An Afghan’s odyssey I In the Sea There are Crocodiles by Fabio GedaI

At the age of 10, Enaiatollah Akbari sets out with his mother from his village Nava, in Afghanistan. After a perilous journey, they arrive in Quetta, Pakistan. She makes him swear three things: Never to use drugs; never to use weapons; never to cheat or steal.
This advice is all he has when his mother leaves in the quiet of the night to return to her other children back in Nava.

With most of the odds against him, chances of Enaitollah’s survival in a new, hostile country are bleak. But he survives to tell his poignant tale. The story is told by Fabio Geda as a series of conversations with Enaitollah. These conversations between the author and the protagonist are spread through the narrative. Written in Italian, the book has been translated into English by Howard Curtis.

Abandoned in Quetta, Enait picks up odd manual jobs. Even when he is reduced to a mere street urchin, he misses his days at school and Buzul Bazi, a dice game played a bone taken from a sheep’s foot after it’s been boiled. He listens to the children playing during school recess, longing to join them but is forced to go out into a world where a simple request for water elicits a scathing reply: First tell who are you? Are you a Shia or a Muslim. By now Eniat has learnt his lessons as he shoots back, "First I am a Shia, then I am a Muslim. Or rather, first I am a Hazara, then Shia then a Muslim." Hazara, inhabitants of Ghazni province, are identified by their almond eyes and flatter noses. While some claim to be descendants of Genghis Khan’s army others claim to have come down from Koshans, the legendary builders of the Bamiyan Buddhas. "Some others say we’re saves and treat us like slaves," says Enaitollah. Fed up of being treated badly, he decides to go to Iran, where he had heard "things were much better". Here begins  Eniat’s association with people traffickers, cramped trucks and the constant fear of Telisia and Sang Safid, the immigrant detention centres. At the Iranian city of Isfahan, he picks up the job at a construction site, which is where most of the illegal migrants worked. But with the constant police raids and the sword of deportation hanging on his head, Eniat decides to move again; this time to Turkey. This journey is far more challenging than anything he had been through. From Salmas, the last city in Iran and
closest to the mountains, begins a 27-day trek across snow-capped mountains.

On arriving in Istanbul, it becomes clear that there was no work to be found there. A journey further ahead to Greece is imminent. Here ensues a voyage in a dinghy which ends in his landing at a Greek port town without any clothes. The journey to Mytilene and thereon to Rome is largely aided by kind-hearted people. Enaitollah’s tale is a real-life account not a fictionalised narrative. His journey, that spans from Nava to Turin, may bring to mind the century-old adventures of Kipling’s Kim. This is however a much more realistic account pared of all the romance of adventure and powered by the sole grit to survive. Enaitollah refuses to name most of the people and places. "Facts are important," he tells Fabio, "The story is important. It’s what happens to you that change your life, not where or who with." While debating if they should take the journey to Greece in a dinghy, a fellow Afghan mentions the threat of crocodiles in the sea. The only answer available at that time to the group of young boys in desperate search of a better life is that there are no crocodiles in the sea. A postscript to the novel notes that Eniat, who is now 22 years old, and has received asylum in Italy, has discovered that there really are crocodiles in the sea.

The circus of dreams I THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern I

