Book Review: Operation India One by Shiv Kumar

Operation India One by Shiv Kumar is a quite unexpected collage on an imaginary journey into the reality. Here you can invent a new identity with a story far from family sagas and closer to the social protest. But in different styles and not necessarily in angry tones but the distrust of institutions. The black hole of lost children, urban decay of cities that preserve secular ghettoization at astronomical prices.

Dedicated police officer, ACP Gautam Dhaliwal, takes it upon himself to root out the MAF. It is a key Naxal establishment based in the far-flung parish of Bhagatpur, Bihar. He is a part of the Central Government backed, Operation India One. However, as his investigations steps forward, he unmasks the executive disguise of the mould of growth that he had set out to support.

He is taken aback to find out on the repulsive nexus of corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen. They feed off the repression of the disadvantaged. He is torn amidst his pledge to the Indian State and the compassion. He begins to consider for the distraught populace of Bhagatpur. An agonised ACP Dhaliwal is strained to rethink his past views on the connotation of an individual’s duty towards fellow countrymen.

The book, however, suggests some reflection. The author tell accurately, with tenderness, illuminating us on the past of the protagonist. There are long flashbacks to the desire for a new life, between awareness and removal that feels intensely in the echo in the novel. The classic themes of the writer, the disorientation, the difficult cultural integration, the nostalgia, but also detachment from the old world, are all there.

It is a good book well written. Here history is not trivial, with an excellent setting. It no matter accentuates the annoying impression that you want to wink at a readership. The book is a play of colours and shapes that refer simply. It evoke the difficulty to get to grips with a tragedy occurred in a distant place, and the chance to start their lives elsewhere.

In summary, this book in the end will make us aware of what we really are in the background, no less important, the nod to the Naxalite movement. Let me go back to my country buried in the grass like a warm and heavy sea, confirms the reading of the novel in this key, emphasizing continuity.

Publisher: Om Books International • Published: August 2015 • ISBN-13: 9789383202249 • Language: English • Binding: Paperback • Pages: 349
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