though the focus is on Panchali’s life, Divakaruni has been careful to include the stories of the other strong female characters, not just as Panchali’s rivals, but also as strong role-models. Divakaruni portrays, at length, the story of Kunti, Panchali’s mother-in-law, who devoted her life to the upbringing of her own sons and the sons of her husband’s second wife, making sure to treat them all equally, and grooming them to become kings. She also mentions the story of Gandhari, the wife of the blind king Dhritarashtra, who blind folds herself at her marriage, choosing to live as an equal to her husband, surrendering her power as a queen and mother. What makes Divakaruni’s novel compelling and above other interpretations is that she portrays the stories of all these women as conscious choices made by them, not as roles handed to them by society or by the men in their lives. These women chose the lives that they lived and did not simply walk into them.

Relevant to today’s war-torn world, The Palace of Illusions takes us back to a time that is half history, half myth, and wholly magical. Narrated by Panchaali, the wife of the legendary Pandavas brothers in the Mahabharat, the novel gives us a new interpretation of this ancient tale. This book brings to us a fresh perspective to the heart-wrenching tale of Draupadi through her own eyes. The beautiful part of this half mythical, half fictional book is that, at the end of each chapter, where the protagonist questions herself only to find the answers in the next segment.

 The original epic was about gods, demi-gods, kings, princes, warriors, and other noble men. But Divakaruni’s interpretation provides a humanistic touch to the epic, making it more realistic, more relatable, and more personal.

This book speaks of how Dr. Kalam visualises information and communication technology mining the rural talent.

The book categorically explains the actual definition of education, how the education system should be, what are basic things that should be taken into consideration which we usually tend to neglect.

Here, Dr. Kalam have presented his dream of schools in India at 2020 as symbiotic nerve centres connecting teachers, students and community and personifying knowledge that exists in the world. This addresses the raising the standards of governance and safeguarding the sanctity of public institutions.

The book has used the metaphor of a tree to describe the process of knowledge bearing fruits of prosperity in the contemporary globalised world where different phases, formative, adult working life and post-50 experienced senior citizens, call for different kinds of learning.  

It holds the possibility to convince the readers to rethink upon certain things which have been neglected for a while. It’s a book which opens our mind and inspires us to think in a different direction.

The book refers to a contextual contribution of a large number of Indian scientists and artists and proves that there is no age bar to blossom. Inspiring quotes from legendary people have been used. It speaks of consensus and of actions that takes our social and moral values into account in building our own systems. The book extensively draws from the world literature making an essential inspirational reading

This Book shows how his vision to be large and beautiful. It explains freedom, knowledge, meaning of education so beautifully that one has to rethink about his building blocks. Most importantly it focuses on aspects of spirituality in life. It has a separate chapter that speaks of Education as a Spiritual journey.

Dr. Kalam has shown his concerns about the current education system in India. He has shown how hollow the system is and how it suppresses the individuality of the students. He has further described how the youth of India is moving in search of a job and how they are not trying to make jobs for others.

This book tries to make us understand that each one of us is very special and have some unique qualities because we are so different from each other. It also tells us about how we should not set the goal by what people consider important but to have a conviction of what is best for us. It speaks of how one should feel a responsibility towards nature, towards their own country. One should not only think about their financial growth rather they should also think about their country’s growth and contribute to save the selfless nature.

Dr. Kalam has explained that the foundation of success rests on three pillars: parents, teachers and mentors. He has explained how they are important in our lives and how sometimes we become so disrespectful towards them. He conveys the youth of this country to respect them, and at the same time has also added that it should not mean blind obedience.

He defines a dedicated teacher to be like a candle, which burns itself but gives light to others.

To stuff the child with lots of information, making him pass examinations, is the most unintelligent form of education these days but the purpose of education is supposed to bring a complete transformation of the society. The inner liberty is both the means and end of education.

It speaks of how forcibly fitting a child into a particular manner, end up converting him into a follower, instead we should encourage them to be a leaders, and allow them to take risks in their life. Education should actually be intended to assist students to become truly what they are, and not what we want to make them.

Dr. Kalam has explained that in the process of education, it is not only the student who gets benefit of it, but the teacher also experiences different talents which could be in any of the field from science to literature. The brain can only become infinite if its free from conditioning.

The language used in this book is also simple and lucid. He has also shared his experiences of meeting big legendary people and how they have influenced. He has also mentioned his teachers who played an important role in his life, and which also shows how important teaching was to him. This book teaches us a lesson that we should ever go back and thank to our teachers for their vital role in our life.