In 1886 a circus arrives in London: Le Cirque des Rêves (the Circus of Dreams). A notice at its entrance announces "Opens at Nightfall, Closes at dawn". On the night of October 13, the gates of the circus are thrown open. One steps into a world of wonder. Everything in the circus follows a pattern of black and white colours. As people move from tent to tent, they admire the curiosities. From painfully slow-moving human statues to a giant clock that turns itself inside out, everything in this circus touches the point of bizarre. Nothing is out of step, everything is too perfect. As the clock strikes midnight, a giant bonfire is lit by 12 archers. As each of their barbs produces a different colour at the bonfire, two people in the circus realize the "game" had begun.
The "game" is a challenge between two magicians Hector Bowen and AH, who swore their students into a battle of magic. The rules of the game are not clear perhaps because there are no rules. The students Celia and Marco, are mere kids when their "preparation" for the challenge beings. While Marco spends cold, comfortless days in intense study, Celia is subject to painful exercise like her fingers being cut up so she can repair them "magically".  
The Night Circus is Erin Morgenstern’s first novel. Morgenstern, who lives in Massachusetts and is also multimedia artiste, describes all her work as "fairy tales in one way or another". Morgenstern’s peculiar brand of imagination works on details: frill and cut of dresses, smells that bring back memories, rain seeping slowly into clothes. The details present themselves through the magical world of the novel.  
The night circus is the stage where the challenge of wizards is played out. Celia is the illusionist in the circus and Marco is the owner’s assistant.  While, the bonfire lit by Marco powers the circus, Celia is the one who transports and "holds the circus together". The other members of the circus, including its owner Chandresh, have little clue about the real magic in action. The challenge involves a series of move with the two players adding their own magical tents to the circus and trying to gain control of it. Both Marco and Celia find themselves increasingly in awe of each other’s skills. By now the circus has tents like cloud maze, pool of tears, wishing tree, ice garden, desert world, to name a few. A steady group of fans known as rêveurs, follow the circus around. They dress in the trademark black and white of the circus but with a flourish of red. Meanwhile, the members of the circus don’t seem to age and begin to suspect something is wrong.
The admiration between Celia and Marco blooms into love soon, followed by the realization that the challenge would never end as long as both of them are alive.    
There is nothing ingenious about the story, given the rush of fantasy fiction in the last decade. While the magical challenge of Marco and Celia is played out in the world of muggles it is not clear how the two worlds interact.
This book would have been an ordinary work of fiction but for its stylized narrative. The story beings with the declaration: "The circus arrives without a warning." As you read the first chapter, you know Morgenstern is not in a hurry to tell her story. She lets the story breathe, slowly. Though, at 387 pages, it means a lot of breathing, but her prose has a lilt to it that accounts for more magic than all the charms in the book put together. She commits her blunders too, losing her rhythm to adjectives but pulls herself together.
Love between Marco and Celia is not something you see coming, given their detached rivalry. It does not sprout at the spur of the moment but evolves gradually, culminating to the point where both create breathtaking illusions for each other. A particularly interesting scene is the one where the two meet face to face as opponents for the first time. There are no pretences and secrets as the two wizards share details of how each controls the circus and what they are capable of. There is no love interest, but a
compulsion of having been unwillingly bound together by fate. While Celia stabs her hand with a dagger and heals it, Marco recreates a garden: What had been little more than a stack of rough stones moments before is now set and carved into ornate arches and pathways, covered in crawling vines and speckled with bright, tiny lanterns.
Contrived, yet compelling.

I am, therefore I am [ WELCOME TO AMERICASTAN by JABEEN AKHTAR ]

There are three stages experienced by one coming face to face with someone from Pakistan, explains Samira, the protagonist of Welcome to Americastan. First, disbelief that someone from the world’s most notorious brown country

