"To win is to lose everything.
And the game always wins"
Vikram Chandra. Sacred Games.
Underworld is always a fresh theme to base a story. In spite of numerous hindi movies on it -Company, D, Ab Tak Chappan, Vaastav and recently the Hooda and Vinod Khanna starrer Risk -I have never lost interest in a well-plotted work on underworld. The reason for this, perhaps, is that every new work on Bombay underworld shows a new perspective.
Vikram Chandra's Sacred Games is a well researched attempt to describe Mumbai underworld. Problem with is that it doesn't stick to one single perspective and brings in too many sub-plot which ultimately make the novel too lengthy and exhausts the reader by the time he reaches the end.
The main plot revolves around Sartaj Singh, a middle-aged Sikh inspector in Mumbai police. Though past 40 years of age, he still is an inspector -an honest inspector -and hasn't yet got a promotion. One fine day he gets an anonymous call giving him the whereabouts of the kingpin of G-company Ganesh Gaitonde. He encashes on the scoop and nearly grabs Gaitonde...nearly because Gaitonde commits suicide in a wierd bunker in the middle of Mumbai (he has been known to be out of India). It turns out that the RAW is interested in his death and ask Sartaj for help.
Here starts Sartaj's investigation that spans over counterfeit notes, ISI, RAW and its link with underworld, Bollywood actresses and their past, prostitution and a supposed nuclear threat that the protagonist, quite predictably, quells. The book is well researched and gives vivid descriptions of life in Mumbai slums, life of policemen -corrupt and the ones not so corrupt (can we call anyone honest these days?) -call girls and RAW. We can't however be sure about the RAW descriptions. Worth reading is the part on Gaitonde's life history.
An episode of Gaitonde's life that I enjoyed a lot was his life in prison. Life in prison is well researched and finds lots of mention in novels and movies of western countries. Of note are novels of John Grisham and Stephen King, movies like Con Air and Shawshank Redemption and TV series like 'Prison Break'. We don't find such accounts of Indian jails. There are issues like favouritism, fights, homosexuality and human rights issues that don't find correct mention in Indian works. Chandra has made an effort in this direction.
Where Chandra scores is also the point where his drawbacks lie. It seems like he had done immense research on the varied topics in the novel and was not ready to be selective with his material as per the plot. As a result, he has tried to include lots of plots. This tends to decrease the writer's focus on the main plot. There were many events which were inconsequential to the climax, yet are described in meticulous detail.
Drawbacks apart, the concept was good. The punch line was cool and the funda behind it even cooler.
"To win is to lose everything. And the game always wins"
Life is a game -a game for survival. You always want to win the game, not lose. Your behaviour is always directed towards winning. Rules of the game and definition of 'win' and 'lose' direct player behaviour. If you lose, you lose. If you win the game, you still lose for the game makes you win. The game directs your behaviour. If you play by the rules it is because the game directs you to. If you break rules or play unfair, it is the game and situation it creates that makes you cheat. In short, the game always wins. It defines the rules, the goals and players' behaviour. It wins because players value the goals it sets. This is true for cricket, also life.
Sacred Games is a good read but not a must read.
-------------
PS: Forgot to mention certain things...so adding it today. One aspect of Bombay that's just amazing is that it is just too bad...it is a mean city (not maximum city!). It has no homogeneous culture, yet is not a melting pot. Everyone is what he comes here with and maintains his identity, even while getting enmeshed in the web that is Bombay. If it is so bad, so dark, so mean and cruel, why do people live here? This book gives a critical evaluation of continuity and change in Bombay society...I am told that for a better perspective I should read 'Maximum City' by Suketu Mehta. Will get hold of that some time.
No comments:
Post a Comment