Sunday, May 26, 2002		Books

Asking uncomfortable questions
Aradhika Sekhon

The Chronicler's Daughter.
by Kishore Thukral, Published by Ravi Dayal. Pages 359. Rs 300

THE Chronicler's Daughter takes a searing, no-holds-barred, eyes-wide-open look at the contemporary political systems, the rise and decline of a revolution, the effects of free enterprise and the corruption of ideals that sustain a revolution. But lest the reader cast it away for fear of getting terribly bored at the prospect of it being a purely political book, let him be reassured that the reading experience is anything but boring. Although Thukral is dealing with serious, contemporary political and social concerns here, the plot remains interesting and the narrative, fast-paced.

Reading the book is like being on a ride, which initially lulls with it's comfortable motion but before you know it, the momentum becomes faster and faster. The power generation becomes more and more disquieting, till at the end the reader finds that he's being taken on a roller-coaster ride which will come to it's logical conclusion only after it has exhausted the inexorable pace that it has set itself.

The setting of the book is the megalopolis of U Belly, bound by the mighty Scalps and the unexplored forest of No-know and cut off from the rest of the world. The huge city was inhabited by a contented lot of people who were assured of everything that they could possibly require— food, jobs, civic amenities and the certitude that their progeny would automatically inherit their jobs and lifestyle. A council of Elders governed them; the acknowledged 'wise men' whose wisdom was unquestioningly accepted by all the U Bellians. Any change was discouraged. As when Elder-4 declares, "Voting is for degenerate and decadent systems."

Dissent or doubt was paramount to treason. Yet it was a benign rule and so content were the U Bellians with their lot that all of them were fat and rotund. Except the chronicler's daughter, who was thin and who realised that the wise men's benevolence was a ploy to retain their power and privilege. So she questioned it and was banished to the great forest.

However, she found allies, among them her own father, dissent gained public support, a revolution took place and the wise men were overthrown. A new order took over and the chronicler's daughter, established as the head of the state, or the Chief Administrator.

Now was the time when the only superpower of the world, The Banded State of Monimayniya (with its capital of Lu-ker) steps in with its offers of friendship and aid and slowly, yet inevitably, changes the entire ethos of U Belly.

Monimaynia is completely recognisable as the superpower of the world of today, as are the ploys it uses to corrupt and enslave. Indeed, when the Chief of the Information Bureau hears the name for the first time, he prophetically, though innocently, calls it The Bandit States of Money Mania. Even the President of Monimaynia is a prototype. "…(He) was an amazingly handsome man. He was shaven so clean his face bore a permanent bluish hue, giving him a God-like appearance…His flaxen hair, combed back, was held on the head in a puff…nothing mattered more to the President …than the interests of his people". Says he, "Every dream we have ever dreamt for ourselves has been fulfilled. Now we dream for everybody else. For the rest of the world."

And so U Belly starts changing. Seduced by the glamour of the lifestyle that Monimaynia offers, it compromises its high ideals one after another. The megalopolis is completely ensnared. On the one hand are visible developments like "the Hotel No-know, Toyland, television, Foodomaynia, U Bellian soil introduced to stimulating chemicals and fertilisers to sprout a variety of new vegetables and cereals that now formed an inseparable part of U Bellian diet". On the other hand is the ever-increasing national debt, the dying out of the small tradesmen, the necessity of the formation of The Unlit Borough, where the have-nots now must stay. Attitudes change, as does the language, as words like 'awesome' and 'shit' make their way into the speech of the U Bellians. Ammunition stores come up to allow the citizens to be familiar with firearms because, as the President explains, " Its the greater good that we must see. Like a balance sheet…profit and loss…In a system like ours, law and order can become a problem."

Kishore Thukral has represented in U Belly, a microcosm of the world today, the money and power dynamics that are constantly at play, and the various ways in which countries and societies are enslaved. However, he never allows his narrative to ever take on the shades of a tirade. He allows U Belly and its fortunes to tell its own tale, leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions. That the conclusions must logically be those of the author only reveals his mastery over the narrative. Although Thukral maintains a distance from the fortunes of his protagonists, yet he cannot abstain from getting them to speak of what are clearly, his concerns. "Freedom, dear friend", says one of his characters, "is the right to urinate and defecate wherever you want"

Let not the reader expect 'a comfortable browse' while reading this book for it's a book that asks uncomfortable questions and stays with you much after you've put it away.