"The Sialkot Saga" by Ashwin Sanghi

"The Sialkot Saga"

by Ashwin Sanghi

Overall Review:  3.5 

Grip Factor:         4

Writing Style:      4

Engaging Plot:     4

Characters:           3

Satisfying End:    3

Goodreads Review at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3712754712 

 

We can call this book as falling in historical fiction or politics genre both.  It has covered entire spectrum of Indian history from just after independence till the year 2000.  It has also covered old Indian history running thousands of year old relating to Ashoka's 9 men and also covered secret organizations ensuring ancient history carries on.  

Two stories running in parallel

Two stories run in parallel here - one which is few thousand years old and one which runs from 1947 till 2001.  They both do sit well however, personally I feel there was no need to put the older story in the midst to make the modern main story good.  They have been written in a manner which relates them but that did not seem necessary.  The modern story seem more like a hindi movie where two kids separate from their mother at the time of partition and end up becoming rivals. 

All events in story are linked to historical facts of the nation

I liked the linking of the story to the historical facts and I also liked the part where they were explained and described more.  People tend to forget even the most recent events and soon things as far back as 5 years old just become some historical fact to be ignored and moved on from.  Reading about the death of S. P. Mukherjee, emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi, forceful works of Sanjay Gandhi, 1984 Massacre by Congress, Gujarat riots, election and non election of Vajpayee ji, 9/11 attack, Mumbai attack... all certainly give you goose bumps.  There are all the events you have lived through and it feels surreal to read them all together in a book.  The linking of the love/hate story around all these events is flawless in the book.  At many points it is difficult to put the book down since I have wanted to know more and more about these events.  

Main story is a love/hate story

Two kids who are separated from their mother at the time of partition end up becoming business rivals.  Their kids end up falling in love and getting married.  At the end it is identified that they were from the same village in Pakistan and got separated when they were forced to move to India at the time of partition.  The ex of one end up marrying the other in an all so obvious twist.  Not to forget that these kids were saviors of some long forgotten sect tasked with protecting a long lost secret from Ancient times.  I can only call it a love/hate story but certainly feels it comes straight out of a movie.