The nebula, the creature of darkness

"Silence is a kind of music" .. says Wimalaa, the teacher who spends weeks of school vacation in the teachers' residence, while all the others leave to their villages and towns, while she remains in the twenty-room house, in the mountainous Nainital region of Uttarakhand state in India, enchanting with its natural beauty, overlooking the snow-covered Himalayan mountains. In the atmosphere of solitude that Wimalaa imposed on herself, memory activates to recall small details, with no logic other than flashes of consciousness and unconsciousness, and in these silent flashes, the sound of music manifests. A middle-aged woman, listening to her inner self, fleeing a harsh family past, and clinging to memories of a love story from which only deep memories remain, dwelling inside her and never leaving, just as she does in this ancient building. Memories collapse and entangle with the folds of the groves and trees she contemplates during her walks, fighting time, while ghosts of the past chase her, causing some features to shine and others to fade; just like a lake when thick fog falls upon it, becoming a mirage that deceives the viewer, distorting his vision and asking: Is it a lake of fog or a white oasis of frost groves floating on the water?! Few novels have adopted stream of consciousness as a narrative style, and Indian writer Nair managed to give this style a special rhythm woven with a mixture of elements from local Indian culture and its stunning nature, with sensitivity and intensity; cleverly revealing the narrow relationship between human awareness of himself and his relationship with nature. An enchanting novel in its ability to capture the music of silence, because at its core, it is the music of the universe! Number of pages: 120 Year of publication: 2021 Publisher: Dar Al-Khan for Publishing and Distribution