The Solitude of Emperors
David Davidar
Aleph Book Company. First published 2013.
This book is apparently written in reaction to the rise of Hindutva and, later, of Narendra Modi. The 'emperors', whose 'solitude' is the subject of a disconnected three part pamphlet inserted into the main narrative, are Ashoka, Akbar and Mahatma Gandhi - the latter not really an emperor, but he could have so easily been one, if he had so desired. The main story deals with the boyhood, the young adulthood and the early manhood of the narrator - Vijay. Very early on, even in the small town in Tamilnadu, where he has his early education and where he learns the importance of the 'final push', he experiences first hand some of the fallout of the destruction of the Babri Masjid, suddenly and bitterly dividing, as it does, lifelong friends and acquaintances in that town. In portions reminiscent of the Mani Ratnam film 'Bombay', he then goes to that metropolis to begin a career in journalism. He is mentored by the editor of a fiercely secular and rationalist journal, who is the author of the pamphlet on the solitude of the three well-meaning great men. Vijay is involved in the Bombay riots that repeatedly followed the destruction of the mosque, once being rescued by the skin of his teeth from a similar fate. He then travels to the Nilgiris, to a small town near Ooty where he is engaged to write the history of a local institution. He makes friends with the locals, among whom he discovers Noah, the protagonist, the hero of the novel.
Noah is a brilliant ne'er-do-well who lives on the fringes of the polite society of the place. He consorts with thieves and worse, listens to rock music, smokes pot and lives in a clean shack beside the churchyard and cemetery. The rest of the book then deals with Noah's ultimately tragic efforts to prevent the Hindu takeover of a local festival celebrating pilgrimage to a hilltop shrine which is nominally Christian, but is actually sacred to people of all religions. The takeover is engineered by a young ascetic Hindu politician who, while he may actually believe in the justness of his cause, is simultaneously and avowedly milking the conflict for his own and his party's political advantage. The clash is then presented as being between a liberal humanist viewpoint - Noah's, and a conservative cynical one - the politician's.
The writing is drab, though competent, with the occasionally interesting turn of phrase. The 'pamphlet-within-the-book' is a bit pretentious and says nothing really important. And the story, though well-constructed and well narrated, is not really epic. The novel brought to my mind 'Riot' by Sashi Tharoor, which has similar world-views and similar thinking.
Noah is a brilliant ne'er-do-well who lives on the fringes of the polite society of the place. He consorts with thieves and worse, listens to rock music, smokes pot and lives in a clean shack beside the churchyard and cemetery. The rest of the book then deals with Noah's ultimately tragic efforts to prevent the Hindu takeover of a local festival celebrating pilgrimage to a hilltop shrine which is nominally Christian, but is actually sacred to people of all religions. The takeover is engineered by a young ascetic Hindu politician who, while he may actually believe in the justness of his cause, is simultaneously and avowedly milking the conflict for his own and his party's political advantage. The clash is then presented as being between a liberal humanist viewpoint - Noah's, and a conservative cynical one - the politician's.
The writing is drab, though competent, with the occasionally interesting turn of phrase. The 'pamphlet-within-the-book' is a bit pretentious and says nothing really important. And the story, though well-constructed and well narrated, is not really epic. The novel brought to my mind 'Riot' by Sashi Tharoor, which has similar world-views and similar thinking.
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