ended up in the same room as you; second, fear and excitement that this Pakistani could have sinister ties with some of the terrible news events; third, the formulation of a bone-headed comment: You gave Bin Laden a house before our boys took his left eye out. Or, what an interesting time to be from Pakistan. With all the terrorists being from there and all.
There is method in the crazy humour.
I caught up with Jabeen Akhtar when she was in Delhi last week for the release of her first book, Welcome to Americastan. Akhtar is light-hearted, “cool” and surprisingly clear-headed. “It’s okay. We can survive people laughing at us,” she says before breaking into a giggle.
“It’s important to just sit back and laugh at ourselves and let other people laugh,” says Jabeen. “Humour is missing in any idea or literature about Pakistanis and Muslims. All the heavy elements on the subject have been out there for some time now, I wanted this book to give a kind of fresh
perspective.”
Welcome to Americastan deals with a peculiar Pakistani family that she calls “almost dysfunctional”, with each member seemingly headed in a different direction, with zero idea of what’s right or wrong.
It has a dramatic opening, throwing us right in the middle of a mother-daughter brawl. “Haramzadi! Awara! Bewaqoof!” Samira’s mother screams at her. Samira, or Sam, has come home, in Cary, North Carolina, after losing her job and her boyfriend of eight years in Washington, D.C., besides managing to get her name on the FBI’s terrorist watch list. None of this is known to her parents who think their daughter is home for a weekend. She bargains with her siblings to help her tow in her luggage secretly but is caught red-handed.
Here is a bizarre family in a state of disarray. Samira’s sister Meena doesn’t mind giving a blow job to a stranger at a party to get some weed for her heartbroken elder sister. Later she brings a female date to the elder brother’s Muslim wedding. Khalid, the elder brother who is about to get married, can think of
little other than videogames. He blows up the money saved up
for his marriage to get a fancy gadget.
The parents on the other hand carry deep memories and a longing for Pakistan. The father narrates how his date of birth was “estimated” after his mother
said he was born around an epidemic in India, on a cold rainy night with ber littered around trees. The children are unable to relate to any of this.
A new trend in the expatriat community comes across. “The concept of identifying with geography is becoming more and more irrelevant for second generation children in the US,” says Akhtar. “You don’t get a sense of ‘I belong to this country’; it’s more like I’m just out there, floating about in the world’.”
The author, who was brought up in the US, says she had been in Pakistan for less than a fortnight in her entire life. “It was nothing like I had imagined it to be. I had thought people there would look like me, think like me, be cool... but it was nothing like that. A lot of things I did there were inappropriate.”
Much like Akhtar, her protagonist also rejects being classified as either an American or Pakistani or Pakistani-American.
Back home, Samira looks for ways to recover from her heartbreak. She begins to help her father at PAC-PAC, a civic organisation he started in the aftermath of 9/11.
Samira has a brush with racism at a store when an angry woman swears at her, “F***ing Arabs”, and then adds, “Welcome to America.” Samira is surprised to find people around her more angry and upset at this than she is. Despite being the “victim”, she has to comfort and pacify the crowd.
Later she thinks of the retort that would have trounced her opponent, “Hey b***h, didn’t you hear? It’s called Americastan now.”
Still unable to get over her ex-boyfriend Ethan, Samira ends up in an affair with a guy at her gym. Meanwhile, at PAC-PAC things begin to get difficult as some members oppose helping non-Muslim Pakistanis through the organisation. At one of the meetings the debate even turns into proving who is a better Muslim.
The fact that Samira had been put on the FBI’s terror list is revealed to her father at a crucial PAC-PAC meeting. The author puts Samira’s brush with law in a comic light: After realising that her boyfriend had left her for her bestfriend, she chases them and tries to run them over. She is caught by the cops and becomes a terror suspect. However, when she returns home, nothing troubles her more than the end of her relationship with Ethan. Being on the terror list seems to be the last thing on her mind. “It would be difficult for someone who thinks about his/her identity all the time to come out of such an experience,” says Akhtar. “But for someone for whom identity is not an issue it would be a joke.”
Meanwhile, Khalid is going to get married to his girlfriend, a white catholic, much to the dismay of his parents who insist on a Muslim wedding by a maulvi from Pakistan.
At the wedding Ethan is also invited and Samira prepares for the final faceoff.
The story has a young, hip tone. This is the view of the world from someone who doesn’t listen to newsroom debates or reads winding editorials.
The narrative does begin to lag towards the end, sounding nothing more than a girl’s pursuit of her ex-boyfriend. But humour being the touchstone, it keeps the story together.
Akhtar takes an unapologetic view of Pakistani expats. She doesn’t feel the need to “appear” American or even Pakistani. Like her, Samira belongs to an increasingly threatened brand of liberal-minded people. But her beliefs are not shaken either by the “terrorist” label or by a peer group that doesn’t share her views. Neither does she come across as a smug rebel. “Rebellious?... Oh, it’s nothing that glamorous. We’re just suburbanites,” she says.
Akhtar cleverly inserts thought into a largely humorous novel. She often manipulates farce and gives it a surprise sentimental twist. The father, for example, time and again uncovers his “Partition-era” scar for the children to see. The display is followed by a “scar speech” to remind them how hard the struggle was and how privileged they had been. This comic family scene takes a sharp turn in the end. “It is a part of me,” father tells Samira, “and it follows me wherever I go, but all I have to do is put on a shirt, you see. Cover it up and I can start over… that is why everybody comes to America.”

KARMA CHAMELEON I The Man Of A Thousand Chances by Tulsi Badrinath I

During the reign of 17th century emperor Jehangir, gold coins were minted for the king’s beloved wife Nur Jahan. She became the only empress to have her own coinage without ascending the throne. One of the biggest Mughal coins, the 1,000-mohur, weighing around 12 kilograms was also minted in this period.

This coin found its way to the coffers of the Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali, and is now locked away in a Swiss vault. It is one such coin that becomes the karma leash of Harihar Arora in Man of a Thousand Chances.

