Book Review: The Jeera Packer by Prashant Yadav

The attraction of reading Prashant Yadav's The Jeera Packer for me was the prospect of an easy, entertaining read. The plot, at least going by the blurb on the back cover, promised a retired sharpshooter returning to pull off one last act -- to shoot the chief minister of India's most populous state. This is a man who at the peak of his career as a "bullet artist" gave it all up to lead a normal life -- a life that involves packing jeera, managing a shop and having a family. All I expected from this premise was some gripping action, plans going awry, and then a climax that shows us if the middle-aged family man has brushed away the jeera dust and rediscovered himself or whether settling down rusted his skills to an extent that this last foolhardy scheme proved to be his undoing.

The problem with The Jeera Packer is that it gets a tad overambitious. Where it should have stuck to a single primary character and revolved the plot around him, the novel tries hard to be more than a thriller. A number of characters come in, there's an underlying commentary on our political and social structure, it, for considerable tracks of time, forgets the Jeera Packer and follows the lives and shenanigans of other characters. There are even a couple of romances explored in the book which I personally found to be very out of the place. This is a book that wants to be more than a thriller -- tell a tale that is "resonant and deeply affecting". Unfortunately, the problem is that it isn't profound enough and in chasing too many characters and facets, it isn't page turning enough.

The writing too is uneven. There are instances of poor grammar and overwrought similes ("The car behind me lets out a prolonged honk. The ugly noise renders through the air like a half-dead jackal bawling on a broken public address system." Elsewhere this - "My mind spins like a camphor in a bowl of water.") And of course, the entire book hinges on this one conceit - "Every artist needs to create a Taj Mahal, his Taj Mahal".

But there are bits that Yadav gets right. He seems to know his milieu - the dust, the noise, corruption, the crowd at election rallies, the scruffiness that is so much a part of Uttar Pradesh and the twisted, complicated plots and ambitions of various players, political shenanigans, internecine sniping and fighting in a political party, all of it is vividly brought to life.

For me however the best bits were just that -- bits and pieces that were too few and far in between an otherwise middling book. The Jeera Packer, in my opinion, suffers from its ambition. The premise had in it a story that would have made an interesting thriller. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough for the author.

Having said that, Prashant Yadav's next book is something that I would like to read. If he, like most writers, improves with each publication, Yadav may just be good enough once his ambition and ability are in sync.

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Note: Thanks to Prashant Yadav for a review copy of the The Jeera Packer. 

Has our Prime Minister Lost it?

PM Manmohan Singh has asked businesses not to fuel a rich-poor divide with excessive salaries and greedy behavior:

Resist excessive remuneration to promoters and senior executives and discourage conspicuous consumption," he said. "Rising income and wealth inequalities, if not matched by a corresponding rise of incomes across the nation, can lead to social unrest.

He also added:

We cannot afford the wasteful lifestyles of the Western world. Conspicuous consumption must be reduced.

Seriously, is this guy an economist? As far as my limited knowledge of economics goes, spending and consuming is one good way (the best way) to ensure that the benefits of wealth are distributed to all involved in the manufacture of what (whether goods or services) was consumed.

Manmohan Singh's primary theme in his speech to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) seems to be the idea of equitable distribution of wealth. Hence all that beef in the PM's speech about "wasteful lifestyles" and "conspicuous consumption." The way to spread wealth is that someone spends it — whatever be that person's lifestyle. The wealth will eventually trickle down to all in the manufacturing and supply chain.

The way to ensure that the a rich-poor divide doesn't grow wider is not by recommending that the salaries of senior executives in any industry be limited but by making sure that businesses and industries have enough incentives to grow and create more and more jobs. If the government can do that, then perhaps it won't have to keep up the pretence of being humane and compassionate and the PM can stop being stupid and directing the industry about how it should be doing its business and paying its employees.

The Difference Between a Politician and a Mere Administrator

I happened to read Sharad Pawar's interview by Shekhar Gupta today. Pawar is probably the most pragmatic and practical politician in India at the moment. And extremely intelligent.
Sharad Pawar, in the interview, admitted to have deliberately misled the people of Mumbai during the 1993 bomb blasts in order to avoid a backlash against the muslims.

[. . .] I recollect on March 12, I was sitting in Mantralaya and at about 12-12.30 pm I heard a big noise, it was the explosion in Air India’s office. Within ten minutes I got a message that explosions had happened in 11 places, more than 365 people had died. I immediately realised that all these places were essentially dominated by Hindus. I guessed there must be some design, and that design must be that Hindus should react against the minority.

[. . .] I realised that basically the design seems to be that there should be riots. So I straight went on television and I misled people, deliberately misled people, instead of 11 bomb explosions I said 12. And one of the places that I mentioned was Masjid Bandar, an area dominated by minorities. So I spread the message that it’s not only in Hindu areas, it’s in a Muslim area also. I also said that I had seen - because I’d immediately visited the Air India building - and I said I’d visited it and the type of material that had been used was used essentially by some of the southern Indian side terrorist organisations. And I tried to (point a) finger at the Sri Lankan side...

[. . .] That was also deliberately fudged, I wanted to divert the attention from the Muslim angle to other areas. Because the design was to create further problem in Mumbai. Ultimately investigations established ki that was the design...

It's decisions and actions like these that show Pawar's political acumen. My respect for this politician has risen a few notches.

This is one of the best interviews given by a politician in some years. Pawar also talks about his views on the dance bar bans in Mumbai, the role of the left in the UPA government, economic reforms, and yes, even the selection system in Indian Cricket.

Do read it for this absorbing interview will give you an insight into the thinking of one of India's better politicians.