Backflap: The Curse of Muziris
A legendary port, a dangerous secret and a deadly oath — Hamish Morjaria’s ‘The Curse of Muziris’ weaves a historical thriller a la ‘The Da Vinci Code’. It tells the story of Jayesh, a trader from the fabled city of Muziris in 72 AD. He carefully conceals a relic of Roman origin that caused widespread devastation upon its arrival in India. In present-day India, an archaeologist sets out to find the location of the legendary Port of Muziris. Meanwhile, powerful men are monitoring the archaeologist’s activities.
Based on rigorous field research and extensive interviews with veteran intelligence and security professionals who have dealt with JeM since its inception, including two former chiefs of R&AW, this book offers a detailed understanding of the past, present and likely future of Jaish-e-Mohammed. JeM has pan-India ambitions and has strong ties with transnational terrorist groups such as the Al Qaeda, the Taliban, etc, making it a potential security threat for western countries as well.
This book attempts to map the transformation of a cluster of fishing villages into a metropolis. The port town of Cochin, now Kochi, saw the rise and fall of many powers, the complicated trajectories of the diverse people who made a home out of it, and the confluence of seemingly favoured faiths and conflicting cultures. This book delves into the role played by the royalty and its surrogates, the colonial powers, the domestic fortune seekers, besides other institutions and individuals.