Weighing two kilograms and worth millions, the coin is in a Chennai museum where Harihar works and hatches the plan to “borrow” it. As Harihar’s colleagues watch mahouts trying to control an enraged elephant, he steals the Jahangir coin and rushes straight to the pawnbroker.
Having pawned the invaluable piece for `2 lakhs, guilt-ridden Harihar goes home to his wife Sarla and soon-to-be-married daughter Meeta. Harihar is determined he will return the money and restore the coin soon after Meeta’s wedding. Harihar notices his wife’s crumpled sari and preoccupied look. He resents her transformation from the shy woman who would greet him at the door wearing fresh clothes and a special smile. He recoils at sight of her tooth that had turned blue and could not be cured because of the money involved. As his daughter displays before him the purchases of the day he is drawn into a labyrinth of memories. The story of how his father had moved to Chennai for business unfolds. Harihar’s estranged relationship with his elder brother Ashok had led him to move out of the family business and the family house. He had then found a job at the museum and a mentor in his boss Mahadevan.
From Sarla’s angle, the world looks different. The fact that she trades in shares has been kept hidden from her husband all these years. He believes she spends her time trying to sell plastic kitchen boxes and “getting nowhere”. That, however, is far from truth. She has a mind and flair for business and is able to earn some money out of it. Another hidden name arises as we hear Sarla’s story: Ratan, the son who had gone missing and was never found. Despite all the years Sarla grieves for her lost son and somehow holds Harihar responsible for him.
A second generation north Indian in Chennai, Harihar’s household is a queer mix of traditions and language. Sarla’s learns bits of Tamil from her maid and the family works out a part-Tamil part-north Indian menu for the wedding. With sufficient cash at hand now, Harihar buys his wife and daughter saris of their choice. He has invested in a fund which will come to maturity soon after Meeta’s wedding. From this Harihar plans to buy back the coin. While the wedding is in progress Harihar gets to know that the fund managers are unable to pay back investors. On the other hand, the coin is spotted by a collector who recognises it’s real value and takes it from the pawnbroker. The pawnbroker tells Harihar the coin had been melted down. Dejected and beaten, Harihar is sure the loss of coin will be discovered anytime soon. Fate, however, has several surprises in store for him. Not only does he escape being accused of theft but is also able to mend his decaying relationship with his wife.
While one might think a second chance can make a world of a difference, this is the story of the man who gets a thousand. Caught in the storm of affairs surrounding his life, Harihar makes desperate attempt to make sense of it. His boss and mentor Mahadevan helps him connect the dots between karma and destiny. As Mahadevan takes him through a tedious journey from Gita’s karma to Schopenhauer’s will, Harihar emerges a man ready to take charge of his tumultuous life.
The Man of a Thousand Chances is Tulsi Badrinath’s second novel. She has made an attempt to bring together aspects of karma and art. She is unable, however, to weave the theme into the story. The exploration of karma and art by Mahadevan towards the end stands aloof from the rest of the narrative. It is also hard to believe that a mere lecture could induce a major change in Harihar. However, Tulsi has a keen eye for detail and her portrayal of family life is seamless. Be it Meeta stealing glances at the picture of her fiancé or the husband, wife and daughter filling their weekly store of water; the descriptions are warm and colourful.
One finds it hard to reconcile how a man may get so many chances while the others struggle for a single go. If we were to believe the words of Harihar’s mentor Mahadevan, that’s where karma comes into play. The story moves through pensive scenes without breaking into a common laugh at the face of destiny. While to a simple man like Harihar Schopenhauer may be too much to understand, humour can provide the perfect umbrella to take shelter from the moods of karma. After all a coin is as much a slave of karma as the man who carries it.

Truly Asia: Love in times of turmoil I THUNDER DEMONS by DIPIKA MUKHERJEE I

What goes into the bitter-sweet broth of an Asian tale? Fry a pinch of radical politics with a subversive plot. Add a spoonful of mystery. Marinate some individuals in love and mystery and throw them into the political frying pan. Whip the beans of mystery with past till they are a smooth cream. As the soup comes to a boil, add a piece of tragedy and let the broth sizzle. Garnish with desi flavour and serve. Conceived on these lines, Dipika Mukherjee gives us a perfect Asian tale in her novel Thunder Demons. The novel was long-listed for Man Asian Literary Prize (2009).

