MASK AGE BLUNDERS: The devastating pandemic of Covid-19 in Mumbai

By Prof Narayan Sharmah

It's a memoir of an unsung hero in a satiric tone about the blunders he made in life which deprived his emancipation. The storyline is set in a studio where an amateur painter performs live sketching of teenage boys. But a sudden heart stroke takes his soul to purgatory. The divine authority has some confusion about his identity for which they couldn't admit him either in heaven or hell. So, they want his confession which has to be confirmed with his genetic decoding. Thus, they interact in the hi-tech digital space station. During the discourse of interaction, the protagonist confesses that he was born in an asylum during the war between Bangladesh and Pakistan when India helped Bangladesh to win. His biological father was a Jew merchant and he made Mr Biswa; his custodian father look after his pregnant mother while fleeing the country. Hence it was a challenge for the divinity to allot a vacancy in the space. However, the host of the paradise adepts a strategy to churn out information enticing him to confess the blunders he had committed based on the sketchbook he used to possess passionately. After the interview with God, Cypher was resurrected at the studio where he collapsed while sketching portraits of boys. Before this, his foster son invites his community people for cremation in the Islamic way for he was converted a few years ago. A few flashbacks take us to the seven stages of his life from infant to old age. The remarkable event in his childhood was the circumstance of his sister becoming blind. Another small but most significant event is meeting with an enemy who becomes his adorable friend in a short while. In his youth, he abandons his family for financial freedom which satirizes the sacrifices of Gautam Buddha for enlightenment. These three events give rise to his goal in life: first to cure his blind sister, second to invigorate his relationship with a boy that looks like Michelangelo's David and third, to afford a home and reunite with his lost family.The pandemic becomes a national emergency and the country begins to lose hundreds and thousands daily. Complete lockdown is imposed which turns the nation standstill. Global health platforms begin to invent vaccines based on priority. On the other hand, coronavirus starts to mutilate new variants every other week. Govt also introduces the app to mane the pandemic systematically. Thus, there is the fungus of different colours such as black, white and yellow as new variants. This makes the administration impose a second lockdown. Amidst international hue and cry, we are glad to see vaccines pass the human trial.Almost everybody complies with the covid protocols except the LGBT communities. Police arrest them to quarantine them on the mud island the popular television channel begins the grandmaster show out of the caged people.Fortune starts to favour the artist who sketches boys. He also takes part in the grand master's show with much enthusiasm. One of the participants in the show explains how God is discovered by the fear of men. The unlocking period marks the discovery of a vaccine for people between 18 and 40. Soon people above forty and the frontline warriors all are vaccinated. Students who attend hybrid sessions to get the vaccine. While sharing stories of the Mask Age through cartoon exhibition Cypher gets the attention of the public. Soon, he sells his sketch for a massive sum of money and he dreams to build a home and cure her blind eyes.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B09YB389Z6
• ISBN13: 9798804651504
• Release Date: April 2022
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"