Glimpses of deceit and wafts of irony
Reviewed by Geetu Vaid

Shoes Of The Dead
by Neelima Kota
Rainlight/ Rupa Pages 274. Rs 495

Hunger is an important thread in the tapestry of life. So it is in Kota Neelima’s latest political fiction, whether it is for power and lucre or for food, self respect, rights and justice.

Moving effortlessly from the swish corridors of power in Delhi to the dusty, gloomy and unforgiving terrain in the hinterlands of our country, the author plays on the ironies of life and destiny through the issue of farmers’ suicides. The plight of the farmers of Maharashtra, Vidharbha and Telangana reverberates all through. Her characters are mainly representative of the politicians, block officers, village sarpanches, medical officers, collectors etc who hold the reins to the future and destiny of the poor and helpless farmers toiling in the fields.

The readers are given a glimpse of the deceit, intrigue and machinations of the political arithmetic through the eyes of a journalist Nazar who takes it upon himself to dig out the truth from underneath the grimy layers of the lives of the power-hungry few.

Her narrative brings out the clash between the haves and the have nots and bares the farce that is played in the name of development and welfare of the downtrodden and the irony of a fight for justice in this tract. On the one end of the spectrum are the poor farmers for whom the burden of keeping pace with the struggles of day- to-day life is huge and on the other end are those who are bogged down by the burden of keeping the inheritance of power intact. The main protagonist Gangiri Bhadra is the challenger, the advocate of the dead whose mission is to get justice for the families by validating farmer suicides. He uses his education and righteousness to fight the corrupt and even manages to checkmate their moves effectively to send shockwaves in the political career of politician Keyur Kashinath. He fails to bear the burden of guilt that the death of his nephew leaves him with.

Neelima has crafted different characters evocatively and her language too is effective. However, the plot lacks grip, especially in the initial part of the book as the author seems to be more intent on introducing the psyche of different characters rather than keeping the readers engrossed with the storyline. However, this is one aspect of which she takes control as the reader moves along the story. So if you survive the first 60 pages then you are sure to get a drift of the writer’s art and stay on till the last page.

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