The mixed Malaysian culture of Chinese, Indians and Malays provides the perfect ground for the action to unfold. The sensitive ethnic equation of the country and a constant political simmering are the backbone of the novel. Incidents like the Malay authorities seizing 20,000 Bibles for referring to God as Allah, find an echo in the story.
As the book opens we find a sinister Colonel S tying explosives onto a Tibetan model who is thereafter executed. Issues of attire and conduct of women are a part of the brewing social upheaval.
Jayantha or Jay, a professor at an American university, is called back to Malaysia by his mentor Colonel S. For Jay, Malaysia is a bank full of memories. He writes to his dead friend Shanti’s daughter Agnibina. In Agni’s honest reply Jay sees the prospects of an exciting visit. Meanwhile, Colonel S is hatching a terrible plot for which he intends to enlist the help of his best recruit, Jay. A stent filled with super-explosives in place of drugs, is the project for which he needs Jay’s help. Though aware of his ulterior motives, Jay decides to go back and lay at rest the “demon tooth” of Shanti.
On his arrival Jay finds himself in the midst of a mass protest. A large number of Indian men have gathered to protest the “growing arrogance of a Master Race of Malays.”
Jay’s visit rattles Agni’s bedridden grandmother Shapna and so a trail of secrets begins to spill out. Through her gurgling sounds Shapna tries to warn her granddaughter about Jay but is unable to.
Agni, recently back from a long affair in the US, knows Shapna hadn’t told her the real story of her birth. Though back in Malaysia, Agni isn’t sure of her relationship with the land where her mother lost her life for love.
Abhik, the son of Mridula and Ranjan, is a lawyer and is the voice of minorities in the country. Agni and Abhik are in love.
A multi-layered story unfolds as grandmother Shapna tells us about her journey from India to Malaysia. A child bride Shapna was taken by Nikhil, 40 years her senior. As a stunning Shapna looks the groom’s side in the eye, everyone knows she is an unusual bride. Brought to Malaysia, young Shapna finds little comfort in her marriage. As she loses her first child during the years of First World War her best friend Siti (a Malay) nurses her with Malaysian magic. Siti evokes charms for a child to come to Shapna and soon the duo “find” Shanti. This story of Shanti being a fairy child is passed onto her daughter Agni.
However, what Agni does not know is why years later Siti is shocked to see her vagrant husband Zanial’s shadow merge with that of young Shanti. Why Shapna refuses to let Shanti become Zanial’s second wife. Why do Zanial and Siti vanish from the scene? Shanti drowns to her death after Jay, spurned in love by her, reveals the Oedipal truth of her birth.
Still burdened by the death of Shanti, Jay now falls in love with her daughter Agni and watches as death strikes Agni’s life.
The shifting point-of-views of Shapna, Colonel S and Jay reveal the complex story of three Indian and one Malay family. While Shapna hates Jay and holds him responsible for the death of her daughter, Jay grudges her liaison with his father. Colonel S, on the other hand, is embroiled in a political plot and driven by the idea of Malay supremacy. The most powerful of the three is the voice of Shapna: “I was brought up hearing that a woman’s life is like that of a Koi fish, hanging on to life despite all odds. Such was the idiom of acceptance for other women, never for me.”
Dipika Mukherjee, who is currently Professor of linguistics at Shanghai International Studies University, is a gifted story-teller. The narrative moves forward in a mystery maze as characters emerge in bits and pieces. Though the story has a distinct cultural flavour one can’t help asking for more. You also miss the picturesque life of Malaysia which gets nudged out in bid to make room for a complex story.
Malaysia’s tourism logo “Truly Asia” works as a foil as the country is seen falling apart over the question: who is “Bhumiputra”. A past muddled by invaders a present plagued with poverty and a future that asks poisonous questions makes this story of Malaysia truly Asian in spirit.

