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| Sialkot Saga by Ashwin Sanghi - Cover |
India's
history has lot of events spread over the past seven decades. It has even lot
more if you include the time when kings ruled this great nation. For many of us
in the current generation, history is what we read and learnt in the social
science class - mostly memorized. Business, unless it interests you when you
are brought up, is a difficult thing to grasp. Even when we read a thousand
books on business, the basic concepts if not inculcated right in the beginning
years, will always make us feel timid when attempting new things. Similarly,
many of us are timid when we grow up! Once some event happens to challenge that
limitation, we become strong and forever! Sanghi presents Arvind and Arbaaz to
depict these two sides. What happens when their lives meet is the plot.
It is not
unusual for us to see many such plots in movies, or read in books. Yet, what
makes this book interesting? It is the way that Ashwin has intertwined the
historical events with the stories of Arvind and Arbaaz. A business man learns
from his cues on what is going in the state - it is based on lot of factors,
but the characteristic of the ruler is an important fact. Ashwin presents this
fact to us through Arvind. What is Lal Bahadur Shastri's character, and what
will be his first job and ties it to business investments. It also presents in
detail the development stages that our great nation has gone through in
different periods (yet, wondering why is it still a developing country; with
all these happenings in the past six decades we should have been 2x developed
by now). One could easily realize that a great research has gone into the
writing of this book! Great job, Ashwin!
Arbaaz's
story presents us with the dark side of Bombay. How dons rule it, and how they
don't even think about finishing off people that stand in their path! One has
to have right person on his side here too, for their own development. Abdul
gets Arbaaz, and Arbaaz gets Murali. Arbaaz's and Arvind's love with Paromita
adds softness to the book (the way Arvind & Paromita communicates their
love through periodic table is awesome!). With excellent plots and turns, there
is never a time when you feel like putting down the book (I know, we need to -
to attend our work, or family matters, or get some rest. If these things are
not there, one could finish this book in a 10 hour marathon read).
Coupled with
the snippets from the period of Ashoka, Samudragupta, Harsha and all the way
till Thiruvananthapuram, the reader will be able to degust this book certainly.
We do feel happy when we see Arvind and Arbaaz listed in Forbes top 20, and
also get emotional when Arvind's life comes to an end! That explains the power
of Ashwin's writing. All in all - a beautiful fiction with a good mixture of
history, business, crime, love, hate, politics, emotions!
Some animals
hunt. Some animals hide. Few animals hide and hunt! Similarly, some writers
write. Some writers entertain. Only few writes and entertains! Sanghi is part
of this group!
