It is into this household that the PG, who is studying art, comes to stay. Though the city that Cobalt Blue is based in is not mentioned, from the many references made one can infer that it is Pune. The three siblings are quite different from one another - Aseem is the straight-laced favoured older son, Tanay is a quiet, sensitive and artistically inclined young man, and Anuja is an outdoors person who loves treks and hikes and is on her way to becoming an environmental activist. Aseem also works in an office, while Tanay and Anuja are college-goers. We never get to know the names of Baba (an office-goer) or Aai (a housewife).

The Joshis - Baba (the father), Aai (the mother), and their children Aseem, Tanay and Anuja - are a traditional, typical, middle class family.

The book unfolds through their narratives, first Tanay’s and then Anuja’s, which help’s the reader to build a perspective and understand the complete picture. 🙂Ĭobalt Blue is the story of Tanay and Anuja, a brother and sister, who fall in love with the same man, a paying guest (PG) at their house. While shortlisting the book for Maharashtra, I remembered Cobalt Blue and after a quick look at it found that it fit the two basic criteria that I had set for a book to qualify for this reading challenge - (i) it was a translation, and (ii) it was recent. But that didn’t happen and the book lay in my to-be-read-pile of books for nearly 2 years, and would probably still be there if not for #TSBCReadsIndia. I was immediately intrigued as till then I had only read Pinto’s original writing in English and hadn’t known that he did translations !Īnd so a copy of Cobalt Blue was bought with the intention of reading it soon. I didn’t really need to after I saw who had translated this book from the original Marathi into English - Jerry Pinto. Presenting the second of 36 books to be read - the book from Maharashtra - in this literary journey across India.Ĭobalt Blue by Sachin Kundalkar (Hardback, 228 pages, 2013, Hamish Hamilton) is probably the only book I have ever bought without reading either the author or book blurb, or even a sample page or two. This book review is part of #TSBCReadsIndia, a reading challenge wherein one reads a book from each State and Union Territory of India.

Cobalt blue marathi