As mentioned before on this blog, I found myself getting rather tired of the plots, characters and stories woven by Western authors. So I turned to the Indian ones - specifically to Ashwin Sanghi. I had seen his books many times in the library but had never reached for one. I decided to give them a try and checked out 'Keepers Of The Kalchakra'.
To be sure, it has been more than a month since I read the book so my recollection of the details is more than a bit hazy. I remember, though, that the plot was extremely interesting. The book, however, seemed very long-winded. Parts of it were too theoretical for my taste. Towards the end, I found myself checking out how many pages are left. As far as the characters go, I must confess that it felt strange to get used to characters with Indian names. How I wish the author hadn't mentioned that the protagonist Vijay has flecks of dandruff in his hair. Every time Vijay was mentioned I kept seeing dandruff in his head :-( I was almost afraid sooner or later I will come across product placement of Head & Shoulders! The Russian scientist drove me nuts with his incessant 'Do you know about' questions. Anyone following world politics even for a bit would laugh at the possibility of an agent of RAW being included with agents of CIA and Russia's FSB in any task force. But this is a book by an Indian author so it's his world and his characters. That said, why must Russian agents be portrayed with only the interests of Mother Russia in mind, the rest of the world be damned? And why can't the RAW agent be shown consumed by the same zeal? I am tired of the stereotypes. Of course, if the Indian agent were depicted that way, he would probably die chanting 'Vande Mataram', sacrificing his life for his country, at the end of the book - as depicted in countless Indian movies of a certain era. :-) Anyways, the end of the book didn't justify the length of the path that it took to get there, in my humble opinion. But it was good enough for me to want to sample another of the author's offerings.
Hence The Sialkot Saga. There is an element of an ancient powerful secret in here as well. But it is so wafer thin that it gets buried under layers of the plot and its unnecessary twists and turns - only to surface towards the very end of the book, when you are almost sure that the author has forgotten about it. If the book were about the events that took place in India during her partition and post independence, it would have served its purpose of being a good summary for anyone interested in these events. But this isn't a book about history. It's a novel where India's past was supposed to be used as a backdrop. And yet, that backdrop has expanded in size to consume the whole of the narrative. Why the author felt the need to insert the protagonists, Arvind Bagadia and Arbaz Shaikh, in most of these major events, is simply beyond me. A crisper narrative would have achieved the same objective. The plot of brothers getting separated early in life only to be revealed as siblings towards the end has gone beyond being threadbare. :-( I didn't check if the ancient secret mentioned has any basis in history or is merely the product of the author's imagination. But I might just do that one of these rainy days.
The length of both of these books has, however, frustrated me enough not to go for any of the author's books so soon. True, I would like to read The Rozabal Line, Chanakya's Chant and The Krishna Key. Ancient secrets, real or imaginary, have always fascinated me. But alas, the library doesn't have any of the 3 books. :-( And I am not in the mood for reading Private Delhi. Well, currently at least.
To be sure, it has been more than a month since I read the book so my recollection of the details is more than a bit hazy. I remember, though, that the plot was extremely interesting. The book, however, seemed very long-winded. Parts of it were too theoretical for my taste. Towards the end, I found myself checking out how many pages are left. As far as the characters go, I must confess that it felt strange to get used to characters with Indian names. How I wish the author hadn't mentioned that the protagonist Vijay has flecks of dandruff in his hair. Every time Vijay was mentioned I kept seeing dandruff in his head :-( I was almost afraid sooner or later I will come across product placement of Head & Shoulders! The Russian scientist drove me nuts with his incessant 'Do you know about' questions. Anyone following world politics even for a bit would laugh at the possibility of an agent of RAW being included with agents of CIA and Russia's FSB in any task force. But this is a book by an Indian author so it's his world and his characters. That said, why must Russian agents be portrayed with only the interests of Mother Russia in mind, the rest of the world be damned? And why can't the RAW agent be shown consumed by the same zeal? I am tired of the stereotypes. Of course, if the Indian agent were depicted that way, he would probably die chanting 'Vande Mataram', sacrificing his life for his country, at the end of the book - as depicted in countless Indian movies of a certain era. :-) Anyways, the end of the book didn't justify the length of the path that it took to get there, in my humble opinion. But it was good enough for me to want to sample another of the author's offerings.
Hence The Sialkot Saga. There is an element of an ancient powerful secret in here as well. But it is so wafer thin that it gets buried under layers of the plot and its unnecessary twists and turns - only to surface towards the very end of the book, when you are almost sure that the author has forgotten about it. If the book were about the events that took place in India during her partition and post independence, it would have served its purpose of being a good summary for anyone interested in these events. But this isn't a book about history. It's a novel where India's past was supposed to be used as a backdrop. And yet, that backdrop has expanded in size to consume the whole of the narrative. Why the author felt the need to insert the protagonists, Arvind Bagadia and Arbaz Shaikh, in most of these major events, is simply beyond me. A crisper narrative would have achieved the same objective. The plot of brothers getting separated early in life only to be revealed as siblings towards the end has gone beyond being threadbare. :-( I didn't check if the ancient secret mentioned has any basis in history or is merely the product of the author's imagination. But I might just do that one of these rainy days.
The length of both of these books has, however, frustrated me enough not to go for any of the author's books so soon. True, I would like to read The Rozabal Line, Chanakya's Chant and The Krishna Key. Ancient secrets, real or imaginary, have always fascinated me. But alas, the library doesn't have any of the 3 books. :-( And I am not in the mood for reading Private Delhi. Well, currently at least.
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