Books: God's Little Soldier

God's Little Soldier

Kiran Nagarkar

Publisher: Harper Collins

Rs 595/-

Kiran Nagarkar needs no introduction - everyone's heard of Cuckold, Ravan and Eddie or they should have, at any rate. But more importantly, the work at hand, God's Little Soldier, is just so readable it's hard to put down.

It's the story of Zia - a truly scary creation. He has the cold fanaticism of whatever he believes at the moment, and will not stop till he feels he has done everything humanly possible to achieve God's will on Earth. His interpretations of this vary, but are defined by an intense tunnel vision that blocks out the rest of the world.

It's said to be a constant striving for purity and the image that comes to mind is of a white-hot flame that scorches everything and everyone in its wake. Zia destroys those around them time and again, without seeming to realise it. He reinvents himself after committing horrific atrocities and seems to constantly try to keep the past at bay.

He's definitely not your stable, boy-next-door, but he's also not your stereotypical fundamentalist. He's brilliant and charismatic and somehow twisted, a trifle psychotic, even - infinitely more dangerous.

Kiran Nagarkar sounds quite fond of Zia - "How many people do you know who want to change the world," he asks. Indeed. But at what cost. The counterpoint to Zia is his brother, Amanat, who's physically ill, but is equally intelligent, poetic and much more human.

And stricken with self-doubt, more's the pity. The brothers have a relationship that's fraught with tension, but they seem quite yin/yang. There are some really moving moments - the book comes highly recommended (Aamir Khan, among others, is a die-hard fan).

I found that it did drag in bits, though, and critics do say that parts of it are far-fetched, but honestly, the beauty is in the leaps of imagination. The author's painted a tapestry and a highly topical one at that.

About the Author: Kiran Nagarkar is a highly acclaimed, award-winning author. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Cuckold in 2000. Nagarkar is bilingual - writes in Marathi and English, but has controversially been disowned by the Marathi clique for somehow "betraying" his language and writing in English.

"I don't know how to deal with it. I still haven't lost my anger and bitterness. First of all, I'm bilingual, right. When they say, why don't you write in Marathi, the fact is I do write in Marathi," says Nagarkar. "How many Indian languages do they read even when translated? This is just an easy pose to strike." In classic Nagarkar style, he adds, "Why don't you ask me how come I don't write in four or five languages, and I can barely manage two?"