Its First Day this Year

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The sound and music

Freshness of its feel

Intermittent, sporadic

Had been knocking at the door

Since a few days.

Time had been ticking away

Mired in uncertainty

With patience withering

Having betrayed twice earlier

Of a long stay.

But in the dark of last night

With such humdrum

A roaring arrival

Beckoned from high above

And left all awash.

There was no bright Sun

In its welcome

Only a growing green mat

On the ground that

It had made suddenly supple.

It its wake the dusty umbrella

Mushroomed to its glory

The ascending sound atop it

Old, familiar, yet new

Felt music to the ear.

A puddle here

A stream there

A rivulet somewhere else

Contours and colors changed

For the first time this year.

Inching towards half the year

With a great gap to fill

Filled in endless grey mounds

From the sky above

The Monsoon arrived today.

Book Review - The Sialkot Saga by Ashwin Sanghi

 

I barely read fiction without recommendation. So when The Sialkot Saga by Ashwin Sanghi was recommended in words that really meant to be true, I took the chance. At the end of the voluminous book, I can say it was worth it. The Sialkot Saga is an interesting book which has two historical strands, one strand that begins with King Ashoka and other that is starts from the bloody India-Pakistan partition. The latter strand forms the bulk of the book with the former being interspersed before both join in the end.

The Sialkot Saga is a story of a businessman and a mafioso, Arvind and Arbaaz. It is a story of their meteoric rise, their huge thirst for success, their 'deals' and how their paths cross and their future shared and intertwined. Arvind operates largely from Calcutta and Arbaaz from Bombay and both cities have found ample description in the book.

In the early years after independence government's role was heavy handed. The Indian state which placed welfare at the heart of its policies had the government play a nanny state. Business would flourish in the strict regulation when mixed with malpractice. Arvind Bagadia, with a sharp economic sense would exactly do that. Governments overregulation also fanned the mafia who indulged in liquor, property, union and other 'businesses'. Arbaaz found his footing there.

The stories of Arvind and Arbaaz are those of planning and execution of cons of various kinds. And through them they reach dizzying heights, reaching position in Forbes richest Indian list. Their personal lives have not been given substantial importance other than their wives, one of whom (Arbaaz's wife Paromita) happened to be the others estranged girlfriend. The secret running from Ashokan empire, passing from generation to generation come together in the end with Arvind and Arbaaz's next generation who by sheer coincidence join in matrimony.

The Sialkot Saga works because Ashwin Sanghi has woven real historical events well into the plot. Be it a Shyama Prasad Mookherji telling a young Vajpayee ji to tell his story to the world, be it the anti-Sikh pogrom post Indira Gandhi's assassination, be it liberalization in 1991 or be it 9/11, at all points in the book the travel from history to present adds to the story that gets built up.

The book works because of the diversity that Ashwin Sanghi has depicted and in good detail. Be it mythology, be it working of a stock market, be it industrial policies of the 70s or be it science towards the end of the book, the research is pretty immaculate. These facts coupled with the historical events gives certain credibility to the plot, which at times veneer towards being filmy.

Overall, it is a light read and a very enjoyable one, especially for those who like a little bit of Indian political history and world history since late 1950's. The story is gripping, is fast paced, has the right masala and importantly is informative too. Do grab a copy, its worth it.

PS: I could find a small error where the name Paromita is mentioned where it should have been Abhilasha on page 352 :P

Be, You

 

Are you feeling you today?

Like the behemoth blue river

Which suavely sways

Which ferociously falls

Or are you the river today

Which is contained

Within a mountain of concrete

That someone built to harness you.

Are you feeling you today?

Like the mighty mountains

Covered in gregarious green

Home to the beautiful birds

Or are you the mountain today

Which has been razed

By people to build their paths.

Are you feeling you today?

Like the endless ocean

Concomitant with calmness

Where woven are many worlds

Or are you the ocean today

Which is blemished

By those who spew oil and filth.

Are you feeling you today?

Like the morning dew drop

On a full of life leaf

Untouched and fresh

Or are you the dew drop

That bears within dirt

That people sprayed and spread

Are you feeling you today?

Like the unbridled thought

As clear as an autumn sky

Without a spot and blue

Or are you the cluttered sky

The early signs of a tempest

Looming boulders of grey

Are you today, you?

Are you not what you are?

You are after all, your thought

Flow wide like a contained river

Rumble like a razed mountain

Be violent like an angry ocean

Fall like a burdened dew drop

See sun through the dark clouds

Be, you.