Discussion on Manju Jaidka’s book organised

Solan, December 11

Belletristic, the literary society of the Department of English, Shoolini University, organised Friday literary session on the novel ‘Gumshoe Mania’ by Professor Manju Jaidka, HoD of English Shoolini University, who has earlier been the chairperson of the Chandigarh Sahitya Akademi and the Chairperson of Punjab Unviersity’s Department of English.

The Chief Guest of the session was Eric Chinje who is an Educationist with Global Links, now based in Washington. The invited speakers of the session were Prof. Roshan Lal Sharma from Cnetral University, Dharamshala, and Umang Kharbanda, a young PhD research scholar. The panel also comprised the faculty of the English Department of Shoolini University, Poornima Bali, Neeraj Pizar, Rakesh Williams, Sakshi Sundaram, Tej Nath Dhar, and Hemant Kumar.

The session was moderated by Navreet Sahi. Roshan Sharma initiated the discussion with a detailed description of the book “Gumshoe Mania” as an amalgam of detective fiction, popular fiction, serious novel, and many other genres. He particularly pointed out the use of some remarkable poetic lines and discussed the deeper psychological layers in the narrative, making a comparison of Jaidka’s “Gumshoe Mania” with Rushdie’s works. “Gumshoe Mania,” in the words of Roshan Sharma is “a remarkable quest narrative”.

Manju Jaidka explained the theme of the novel and the title. Gumshoe is a detective in comman parlance, she said, the gumshoe referring to the rubber sole that detectives wear while pursuing their quarry. The invited speakers talked about the strong characteristics of the protagonist. The chief guest, Eric Chinje, also highlighted the charms of the book.