Book Review: The Sialkot Saga

When I like two books by an author, I try to read all his works. Having read Ashwin Sanghi’s Krishna Key and Rozabal Line, and liking it, I was sure to buy the Sialkot Saga. I did buy it and finished reading it last week. Ashwin Sanghi is a celebrity author now and his book creates a lot of buzz even before its release. That was true with his latest book too. So does Sialkot Saga meet the expectations of a Sanghi book?

Plot

Sialkot Saga has mainly two plots. One involving Arvind and Arbazz and the other one is half mythical and half historical. First about Arvind and Arbazz. They are both businessmen who want to become richer than what they are now (like all other businessmen). While Arbazz is a Muslim from Bombay, Arvind is a Hindu from Culcutta. Arbazz’s father was a poor daily wage labourer. He always stood straight and lived with whatever he earned. But Arbazz was not like his father. For him it was the end that mattered and not the means.

Arvind’s father was a Marwari businessman. So business was in Arvind’s blood from childhood itself. Compared to Arbazz, things were a lot easier for Arvind. He had good schooling, nice house, car and above all a businessman as his father. The major part of the book is about them. They break all the rules in the book on their way to reach the top. Money is the only factor that guides them.

The second plot involves Emperor Ashoka’s research team finding out a secret that could change the world. The secret is passed through generations through the chosen one. Arvind’s and Arbazz ‘s last fight is to get hold of the secret.

Review

The Sialkot Saga is divided into seven parts or seven books. Each book tells the story of a decade. It begins with Book 1 telling the stories from 1950-1960 and ends in Book 7 in 2010. Different incidents that happened in the history from 1947 to 2010 become a (small) part of the tale. This includes the partition, Emergency, Sikh riots, 9/11, 2002 riots, 26/11 etc. And many political figures like Indira Gandhi, P. V. Narasimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee are also used factiously. So Sialkot Saga also provides a brief political history of India. All that is good and enjoyable.

As I said earlier The Sialkot Saga has two plots- business plot and the mythical plot. The major short coming of Sialkot Saga is that these two plots are not blended well. Both of them exist separately until they are tied together in the epilogue. The first five parts of the book involve the business plot and the last two parts, the mythical plot. After the fifth part the story completely deviates from the initial plot. The book would have been better if it involved only one of the plots (preferably the mythical plot).

And then there are too many puns strewn here and there throughout the story. Some of them are good but most of them felt like being forced into the dialogues of the characters. If you see the book cover, trailer and all the main characters’ religion is highlighted. Their religion hasn’t got much role to play. But Hindu vs. Muslim tag in the trailer and book cover may have helped in marketing. For those of you who don’t know about shares and the share market most of the business transactions are just boring time pass. That was another major problem with me.

The only chapter I loved in the book was the epilogue. The epilogue ties together all the loose threads brilliantly, even though in a hurry, and brings the book to an end. Epilogue also creates an interest in the readers for Indian myth. (That’s what I expect from a Ashwin Sanghi book.) Epilogue saves the book from a complete crash landing and smoothens the fall somewhat.

Conclusion

The Sialkot Saga is not a business thriller as it claims. There is business, but it doesn’t thrill. By a thriller I mean a fast paced, adrenalin pumping book. The Sialkot Saga is no such book. Its just an average book meant only for Sanghi fans. My favourite Ashwin Sanghi book still remains the Krishna Key. That book introduced me to Ashwin Sanghi. Hope he writes another book like The Krishna Key- a mythological thriller that actually thrills.

My rating for The Sialkot Saga by Ashwin Sanghi is 2/5.

Share your views of The Sialkot Saga and my review in the comments section below.

Publisher: Prakash Srinad - 19:34:00

Book Review: Half of a Yellow Sun

Haven’t read African fiction before so ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ is my introduction to African writing. ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ is a historical fiction set in the nineteen sixties in Nigeria. The backdrop of the novel is the Nigeria-Biafran war. When it is about war; poverty, selfishness, love and above all merciless killings are sure to be a part of the plot. ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ has all this and much more. The author touches most of the incidents that are prone to happen in a war. There is an instance when a woman is forced to kill her pet dog and eat its meat, signifying the extent of poverty. There are many more such instances. The book is authored by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Plot and Summary

The novel begins when Ugwu, a 13 year old boy from a poor village, is appointed as the houseboy at Master Odenigbo’s house. Odenigbo is a radical professor at the Nsukka University. He raises his voice against the oppression of the Black Africans. He is a ‘revolutionary lover’. Olanna is Odenigbo’s lover. She too is a strong, educated woman. She might be called a softer version of Odenigbo. Olanna has a twin sister Kainene. They are non-identical twins. Then there is Richard, a British journalist cum writer. Riichard is impressed by Kainene at their first meeting itself and very soon falls in love with her.
For Ugwu after 13 years of near poverty, life in Master’s house is like a dream come true. He serves his Master and Olanna well and life is almost perfect. For Odenigbo and Olanna, and Richard and Kainene too life is perfect. There are a few instances that test their mutual trust and loyalties, but they overcome them together.
But the Biafran war is nothing like that. The coup, counter coup and the following ethnic cleansing of the Igbo community from the North of Nigeria, leaves them completely shattered. Their loved ones are killed in the riots and Biafra is asking for secession which leads to the civil war. Olanna, Odenigbo and their daughter along with Ugwu are forced to leave Nsukka to safer, remote places. Same happens with Richard and Ka too. They are forced to live in Orlu. How they survive in the war and overcome the death of their loved ones forms the rest of the story.

