If there would have censor board existed for books, this would have gotten 'A' rating for sure. Full of violence, action, thrill, sex; yet sensible, intriguing, not vulgar, unraveling our hypocrisy, ripping the truth apart of our society, showing the true dark face of our police, judiciary system, politics and politicians. Tarun (J. Tejpal), an astute writer has put all his experience, endurance of journalism behind, in writing this book. A true and fabulous work by the master of the art.
Typical north Indian set-up of the story, started from Delhi with the main character of the book. The story goes further on telling about the life of his assassins which is set-up in western part of Uttar Pradesh, to Haryana and Delhi itself. And finally it rest-in-peace in Delhi, where police captures them and they get into the jail. The books gives the good indication of the way people think, they way they live their life, the manner in the way they talk, and also how they behave in daily life in these parts of India. A description of a building, which tells the common habit of paan eating and throwing the red color waste in every corner of the buildings, "Everything was soiled, dirty, peeling. Every corner had a chiaroscuro of blood-red paan stains. Despite their grand scale, the corridors were dark and musty and poorly lit, with the illumination from the windows and ventilators truncated by dirt and furniture.". Further it goes ahead and talk about the most selling bestseller as "I had read in the hand-stapled, one-rupee novellas of Mastram Mastana that regularly ignited onanistic mayhem in the back benches. Every boy in the Hindi belt had dirtied his hands on Mastram.".
Most of the time language is crude, used in daily life. Many a times full of abuses, slangs, lingos popular in north-India and bad words of'course which are widely used but not in living rooms . Once in every two pages you'll come across such words. But in fact, this is the way a normal life goes on in northern part of India. "She looked at me, challenging, demanding. I said, 'Salli randi!'". It goes on with"All I told her was that the investors were friends of Jai, and I had christened them Chutiya-Nandan-Pandey.".
Books take us through the rough, dark, depressing, dingy, groaned life of the Police yet it also shows us the pitiable life police-men are living. It's start with showing a sub-inspector's life who is six month away from his retirement. He says showing limited power he has "We do what those above us in the department tell us to do. And they do what those above them tell them to do. And what they tell us is not always right. But it's not our job to ask why.". As we go on with the story we also meet a bunch of police-men who shows us that they are the god in their arena i.e. lock-up. No one can challenge them there, not even God. "Nothing surprised the boy because he was an aficionado of Bangkok's cinema. But it certainly hurt. Shakaal was the first in, without taking off his Michael Jordan shorts; then Kumla Jogi, cackling and talking all the while; and finally the third man, who first brutally used his mouth. Later, he kneeled the boy on the edge of the table and simply would not stop."
The writing in the book is fierce which successfully nailed the target of weak police and malign politics of current time. It also genuinely portrayed the India society as a whole. This book is neither for faint-hearted nor for children for sure. I felt having a censor-board in place for books also after reading this book. Overall, the book is must read.
However it was good to read two great books back to back. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie followed by The Story of My Assassins by Tarun J. Tejpal. I wish the luck will not disperse me in hurry.
Typical north Indian set-up of the story, started from Delhi with the main character of the book. The story goes further on telling about the life of his assassins which is set-up in western part of Uttar Pradesh, to Haryana and Delhi itself. And finally it rest-in-peace in Delhi, where police captures them and they get into the jail. The books gives the good indication of the way people think, they way they live their life, the manner in the way they talk, and also how they behave in daily life in these parts of India. A description of a building, which tells the common habit of paan eating and throwing the red color waste in every corner of the buildings, "Everything was soiled, dirty, peeling. Every corner had a chiaroscuro of blood-red paan stains. Despite their grand scale, the corridors were dark and musty and poorly lit, with the illumination from the windows and ventilators truncated by dirt and furniture.". Further it goes ahead and talk about the most selling bestseller as "I had read in the hand-stapled, one-rupee novellas of Mastram Mastana that regularly ignited onanistic mayhem in the back benches. Every boy in the Hindi belt had dirtied his hands on Mastram.".
Most of the time language is crude, used in daily life. Many a times full of abuses, slangs, lingos popular in north-India and bad words of'course which are widely used but not in living rooms . Once in every two pages you'll come across such words. But in fact, this is the way a normal life goes on in northern part of India. "She looked at me, challenging, demanding. I said, 'Salli randi!'". It goes on with"All I told her was that the investors were friends of Jai, and I had christened them Chutiya-Nandan-Pandey.".
Books take us through the rough, dark, depressing, dingy, groaned life of the Police yet it also shows us the pitiable life police-men are living. It's start with showing a sub-inspector's life who is six month away from his retirement. He says showing limited power he has "We do what those above us in the department tell us to do. And they do what those above them tell them to do. And what they tell us is not always right. But it's not our job to ask why.". As we go on with the story we also meet a bunch of police-men who shows us that they are the god in their arena i.e. lock-up. No one can challenge them there, not even God. "Nothing surprised the boy because he was an aficionado of Bangkok's cinema. But it certainly hurt. Shakaal was the first in, without taking off his Michael Jordan shorts; then Kumla Jogi, cackling and talking all the while; and finally the third man, who first brutally used his mouth. Later, he kneeled the boy on the edge of the table and simply would not stop."
The writing in the book is fierce which successfully nailed the target of weak police and malign politics of current time. It also genuinely portrayed the India society as a whole. This book is neither for faint-hearted nor for children for sure. I felt having a censor-board in place for books also after reading this book. Overall, the book is must read.
However it was good to read two great books back to back. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie followed by The Story of My Assassins by Tarun J. Tejpal. I wish the luck will not disperse me in hurry.
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