I finally got to read Vanity Bagh by Anees Salim over the year end break. This book won the Hindu Literary prize in 2014. To be frank, till this book won the prize I have not heard of a writer called Anees Salim. Came to know that he has written four books and Vanity Bagh is his second.
Vanity Bagh has subtle comedy running through the book. This story takes place in a fictional town called Mangobagh, which has two localities Vanity Bagh dominated by Muslims and Mehendi dominated by Hindus. The story is narrated in Imran Jabbari's voice.
Imran is the son of the local imam and he and his friends form a gang called 5 1/2 men(all with Pakistan politician names) influenced by a half retired crippled don. They do re-possess a car and other than do nothing as a gang.
After a while they get a job to be couriers and till a serial bomb blasts happens don't realize the enormity of what they had done. Two of them get caught and are sentenced to 14 years + in jail. Clearly showing how some unemployed youth get caught in the terror world without realizing what they are doing.
The story goes back and forth between how Imran plots to jailbreak and the flashback of the incidents before he gets to jail and is also told with quotes from people from the town.
Initial few pages are slow. Once you start getting into the thick of things, this is a very good read. All in all a good book to read.
PS : Not sure what Anees has on Resul Pookutty. He has taken on Mickey on him in many parts of the book.
Vanity Bagh has subtle comedy running through the book. This story takes place in a fictional town called Mangobagh, which has two localities Vanity Bagh dominated by Muslims and Mehendi dominated by Hindus. The story is narrated in Imran Jabbari's voice.
Imran is the son of the local imam and he and his friends form a gang called 5 1/2 men(all with Pakistan politician names) influenced by a half retired crippled don. They do re-possess a car and other than do nothing as a gang.
After a while they get a job to be couriers and till a serial bomb blasts happens don't realize the enormity of what they had done. Two of them get caught and are sentenced to 14 years + in jail. Clearly showing how some unemployed youth get caught in the terror world without realizing what they are doing.
The story goes back and forth between how Imran plots to jailbreak and the flashback of the incidents before he gets to jail and is also told with quotes from people from the town.
Initial few pages are slow. Once you start getting into the thick of things, this is a very good read. All in all a good book to read.
PS : Not sure what Anees has on Resul Pookutty. He has taken on Mickey on him in many parts of the book.
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