Baghel, Meenal. Death in Mumbai

Baghel, Meenal. Death in Mumbai, Random House, India 2011. (Pages 232, paperback)

Rating: 3.5/10

In May 2008, Emile Gerome, a naval lieutenant, flew secretly from Kochi to Bombay in the night to verify the fidelity of his fiancée Maria Susairaj. On finding Neeraj Grover in her bedroom, in a few mad minutes he killed Grover with a kitchen knife. Over the next few hours, Emile and Maria managed to chop, pack, borrow a friend’s car and travel to Bombay’s north to dispose of the body. Owing to the beauty quotient of the victim and accused being much higher than in an average murder case, this case received far more column inches and TRPs than its contents warranted. A verdict was delivered in June 2011, where Emile was given ten years for culpable homicide, and Maria three years for destruction of evidence.

All this is known and extremely well documented. The images and story are still fresh in the mind of the public. Why would anybody want to read (or write) a factual account of the story once again?

In fact, I asked that question several times when reading the first part of the book (88 pages). In it, Meenal Baghel gives a chronological account of the murder and introduces us to Maria and Emile, the two people eventually convicted for that crime. I found this section dry and unappealing. It felt as if the author had to do the unpleasant task of giving the background before starting the book.

To Ms Baghel’s credit, the book raises its standard after that. The chapters on Ekta Kapoor, Moon Das and Ram Gopal Verma are interesting and give to people, who are not regular readers of film magazines, an insight into the world of the beautiful and rich. The connection with Moon Das is extremely tenuous. In fact, this section is almost entirely disconnected with the main story or the book.

As a seasoned journalist (editor of Mumbai Mirror), Ms Baghel has done significant amount of research for this book – mainly interviewing friends and relatives of the accused and the victim. The book de-sensationalises media claims (such as the body being chopped in 300 pieces, instead of the factual 5-6 pieces). However, most of it remains a journalistic account and fails to evoke our sympathy for any of the three leading characters.

Verdict: Converting a true story into a book requires a new angle that generates emotions, which in turn makes the reader change his earlier biases. Though the book offers new material, mostly anecdotal, it did not change my perceptions about the key characters. If you must read it, borrow from me.

Rimington, Stella. Illegal Action

Rimington, Stella. Illegal Action, Arrow Books, London 2008. (Pages 394, Paperback)

Rating: 5/10

This book certainly couldn’t be a Booker Prize nominee, but Booker prize is what made me read it.

 
I like a book to have a good story. It should be easy to read and a page turner if possible. Over the years, the Booker nominees and winners have increasingly frustrated me. True, I could admire the beautiful prose in The God of Small Things (1997) or The Line of Beauty (2004); but Arundhati Roy’s was poetry written in prose, and Hollinghurst was clearly awarded the prize for his gay agenda, rather than literary merit. I would take neither book on a flight, nor would think of returning to them in my old age. The Inheritance of Loss and Wolf hall kept falling from my hands as sleep won over letters. Midnight’s children, which I have never managed to go a few pages beyond, was awarded the Booker of Bookers. I had decided not to touch the Booker books ever again.

And then, the unexpected happened. Stella Rimington, the former chief of MI5, the British spy organization, was appointed the Booker committee chairperson this year. She said she would like to select books that are read rather than admired. That quote drew me back to the Booker list. It was like people living under dictatorship suddenly being told that democracy had returned. This year’s short list contained short books (literally); each could be read in one sitting. You could take them on flights. And I would certainly like to read The Sense of an Ending again and again. It’s wonderfully written.

As a token of my gratitude, I decided to read Stella Rimington, the spy chief, who caused the Booker revolution. (I suggest she chairs the committee for the next five years).  The real life Judy Dench had started her spy career in India, unwittingly. She was in Delhi as a first secretary’s wife. She was asked if she would mind working as an assistant to another secretary. (Embassies like to use the services of wives of the staff). After a few months, she found out that the man she was assisting worked for MI5. Stella needed to get a security clearance, later applied for a job with MI5, and eventually became the first Dame Chief in 1992. She propagated openness, and posed for the MI5 brochure, something no other Director General had done before.

 Illegal Action, understandably, has authentic descriptions. It’s about Russian spies on the streets of London, who are prepared to kill. Liz Carlyle, the lady James Bond (but much understated), is at the centre of the plot and lands in the house of a Russian oligarch. The novel is fast-paced, cinematic, and fairly realistic (considering how surreal the oligarchs’ world is in reality).  

In 2010, as you probably know, ten Russian ‘sleeping agents’ were arrested in the USA, and swapped for four spies imprisoned in Russia. This book, written years before that scandal, explains well what illegals do.

Verdict: Reading this book was my thanksgiving. If you want to thank Stella Rimington for freeing Booker from hypocrisy, you may want to read Illegal Action. A must read if you are an aspiring spy.

Ravi

Archer, Jeffrey. And Thereby Hangs a Tale

Archer, Jeffrey. And Thereby Hangs a Tale, Pan Macmillan, London, 2010. (Pages 288, paperback) 

Rating: 2.5/10

Contains fifteen stories, including nine allegedly true. 

What is written has always been more important than how in any Archer book. In a creative writing classroom, two randomly selected passages were chosen for editing. One was by James Joyce, and another by Jeffrey Archer. The authors and titles of books were not revealed. Students could edit the Archer passages endlessly. So much to cut, so much to refine. With Joyce, the writing was perfect, tight. Nothing to edit, nothing to fine tune. (Having said that, I would certainly take an Archer book on a flight rather than a Joyce novel.)

I should note, however, that every succeeding Archer book is more sloppily written with even typos found in places. Archer is one good example of how a famous writer can sell badly written books.

The stories in And Thereby Hangs a Tale are cleverly arranged. The best stories are at the beginning of the book. (Stuck on you, the queen’s birthday telegram, and high heels). The last few stories are an embarrassment. (Politically correct is predictable and with major flaws, better the devil you know is confusing and bad, no room at the inn is ordinary, and caste-off set in Delhi is meaningless and unconvincing).

Verdict: Don’t buy the book. Borrow to read the first three stories. If you were to steal the book, I’m sure you will give it back.

Ravi