Our heroine is Elanna Forsthe George, a self-proclaimed hard-bitten New York forensic scientist who's been a person who relied on logic and reason. Like perhaps many western thinkers, she didn't believe in anything that couldn't be proved in a lab. Like many North Americans, she is a driven person who believes that she must be in control of her life and goals. The challenge: Elanna has an experience that opens her up and her up and she has a multitude of untapped and unpredictable superpowers -- and her life is turned upside down. Suddenly she isn't in control. She's hearing other people's thoughts, experiencing coincidences and having disturbing supernatural experiences. She maintains a daily practice of meditation and yogic disciplines to keep her balanced, but it still leaves her vulnerable to the winds and will of the universal forces when working on a case. That is why she only takes some cases, and in the first chapter of Bollywood Storm, she shows her hesitance in taking on Simryn Gill's case to solve the death of a Licentious Bollywood Director. Eventually she has to admit she was intrigued. Intrigued enough to leave the safety of her apartment -- her cocoon, her refuge -- to answer Simryn's call to solve the murder of Rajesh Sharma. She knows anything could happen to her, and, eventually, she decides she's willing to risk being taken over by entities, or be physically morphed into - anything. Writing a first person narrative is a challenge. The main character is in charge of telling the story from what they know, in their perspective and with the candidness of what they think of the situation, and their prejudices surrounding it. Bollywood Storm - An Elanna Forsythe George Mystery, is a commentary on eastern and western cultures, mysticism, race, and to some extent, religion. It talks about things that most people generally don't want to discuss, and that's where comedy helps tell the story - in the form of a Bollywood movie, with the requite five song and dance numbers. Elanna faces things that most superheros in the Western culture face, like the impatience that sets in when things aren't going her way. Things are too slow, She wishes things would go faster, She wants to be there faster - c'mon! And she makes mistakes. | The experience she is having is likened to pumping the pedal of a car out of gas. In the end, nothing to do but make the phone call and hope someone comes soon. DAMN! Should have remembered to fill the car up. But that's the ego rushing around, trying to get things done, it's mind on the goal, not the journey. Life is like that. Sometimes you don't have control and have to go through the slipstream until it spits you out where you need to be. Cop out? Maybe. It's an element of mystery that most people don't appreciate. Everyone's had days when everything goes backwards instead of forwards. Or that place of stagnation. UGH! I like it when everything flows - who doesn't. But then comes the uglies. The "NOTHING HAS GONE RIGHT - EVER!" eras of our lives. Which is, ultimately, not true. Ultimately. What happens when Elanna takes that chance and takes on a cold case where there are dark and otherworldly forces at work? We ride this roller coaster of ups, downs, ins and outs with her, and wonder why she has no control. The answer may be trauma - a transference of memory from Simryn Gill, her client. And now, it seems whatever happened in Miss Gills life 'happened' to Elanna. And GASP! Soon afterwards, Miss Gill is drowned, and her trauma is now part of Elanna. Elanna pulls through the adventure by the need to solve Simryn's trauma. She has to find it and uproot the cause of their shared pain, and, thereby, freeing herself of the deceased client's earthly anxieties. The real mystery of Bollywood Storm is about relationships, and the most important one: with self. We are inside Elanna's world and we see what kind of relationships she has with the world around her in terms of how she was raised. It's interesting the things that come up. Wouldn't it be great to make that journey ourselves? To really pay attention to the inner landscape. See all the things hidden there. Or, you can put it off again and think about it later . . . in some future tomorrow. N.K. Johel |
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N.K. Johel lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is an artist writer. Categories
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