Characters

Adichie has chosen her characters real well. She has also managed to put forth all their point of views, even though conflicting. Though Adichie talks from the Igbo people’s side, she doesn’t over-sympathize with them. She also includes conscription and how people were mercilessly conscripted; rapes by army men; thefts and attacks by army etc.
Adichie’s narration is so good that we feel pity for Richard, cry for Olanna and respect the strong woman in Kainene. Kainene and Olanna are both strong women but at the same time they are completely different. Olanna is strong but her strength comes from her husband, whereas Kainene’s strength is her own. She is not influenced by anyone and her views are her own. Odenigbo is an extremist for whom all whites are oppressors and he doesn’t hide his irritation for Richard.

So this is a great work of historical fiction and worth a read. This book is a fight against oppression as well as war. Hope to read more about Africa. Divided by war, but are they finally united by love?

Publisher: Prakash Srinad - 06:00:00

Book Review: Tales from a Vending Machine

Tales from a Vending Machine is the third novel by Anees Sallim. My introduction to Anees Salim was through ‘The Blind Lady’s Descendants’. ‘The Blind Lady’s Descendants’ was an exceptional family saga and that had encouraged me to buy Vanity Bagh. But Vanity Bagh was just a plain novel and I was disappointed. Then I came across ‘Tales from a Vending Machine’ in my library. There is nothing on the cover that attracts you except for the author's name (if you are familiar with him). But I decided to read it because it was from the author of ‘The Blind Lady’s Descendants’.

Plot And Summary

‘Tales from a Vending Machine’ is the story of Hasina Mansoor. It couldn't exactly be called a story, rather, like a serial it is several episodes from Hasina's life. Hasina is a vending machine attendant at the Airport Department Lounge, who sells tea at 40 Rs. Even though she sells costly tea, she isn’t any rich. With just Rs 1800 per month, she has to pay for the graduation of her twin sister Shamla and also look after her younger brother Ali. Her father owns the ‘Mustafa Stores’, which he is thinking of selling, for repaying his debts. Hasina’s parents are more concerned about the ongoing feud with the upstairs neighbours, Laila Aunty’s family. Laila Aunty is her father’s half sister. In the midst of all this, Hasina is in love with her cousin Eza (Laila Aunty’s son). With nothing extraordinary happening in her life she dreams of an extraordinary life. Sometimes she dreams of being an air-hostess and sometimes a pilot (who protects the plane and passengers from hijackers).

Though she is not satisfied with her life and always urges for more, she isn’t completely sad either. Moments with Eza are always comforting. And she also finds time to gossip with the ‘Cookie Lady’ and the ‘Coupon Centre Man’. But all this changes. She discovers a secret about someone very close to her. This completely shatters her and she starts hating everyone including herself. Will she ever have a good life?

Characters

Anees Salim has created a rare kind of character with Hasina. In the initial part of the novel Hasina is a caring young lady. Then towards the half of the novel she is shown gossiping about a lady who offered her a job and then betrayed her. And then towards the end she is a selfish, non-caring woman. Her sister Shamla is just the opposite. Initially she is arrogant but towards the end she is more caring and understanding (not selfless though). It is hard to love Hasina, but you will readily hate her. Then there is Haji Osman (owner of the vending machine) who is rude and Eza.

Narration

‘Tales from a Vending Machine’ is a first person narration and is narrated by Hasina. The book is full of humour and in fact it is the humour that sees you till the end. Hasina misspelling ‘Jews’ as ‘Juice’, when she says ‘I hate Juice’, or her explaining ‘microbes’ as a company owned by Bill Gates to her brother Ali, all add to the humour. Like I said earlier it is more like some episodes from a vending machine attendant’s life. I say that because, most of the chapters are just some incidents that happen in Hasina’s life and they are not linked. Just like Anees Salim’s other novels (I haven’t read ‘Vicks Mango Tree’), in this book too there is an unexplained death. The reason for an air-hostess’ suicide is left for the readers to imagine. 

Conclusion

So in general the book is not that great. It is just an okay read. Initial chapters are witty but soon we get bored. However it was better than ‘Vanity Bagh’. (That’s just my personal opinion. Vanity Bagh had won the Hindu Prize for the best fiction). And Blind Lady’s Descendents (again a winner of Hindu Prize) is one of my favorites.

Publisher: Prakash Srinad - 08:19:00