Meeting of flames of unconditional love I LONEY GODS by Shivani Singh I

THE WORLD of love stories is full of oxymorons: cloying yet irresistible, predictable yet thrilling, dumb yet inspiring. Shivani Singh’s Lonely Gods is a love story with a mystic twist. You may relate “Unconditional Love” to a romantic’s toilet dream, but in the novel it has a radically scientific avatar. UCL (Unconditional Love) is the

huge quantum of energy released when “Twin Flames” or two energies vibrating at the same frequency, come together. UCL, the most refined form of energy must be created to balance out the end-of-the-world scenario of 2012. Of course, the twin flames (who are people actually) find each other after thousands of painful lives.
Making love the ultimate weapon to protect the world from destruction, Singh walks the thin line between farce and humour. She dishes out the clichéd “throbbing of heart” and “look in the eye” but adds to it a touch of out-worldly magic. While the story moves towards a very predictable end it does so in the style of one powered by divine force.
The VNP is a secret society in Delhi to which Kamini has found an easy entry. A top-level project is on and Kamini finds herself a part of it. But unlike other members who specialise in forms of occult, Kamini is just another girl. Mira, Kamini’s landlady who brought her into the society, is a master of the Vedas and an astro-palmist. Carlos a “Caucasian swami” is an expert at ashtanga yoga and is said to have a range of supernatural powers from levitating to becoming invisible. Rita, Kamini’s boss, heads the quantum mythology wing of VNP. Ali, the brat, is the son of a filmstar and a powerful sorcerer. Hari, who is the keeper of the project’s flame and conducts its meetings, falls in love with Kamini. Rudra, a young boy who couldn’t talk is the last member of the group. While everyone else seems to know what the secret project is about, Kamini is the only one in the dark. As the members of the group join their energies to help her understand, she finds herself increasingly attracted to Hari, on one hand, and facing threat from “negative energies” on the other.
From Mira’s “Machu Picchu” house in Delhi where the members are holding their meeting, the story rolls back several years to Kolkata. In Chowringhee Apartment, young Raj meets Aparajita. Both are unable to sleep that night knowing all the while that the other is awake too. Aparajita is a married woman with a baby. Raj finds a way to meet Aparajita who is also a psychic. Strangely, both are able to connect in their minds even when they are physically apart. No words signalling love are exchanged in the physical realm but the two are perfect lovers in the world of thought. They find themselves together in their dreams, taking acute pleasure in each other’s bodies. Both are disconcerted by what is happening to them. Unwillingly, they feel the other within physical reach, the minute they shut their eyes.
As Aparajita gets up sweating hard from the feel of Raj’s hands on her thighs, she is unable to resolve the conflict in her dreams and real world. As their social positions make it impossible for them to meet, they drift apart and Aparajita moves out with her husband. The only physical evidence of love between them is the ring that Aparajita had chosen for Raj’s fiancée. Years later as Raj is on his deathbed and still pining for Aparajita, the ring assumes the power of his love for her. The “negative energies”, characterised by the villains in the story, fight to gain the ring. Needless to say, the villains too are masters of occult and magic.
As the VNP’s plan unfolds before Kamini, the real reason behind her being made a part of the project is disclosed. Inspite of her lack of magic, she is the most powerful weapon of them all. The climax takes place at a cosmically sacred site, where the twin flames will regain their power. A massive cyclone, brewed up by the villains, rages in the physical world while the final battle is fought in the non-physical realm of dreams. No magic and contraptions can win this war but forgiveness.
The suspense is kept up as the answers to who is the chief of the VNP and what is the relation of Kamini and Hari are reserved for the end. While the beginning of the book is listless, the end marks its culmination. The scene alternates between the VNP members preparing Aparajita for what is to unfold and the Raj-Aparajita love story.
Singh is aware of the love-sickness that her novel may induce and she adds a generous dose of humour to neutralise the effect. Kamini is the foil who makes fun of the magic percepts that are doled out to her making the reader relate to her. There is a little bit of everything here: Mills and Boons-style high-voltage romance on one hand and Chicken Soup for Soul-style eternal undying love on the other. Mysticism and occult form the mainstay of the novel making it appear different from the browbeaten mould. Yet, it’s not hard to figure that the basic format of the story is not too imaginative. “All love stories don’t come with pink accessories,” Hari tells Kamini during one of the VNP lessons, but this one definitely does qualifying it as a perfect romantic gift.

