In the
book, ‘Men and Dreams in the Dhauladhar’, Kochery C Shibu’s characters arrive
with a bang, and then weirdly settle in. And then, they go off for the romantic
beat, and then come up again for another round of violence, and finally crawl
towards the end. It is all about the characters, starting off with the main
one.
Nanda who is an engineer,
with the mastery in Kalari, (Kalaripayattu
is a martial art, which originated as a style in Kerala). Forever, suspicious
and incredibly careful is Nanda.
He
would never talk too much to his fellow workers around him. He wakes up early,
starts off with the Surya Namaskara, and begins his Kalari routine. His roommates
and he must get to the site on time. The AM Hydro project is the biggest in
Dhauladhar. As night comes on, sleep keeps away from him, and the range of
mountains around him seems to talk to him.
Earlier, he goes and is suddenly struck with marriage because his brother had died and his
wife was left without a husband. So, the two of them are put through marriage
and another of his enemy’s incredible killing, which puts him straight in the north, in
Dhauladhar.
We
find the beginnings of Nanda and therefore we have to travel back in time our
way across to Indumati, his mother. She comes in to the family, through marriage
to Prabhakaran. Luckily for her, she has an understanding husband, who though
lived under menacing circumstances, allowed her to study further. She found
herself, travelling to Finland and studying there. She also had a life, quite different
from the life in Kerala. She found herself studying, dating, speaking the
Finnish language, and also eating the comparatively bland foods and also found
herself in jail.
After
all this, she managed to get out and now, that she was counted days when she would
finish up her course and make her way back to India. Back home, she then gave birth
to Nanda. She wanted her family to be safe, but he husband was killed and she
blamed herself. But she knew that, his son would pay the price and that is why
she was glad, when her son went off to the north.
Khusro,
born in Kashmir is recruited by a Pakistani terrorist group. Rekha, a dancer cum
doctor finds herself trekking in Kashmir when she is suddenly captured by
terrorists, and actually one terrorist, Khusro falls for her.
The love
story is kind of foolish in its own way. You do wonder why an incredibly intelligent
and talented woman would firstly fall for a terrorist. Then you do wonder about
the terrorist himself, who has been asked to kill is just looking confused and
lost in love himself. But of course, there was always his main plot. To kill so
many people by blowing up the dam being built by Nanda, who does not have a
clue of this till now.
Plus, you have so many
other characters within the story, and you have the author giving you so much,
in terms of characterisation.The research was extraordinary, but the plot kind of gets lost in the middle of all
these. The plot travels from Kerala to Finland to Kashmir to Pakistan,
without any glitches. From the Kalari to the mountains, to the countries and to the states in India, itself, it is truly magnificent.
Kochery C Shibu |
Overall, the plot
begins and does find an end. But the characters are simply superb and went in
so many ways. One of course, one wishes that all these had a single end and they found
it, but how would it end?
You can Buy the Book, right here.
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