Often, the best ideas deserve their acclaim because of their improbability. Shashi Tharoor's 'Great Indian Novel' is one such idea. It just seems miraculous for someone to conjure up a parallel between the great Indian epic and the great Indian freedom struggle.
Ofcourse, there are creative liberties and we should indulge the author with them. Ofcourse, there are times when the parallels are stretched but fiction by definition has a long rope. Ofcourse, umpteenth characters from epic and history are ignored but a tome of 418 pages can only accomodate so many.
The beauty of the story is in its idea and credit to Tharoor for sustaining its purity from start to finish. When reality offered no recourse, he resorts to dreaming, to extend the comparisons. When prose falters, he switches on his poetic abilities to carry the narrative further.
Often, the very act of printing a rumor gives it credence and when people repeat it in other forms and publications, they only serve to burnish its veracity. The book does it bit in furthering rumors surrounding the leaders of India by weaving them in its storyline. Whether it is Nehru's dalliance with Edwina, Gandhi's 'experiments with truth' or Morarji Desai's flirtations with urine - its all there.
The Great Indian Novel is great because it emanates from a moment of brilliance. A moment when Shashi thought that the Indian Freedom Struggle and its proponents share similarities with the heroes of the Great Indian Epic. The reader is richer for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment