Recently I finished a novel, "Chanakya's Chant" by Singhvi. This is second novel by the author. After having read his first novel "The Rozabol Line", I was a little apprehensive about the new book. But after reading favourable reviews on some online site, I decided to go ahead and read it. And was it good..!! The book is basically a fiction about how normally there is always a person in background pulling the strings responsible for the success of a leader. The behind the scene person may even be doing it just to see the other person succeed but is present nonetheless.
The plot travels in parallel between the imagined life of Chanakya the behind the scenes man for Chandragupta Maurya in ancient India, and life of fictitious Gangasagar Mishra who plans to mentor a girl to become a politician and Prime Minister of India. Although its apparent that Singhvi derives inspiration from the Chanakya serial aired on Indian national TV, and from numerous other works based politics (Indian version of it), it is absolutely delightful to read his version of telling. But most of all the fact that the book tries to draw similarity in Indian political map and its basic machinery over a vast timeline of 2500 years gap is something appreciable. You end up thinking that in spite of different times in which the stories take place, even if you had interchanged them, the characters actions and result would not have been much different. It states openly wht has always been known as the basic rule in politics, "The end justifies the means";
Narration of book is from view point of the main characters and hence it never dwells into the morality of their actions nor does it even try to show them as of grey in nature. This results in the reader having to make all the moral thinking for themselves and come to a decision and that too if they want too judge the characters. Now definitely a person who said "Never be too honest. It is the straight tree that is always cut first, not the twisted one." would make an interesting character. Now surely a person who believes in facts like " A snake even though not poisonous, should pretend to be otherwise", would make a great political mentor as did Chanakya and his modern pseudo-mirror Gangasagar. Surely a book worth reading for all those interested in either Chanakya or in politics as such.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The King-Maker!! - Review
Recently I finished a novel, "Chanakya's Chant" by Singhvi. This is second novel by the author. After having read his first novel "The Rozabol Line", I was a little apprehensive about the new book. But after reading favourable reviews on some online site, I decided to go ahead and read it. And was it good..!! The book is basically a fiction about how normally there is always a person in background pulling the strings responsible for the success of a leader. The behind the scene person may even be doing it just to see the other person succeed but is present nonetheless.
The plot travels in parallel between the imagined life of Chanakya the behind the scenes man for Chandragupta Maurya in ancient India, and life of fictitious Gangasagar Mishra who plans to mentor a girl to become a politician and Prime Minister of India. Although its apparent that Singhvi derives inspiration from the Chanakya serial aired on Indian national TV, and from numerous other works based politics (Indian version of it), it is absolutely delightful to read his version of telling. But most of all the fact that the book tries to draw similarity in Indian political map and its basic machinery over a vast timeline of 2500 years gap is something appreciable. You end up thinking that in spite of different times in which the stories take place, even if you had interchanged them, the characters actions and result would not have been much different. It states openly wht has always been known as the basic rule in politics, "The end justifies the means";
Narration of book is from view point of the main characters and hence it never dwells into the morality of their actions nor does it even try to show them as of grey in nature. This results in the reader having to make all the moral thinking for themselves and come to a decision and that too if they want too judge the characters. Now definitely a person who said "Never be too honest. It is the straight tree that is always cut first, not the twisted one." would make an interesting character. Now surely a person who believes in facts like " A snake even though not poisonous, should pretend to be otherwise", would make a great political mentor as did Chanakya and his modern pseudo-mirror Gangasagar. Surely a book worth reading for all those interested in either Chanakya or in politics as such.
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