The Road to Raisina: A Book Review

chillibreeze writer — Sreelata Menon

The Road to Raisina by KP Singh is an immensely readable book by an Indian author. It has no pretensions of being anything else. Evidently influenced by Jeffrey Archer’s ‘First Among Equals’, this novel traces the lives of three school friends within the Indian context and gallops along at a lively pace, giving us perhaps for the first time a fictionalized version of the Indian political scenario till date.

There’s a bit of everything in it, the name, the dynasty, scandal, mild intrigue, blackmail, coercion, elections, bomb blasts, a kidnapping, coalition politics and even a lame duck Prime Minister!

The plot revolves around three major characters- Karan Nehru, grandson of a Supreme Court judge with an Allahabad connection, Azim Khan, son of an IAS officer and grandson of an Aligarh Muslim University professor and Raj Mehra, the son of a well to do Indian diplomat. In circumstances reminiscent of Enid Blyton and Richmal Crompton, Karan, Azim and Raj pledge undying friendship on the very first day of school. How this friendship, despite their very different careers in different parts of the world, carries them through till their lives converge is what the book is all about.

Karan joins the army, is wounded in the war, returns a hero but has to opt out. His father-in-law then inveigles him into contesting the Indian elections. Azim, goes to college and for want of a better alternative, joins his uncle’s finance business in Bombay. But then, as a direct fall out of communal anti-Muslim riots in Bombay, is pushed into entering politics by his father in order to ‘stay and fight’. As for Raj, he goes to the US, graduates and joins CNN. He comes back to India as a lead anchor of an Indian news channel just in time to cover the elections.

The author strings together various incidents and their repercussions, and weaves them into a tale albeit with fictitious overtones. The narrative is at times both crisp and contemporary. The banter may be a bit too trendy and sometimes even naïve but the turn of phrase, pithy. Refreshingly, he does not try to preach nor judge and presents very obviously a summary of all that has been happening in political India. The author takes a stab at trying to find solutions, simplistic, no doubt, to govern this vast, diverse country. While doing so, he manages to break free from the shackles of typical Indian writing. There is nothing remotely ‘colonial’ in the content or language If you are looking for a classic piece of literature, then this is not it, but if you want a smooth and entertaining romp that does not exercise your mind too much, go for it!

The war with Pakistan and Azim’s stand, the Chinese climb down, the various diplomatic overtures, the internal politics of one-upmanship, the political wrangling, and a crafty prime minister have all been handled quite deftly. Young India’s hope for ‘one India, one people, one country’ comes through quite strongly with the best of the three protagonists eventually becoming India’s new PM, caste and creed regardless. Shades of the present political scenario in India no doubt, but whoever said Indian politics didn’t make for good reading!

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—About our writer:

Sreelata says, " Was an erstwhile assistant editor on Onlooker aeons ago. Oh yes, I did a stint in an ad agency, mother of two grown up boys, a bureaucrat's wife... I put pen to paper the moment I feel strongly about something (My letters to the editor will bear witness)...."

The Road to Raisina: A Book Review

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