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theStack ULTIMATE VICTIMS OF WAR
ARE FAMILIES OF SOLDIERS

LOVE, TAKE TWO With her debut novel 1971: A War Story, Dr Neelam
By Saranya Rai; Penguin wants readers to revisit the plight of the families
of the missing 54 armed force personnel of India
This book revolves around three different Bollywood-themed fic-
tional love stories and the ups and downs of each relationship, with THE NEW BOOK 1971: The War Story highlights the
a pinch of drama and lots of glamour. Here’s a sneak plight of the families of the missing 54 Indian
peek: “When Vicky Behl and Kritika Vadukut meet on Armed Personnel who went to war during 1971
the sets of the period drama ‘Ranjha Ranjha’, every- Indo-Pak war, but never came back. Most of them
one agreed they had serious chemistry — and not just are still waiting for their loved ones to return.
on screen. But after her devastating break-up with Others want it to be officially announced that
Raunak Rajput, Kritika doesn’t know if she can handle their chapter has closed.
being with another Bollywood actor. If only Vicky Canada-based Indian writer Dr Neelam Batra-
wasn’t so damn charming... As they dance to romantic Verma focuses on one of the families who got
numbers and spend time between takes on the glam- tired of waiting and took matters into their hands.
orous sets of Sudarshana Samarth’s film, they find it This is the story of a daughter’s attempt to find
hard not to give in to their attraction to each other. her pilot father who went missing somewhere
But will the pressure and scrutiny of Bollywood allow them a happy over enemy territory during the 1971 India-Paki-
ending or will there be a twist in the tale?” stan war.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is mainly the tale of the hardships which
military men face if and
THE WAYWARD DAUGHTER when they land on the
By Shradha Ghale; Speaking Tiger other side of the fence.
Full of surprising twists
Set in Kathmandu, Shradha Ghale’s debut novel nar- and turns, the book offers
rates the story of a young girl’s coming of age, her insight into the human cost
search for love and “her own space in life”. Equally, of war and the apathy of
it draws a telling portrait of Kathmandu — its class governments when it comes
and caste divisions, its cosmopolitanism which exists to dealing with the lives of
alongside conservative attitudes, and its politics armed forces personnel.
due to which a civil war looms. “Sumnima Tamule At micro level, the book
is in a crisis. Her friends at Rhododendron High underlines how the lives of
School — all girls from semi-royal and other rich each individual of a fam-
families — will soon be going abroad, but she, with ily hangs in limbo when a
second-division marks in her final exams, might loved one goes missing. The
have to settle for a grimy little college in town. Her suspense thriller, which is
parents, plodding away in middle-class Kathmandu, are deeply likely to keep its readers engrossed till the end,
disappointed, and all their hopes are now pinned on Numa, her emphasises how the missing Indian Air Force of-
sister. Sundry cousins from their village in far-off Lungla — driven ficer’s wife waits for him and remains optimistic
out by poverty and the warring Maoists — come to live with the for years. She does not want to believe anything
family, trample upon her privacy, and wage kitchen politics. else but that he is only missing in action.
------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the other hand, the ‘missing pilot’ contin-
ues to make vain attempts to cross the border
MY LIFE IN ORANGE: GROWING UP WITH THE GURU multiple times for 28 years. At one point of time,
By Tim Guest; Hachette he joins a band of nomads for survival and steals
along with them for survival. Meanwhile, his
Through the book, Tim Guest, a London-based journalist who died daughter, whose very existence he is unaware
in 2009, shares the story of his nomadic childhood when his mother of, vows to locate the IAF officer and bring him
took him to a commune modelled on the teachings of the char- home. Like any other fiction, this book also has
ismatic Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh who a happy ending where the family finally reunites
preached a doctrine of eastern mysticism, sexual with the ‘missing’ Air Force officer after nearly
freedom and enjoyed inhaling laughing gas. The book three decades. But, in the process, it highlights
gives a sneak peek into the life of Tim as he shares quite a few issues. Most of all, it breaks the myth
photographs of his childhood and how his family that lives of defence personnel, particularly those
grew with the commune. “Left alone while the adults working with Air Force, and their families are rosy
meditated, chanted and engaged in group therapy, and cosy. They, in fact, live very risky and dicey
Tim — now known as Yogesh — was free to explore a lives. In case of any mis-happening beyond bor-
new world of unsupervised freedom. But life with the ders, most of the time even the governments do
Orange people is never simple, and soon the move- not have enough resources to bring the soldiers
ment begins to turn in on itself,” the book says. back. It’s an interesting and must-read novel.

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