The Quest of the Sparrows

The Quest of the Sparrows is a debut novel written by Kartik Sharma (an alumnus of IIT Delhi 2009 & IIM Ahmedabad 2011) and Ravi 'Nirmal' Sharma (an alum of Delhi College of Engineering 1982). It is about a journey of human evolution, into the next stage and has been published by Rupa Publications, a leading publisher in India. Kartik Sharma has won the award for the best science fiction story Invertland which appeared in Science Reporter, a leading magazine of India. Ravi 'Nirmal' Sharma has also won the award for the best Science Fiction Story in Science Reporter. He was also interviewed in Doordarshan, India's government owned TV channel for his novella: All the Pieces of a Puzzle which appeared in Science Reporter and was hugely popular.
The Quest of the Sparrows was featured in The Hindu one of the most influential papers of India. It enjoys rank 42 among the 'Best South Asian Fiction' by Goodreads, an eminent book community.
Synopsis
The protagonist of the novel is young Partibhan, a reluctant guru, who is witness to the antics of his followers. Despite their best intents they are unable to break through patterns and molds. Seeing their situation and the desire to change, he yearns for a way to make spirituality, practical instead of theoretical as is the convention.
Inspiration for the journey
Partibhan is inspired by the life of a sparrow, which despite being frail and lowest in the evolutionary chain, lives every day of its life joyously and without hoarding anything for the future. In contrast to the sparrows, human beings, despite being placed highest in the evolutionary ladders, spend most of their time worrying about the future and hoard things in their desire to secure the future. Partibhan finds it ironical that the highest and the lowest in the evolutionary chain should end up with the same mediocre results when it comes to the business of living.
Practical spirituality
To change the Status Quo, on an impulse, Partibhan decides to take his disciples on a practical journey without money, food and belongings. The idea is to try to survive like a sparrow for at least a few days. To live without worries that haunts them, just for a few days. With this journey he hopes that his followers and the world will see that survival is not a big deal.
Journey for evolution
The experiences of this journey, he feels, will trigger a new era where people will shed their worries and insecurity and give expressions to their innate and infinite capabilities. He believes every human being has a hidden potential to do something unique, which only they can do. It only needs to find an expression and this can only be achieved if the fear of the future was given up.

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