Book Review: Prisoners of Hate by C.V.Murali

Call it a coincidence but there couldn’t have been a better day to post a review on Prisoners of Hate by C.V.Murali; today being 6th December - the anniversary of demolition of an age-old Mosque in India. A few weeks ago, Murali sent a copy of the book so that I could read it and post a review here.

Prisoners of Hate traces the lives of Farhan, Madhav and Sanjay, and their ancestors.  The story weaves through different ages from the pre-partition era to independence and the violence following partition while narrating the lives of the protagonists’ fathers and grand fathers, and how they ended up in the city where they lived now- Mumbai.  The book starts off with the stories of Farhan Rasool (a Muslim),  Sanjay Dave, and Madhav Karve (a Hindu fanatic) are narrated independently. Farhan’s father Ghulam Rasool is a successful businessman in Mumbai; he had moved from UP to Mumbai looking for work before independence. An unfortunate turn of events during the partition made Ghulam’s employer move to Pakistan, only to never return. Before leaving the country, he entrusted the business to Ghulam who turned it into a profitable one.  Mayank Dave, Sanjay’s father, ran a mill in Karachi. The family had lived there for generations. Trouble began fr the happy family when the partition was announced. The unsuspecting Hindu parents of Mayank met with a brutal end at their ancestral home in Karachi. That was the only home the Daves knew and the senior was reluctant to leave it; it costed them dearly - their lives. Sanjay was a toddler when this happened. Mayank was lucky to get his family alive out of Pakistan and move in with his in-laws at Mumbai. However, the transition didn’t go down well with the Daves. They endured enough misery and poverty taking away Mayank’s life in the process. Similarly, Madhav’s is yet another bitter history. The partition had a big role to play in the lives of all their parents.

In short, this book is about the painful history of Hindus and Muslims living in India post independence and the numerous agonising events that ensued afterward. Be it the demolition of the Babri Masjid mosque, or the Mumbai blasts, or the Gujarat train tragedy and the communal violence that followed it,the book delves into detail each of these shameful incidents by weaving a story around it.

Madhav, Sanjay and Farhan’s paths cross in the middle of the book influencing their future actions. They are all in their 20s now. While Madhav is an upcoming politician and now a leader of a radical national party, Sanjay is a journalist, and Farhan a professor. One morning, near Shivaji Park, after the demolition, Madhav leads a gang that alights Farhan Rasool’s family members alive in a car by dousing petrol. This is part of a series of incidents in which Muslim families are targeted. It’s Madhav’s way of taking revenge at the Muslims who took the lives of his uncle’s family. His uncle, aunt and niece were shot dead by terrorists in Kashmir while on vacation while Madhav had a narrow escape. The helpless, wailing Farhan is rescued and admitted to a hospital by a passerby- Sanjay. This incident changes the lives of all the three men forever. While Farhan goes reticent and silently rebellious from an outspoken youth, Sanjay can never understand the hatred that drove Farhan to commit such a dastardly act.

The last part of the book is a drag. It deals with the family lives of the three men, how they come face to face with each other, and who bears the brunt of the past.

Maybe a lot of it is true and is drawn from real-life incidents during the demolition, and what ensued thereafter.  But it didn’t work for me. After five unsuccessful attempts, I finished reading the book n my sixth attempt. Maybe it was too dark and depressing; maybe it read like a history book packed with facts; and the author tried too hard to bring in the mystery element of how the protagonists fates are linked.

The editing is bad; the punctuation horrid. If you are game for dark fiction full of mindless violence and gruesome murders in the name of religion, pick up the book. Else, give it a pass.

The book is priced Rs.195 and is published by Cedar Books. C.V.Murali’s debut novel, Dreams Die Young, was published in 2007.