Spellbinding narratives

And all is said by Zareer Masani

Penguin. Pages: xii+236. Price: Rs. 299/-

This book looks at the evolution of free India’s socio-political elites through the Masani-Srivastava family saga. The author’s mother, Shakuntala, was a daughter of JP Srivastava who had made his millions under the British patronage. Hers was a typical upper class Indian’s life during the British Raj – elite schools, privileged social circles, plus all the trappings befitting a faux feudal lady. She was headstrong, and defying her father’s wishes she married the twice divorced, much older Minoo Masani who had started off as a leftist Congressman during his student days in London. However, after India’s independence, he parted ways with the Congress to become one of the founders of the rightist Swatantra Party. Shakuntala comes through as an emblematic upper class snob who does not hesitate while displaying disdain for the “working class” Sonia Gandhi although she herself was an Indira Gandhi acolyte.

Zareer, son of Minoo and Shakuntala, has skillfully intertwined the Srivastava industrial domain’s gradual and inexorable disintegration (thanks to vicious sibling rivalry and the male progeny’s incompetence as heirs) with the country’s changing political fortunes. He has also tried to be an impartial investigator into the reasons behind his parents’ mutual love decaying into a cesspit of distrust and recriminations, resulting in a messy divorce. Ironically, both Minoo and Shakuntala were gregarious but died sad and lonely. Zareer has been extremely honest in his observations – including on his sexuality. Although a story of Zareer’s extended families the narrative is rich with details of India’s political and social evolution.

A valuable addition to your bookshelf.

Mr. J has left us by Sanjiv Bhatla

Crabwise Press. Pages: 283. Price: Rs. 300/-

J. Gossain is from India’s back-of-the-beyond small town, Etah. He goes to Mumbai in search of better prospects, and succeeds in landing a job that provides decent salary and good prospects. Soon, he becomes restless as ambition grips him. Chafing against the 9 to 5 routine, he feels shackled. Eventually, he resigns and becomes a freelancer. But, he realizes that it is not easy to make it big in the Maximum City, given the sort of upbringing and worldview he has imbibed. Ennui, a sense of failure and a simmering sense of resentment against his mother drive him into brothels and bars. Bhatla has deftly employed a schizophrenic narrative – in that the naïve Gossain frequently argues with his sensible and street-savvy alter ego – to debate the alternatives to the protagonist’s choices vis-à-vis his career, love life and life in general. More importantly, the author successfully delineates the complications in Gossain’s character by juxtaposing his bitterness against his mother with his actual behavior towards her in Etah. Again, he craves for love but is unable to recognize it when offered.

Moreover, the novel graphically explores Mumbai’s dark underbelly. One feels impelled to turn its pages to track the road to self-destruction that the unsophisticated Gossain treads.

Zero percentile 2.0 by Neeraj Chhibba

Rupa. Pages: xi+257. Price: Rs. 140/-

This is a sequel to the author’s previous novel, Zero Percentile. The narrative is set in Gurgaon where Pankaj and Motu start a small software company called Numerosoft. Even as the company begins to taste success daunting problems begin to crop up. The company’s able technologist Arjun realizes that his newborn daughter, Diyaa, is differently enabled mentally; his more ambitious and “practical minded” wife deserts the father-daughter duo. Then there is Nitin who is stricken with AIDS. However, what attracts the reader’s attention is the poaching of the company’s software secrets by a mysterious rival who is out to destroy or take over Numerosoft.

This book is an absorbing tale of individuals caught in the whirlpool of the 21^st century corporate world where playing hardball is considered a normal activity.

Published in The Tribune dated 25 March 2012