Skip to main content

Book Review: When the Chief fell in Love by Tuhin Sinha

Tuhin Sinha is known for writing political thriller. ‘When the Chief fell in Love’ discusses the political landscape of Kashmir through the point of two lovers. Most likely, the book possesses a question: what is Kashmir issue and how it can be resolved? Under the book title, you will see four word/slogans written in Hindi, namely: Kashmiriyat! Jamhooriyat! Insaniyat! Hindustaniyat!


These four words discuss the overall plot of the book. First three words were given by the former prime minister of India, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. And the last one is added by the author himself.

The backdrop of the book mainly shuttles between Kashmir and the rest of the India, with other places in sight as well. The book is bit futuristic, as it covers the timeline from 1990 to 2030. The story is between two people who love each other: Vihaan Shastri and Zaira Bhatt. But they couldn’t get married because of the reasons, like they are torn between India and Kashmir, they practice different religions, they hail from different grooming and background. But still their thoughts match and they both are committed to serve the nation. The story of their love started way back in 1990s when they both were college students. Vihaan when hears the poem of Zaira Bhatt, he instantly feels that that poem has some meaning for his life but more than that he is curious to know more about that beautiful poet with auburn hair, Zaira Bhatt.

Soon typical scenes of college romance begin taking place and they both become friends first and then later lovers, but behind this relationship is hidden a dark and gloomy secret of Zaira.

Twelve years have been past and their ways have now crossed once again. Well, both have involved as a famous personality. Zaira Bhatt as a world renowned author and Vihaan Shastri as a young and dynamic defence mister of India. He is hell bent on solving the Kashmir issue for India. Zaira being a Kashmiri woman understands that Vihaan’s cause for Kashmir is totally correct and purely in the interest of nation building. They both being at the same tenacity level, do their best to bring Kashmir as a part of India. But how they do it? Read on this new political thriller from India’s one of the best writers.

It seems as the writer has done considerable research on Kashmir and its allied geography and culture. Well the only qualm is that Zaira needs to have sounded more obstinate as a beauty and more serious as a social changer. Zaira sounded more like a common modern Indian girl. Well that’s all right as long as the plot is pacy and writing engrossing. Some of the poems mentioned with her character are awe-inspiring which adds a poetic tone to the overall narration.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poem Summary: Where The Mind Is Without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore

Poem by Rabindranath Tagore: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. Short Summary: This poem is written by Rabindranath Tagore during pre-independence days, when India was a colony of the British. The underlying theme of the poem is absolute freedom; the poet wants the citizens of his country to be living in a free state. According to the poem, we see that the poet is expressing his views there should be a country, like where people live without any sort of fear and with pure dignity…they should
67 comments
Read more

Book Review: The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond

Among all Ruskin Bond books, The Blue Umbrella has, so far, gathered immense applaud from readers and critics alike.  This is a short novel, but the kind of moral lessons it teaches to us are simply overwhelming. This is a story of Binya, a poor little girl living with her mother and an elder brother, Bijju, in a small hilly village of Garhwal. One day while herding her two cows back home, she stumbles upon some city people enjoying the picnic in the valley. She is enthralled to see them well-groomed and rich. She craves to be one like them and among many other things of their, a blue frilly umbrella catches her attention. She begins craving for it. On the other hand, the city people get attracted by her innocent beauty and the pendant in her neck. The pendant consists of leopard’s claw – which is considered a mascot widely in the hills. Binya trades her pendant off with the blue umbrella. The blue umbrella is so much beautiful that soon it becomes a topic of conversation fo
63 comments
Read more

Poem Summary: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ozymandias is a short poem of fourteen lines written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The concurrent theme of the poem is that nothing remains intact and same forever in this world. Even the brightest of metal, one day decays with passage of time. The throne name of Egyptian King Ramesses is Ozymandias. It was his dearest desire to preserve himself forever by building a huge statue that he thought would never tumble down. Stanza 1: I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; Summary: The poet narrates the poem through the eyes of a traveler who seems to have come back from a remote and far-away land, referring to Egypt. The traveler r
23 comments
Read more