THE HEAD THAT WEARS THE CROWN... I Empire of the Moghul: Ruler of the World by Alex Rutherford I

There is something immensely fascinating and heroic about a warrior king. While history is replete with tales of such monarchs, we never seem to get enough of them. Empire of the Moghul: Ruler of the World is the third in the series of fictionalised accounts of the Mughal empire. Diana and Michael Preston, writing under the pen name of Alex Rutherford, pick up the reign of King Akbar in this work. Their focus, however, is not the exploits of the warrior king and the giant expanse of his empire but also the single strain of weakness in his rule: his sons.
Indian history commonly evokes the image of the hunt: King mounted on a tusker vanquishing a tiger. Akbar himself is believed to have a fascination for cheetahs and is known to have kept a large number of them in captivity. At the opening of the book too we find the 13-year-old Akbar on such a perilous expedition complete with drums, elephants and gunpowder. While he is still celebrating the kill the news is brought in that he had lost Delhi to King Hemu.
As the first “real” action faces him, the boy is coaxed to leave Delhi and move to safety. Minutes later, we are at the boy-king’s war council. But it is the commander-in-chief Bairam Khan, who calls the shots while Akbar sits and waits for his turn to speak. As the council begins to mull ways of retreat, a dramatic speech by young Akbar brings the chiefs back to onslaught mode.
At Panipat, Akbar with his 1,00,000 men faces a stronger army of Hemu. This is the battlefield where 30-years-ago his grandfather Babur had defeated the Lodhi Sultan. A mix of manoeuvres, grit and courage sees him bring down Hemu. It is a landmark win for Akbar but as Bairam Khan chides him for his brashness we know the king has yet to lose his commander-in-chief and his boyhood.
It’s a quick climb for Akbar into manhood as Mayala, a concubine, gives Akbar his first lessons in lovemaking.
Years later, when he has built a huge harem with several wives, Mayala continues to be one of his favourites. However, what stays missing is the bond he had seen his mother share with his father.
After defeating Hemu, Akbar begins to find Bairam Khan increasingly irksome. The king easily falls prey to a court plot to get rid of his right hand man. As the royal conspirers are brought to justice Akbar regrets his own gullibility. The echoes of this episode are felt much later as over the years Akbar trusts few, not even allowing his own sons the privilege to know his mind.
After recovering from the loss of Bairam Khan, Akbar turns his attention to Chittorgarh. Rajput warriors of Chittor prove worthy opponents. Akbar has his victory but only after losing an equal number of his own troops and witnessing the women throw themselves into live pyres. He decides it would be better to have the Rajputs fight for him than against him.
A Rajput princess, Hirabai, becomes his first wife. The alliance is a great success for the king but to the man it brings little comfort.
In Akbar, Hirabai sees a ruthless conqueror, someone who had to be driven away. In the author’s version Hirabai could never get reconciled to the marriage, beginning from the first night when she tries to stab her husband. Despite his vast harem, Akbar could not ignore Hirabai as he sees in her eyes the expression of a wild leopard. He promises, however, to leave her alone once she gave him an heir. After the birth of Salim, he keeps this promise.
Salim’s birth comes after much delay. A hostile Hirabai is suspected of using ways to keep off childbirth. However, after the blessings and predictions of Sheikh Salim Chishty, a son is born and consequently named after the saint.
Hereon, Akbar gradually fades as the story veers towards Salim. While he sees in his father a tolerant, generous king, his mother’s views are different. The father meanwhile, suspects that his wife is turning his son against him.
Unable to bank on his family, Akbar finds a faithful in Abul Fazal, who grows from being a mere chronicler to the king’s right hand man. In the course of time he meets the same fate as Bairam Khan at the hands of a jealous Salim.
No problem is insurmountable for Akbar, be it the Ulemas, the Christian priests or the queen mother’s displeasure. But it is a strange stalemate when he finds his son unable to control his desire for his prized dancing girl Anarkali. On discovery, the image-conscious king sentences the girl to death while the prince is banished to Kabul. Unlike the popular Salim-Anarkali lore there is little love in the affair. The authors give us a peep into the sexual jealously between the father and son that culminates into an open rebellion.
While Salim with all his ambitions and faults seems lifelike, Akbar begins to appear a mere fixture. Salim’s insecurity on sensing the odds of his own son superseding him is acute whereas, Akbar’s misgivings for Salim look insipid. The story deals numerous aspects of Akbar’ reign, reminding you of the history book subheads: Akbar as a warrior, builder, administrator, religious head etc. However, none of these are the core of the novel which essentially deals with Akbar as a family man. An excess of angles douses out the focus.
Hirabai, for example, is an intriguing character, but over the 36 years of Akbar’s reign that the story traces, her case stays the same. The authors make an attempt to pare down the King, his queens and princes and show us their human side but too much history is piled on and the men, women and boys in the royal corridors stay hidden.