A Short Review
“…India is not an underdeveloped country, but a highly developed one in an advanced state of decay.”
The Great Indian Novel – Shashi Tharoor
Trust me. The novel does live up to its name.
The debut novel of Shashi Tharoor is a landmark in Indian literature and for good reasons. Impeccable satire, razor sharp wit, a good-humored mix of prose, mythology, politics, history, ballads and poetry. History and politics were never so much fun.
The theme is imaginative and unique, to say the least. Mr. Tharoor weaves his novels and characters around the Mahabharata (for the slow-thinkers, the title ‘The Great Indian Novel’ is a semi-literal translation of ‘Mahabharata Katha’). Drawing parallels with the mythological giants, he dexterously recalls the tales from modern Indian political history. For instance, Bhishma Pitamah is Mahatma Gandhi (celibate, master statesman); Dhritarashtra is Jawaharlal Nehru (‘blind’ *wink wink*); Priya Duryodhani comes back as Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi and… well you get the picture. We are introduced to Jai Prakash Drona when he comes across the Pandavas who are at their wits end on how to get their cricket ball out of the well.
It moves and fills you with rage when Yudhishthir wagers the Constitution, the laws and the peace of the people and loses it to Shakuni. And we have never been able to regain it. Bhishma's 'Mango March' in protest of the mango laws of the British, Priya Duryodhani's mockery of the Indian democratic setup during the 1975-77 emergency and Pandu’s death in an airplane crash are some of the instances which remind us of our great and sometimes not-so-great history.
Mr. Tharoor’s commentary on the plight of the junta, the gross misuse of democracy by our leaders after independence and his take on the Indian freedom struggle are thought-provoking. And of course, the outrageous and irreverent jabs at mythology and politics don’t hurt a bit.
A must for every Indian.
The Great Indian Novel – Shashi Tharoor
Trust me. The novel does live up to its name.
The debut novel of Shashi Tharoor is a landmark in Indian literature and for good reasons. Impeccable satire, razor sharp wit, a good-humored mix of prose, mythology, politics, history, ballads and poetry. History and politics were never so much fun.
The theme is imaginative and unique, to say the least. Mr. Tharoor weaves his novels and characters around the Mahabharata (for the slow-thinkers, the title ‘The Great Indian Novel’ is a semi-literal translation of ‘Mahabharata Katha’). Drawing parallels with the mythological giants, he dexterously recalls the tales from modern Indian political history. For instance, Bhishma Pitamah is Mahatma Gandhi (celibate, master statesman); Dhritarashtra is Jawaharlal Nehru (‘blind’ *wink wink*); Priya Duryodhani comes back as Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi and… well you get the picture. We are introduced to Jai Prakash Drona when he comes across the Pandavas who are at their wits end on how to get their cricket ball out of the well.
It moves and fills you with rage when Yudhishthir wagers the Constitution, the laws and the peace of the people and loses it to Shakuni. And we have never been able to regain it. Bhishma's 'Mango March' in protest of the mango laws of the British, Priya Duryodhani's mockery of the Indian democratic setup during the 1975-77 emergency and Pandu’s death in an airplane crash are some of the instances which remind us of our great and sometimes not-so-great history.
Mr. Tharoor’s commentary on the plight of the junta, the gross misuse of democracy by our leaders after independence and his take on the Indian freedom struggle are thought-provoking. And of course, the outrageous and irreverent jabs at mythology and politics don’t hurt a bit.
A must for every Indian.
posted by Anurag at 10:19 PM
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