Any Indian who has heard of Anna Hazare will nod in recognition of the goings-on in The Book Of Answers
Book: The Book Of Answers
CY Gopinath
HarperCollins
337 pages
Rs499
Patros Patranobis, a nondescript accountant in Mumbai, leads an ordinary, placid life, believing that it is better to admit mediocrity than rise above it. He is content living with Rose, the woman to whom he is not married, and with Tippy, the teenage son he has not fathered.
One day, Patros receives a mysterious book, a gift from a long-dead ancestor. He is told that it contains the answers to all the problems of the world. But The Book Of Answers is locked inside an indestructible metal box and the key is hidden somewhere in Kerala. Patros, who has no desire to be the world’s saviour or messiah, makes futile attempts to rid himself of the infernal volume, finally selling it to the owner of a junk shop for a paltry sum.
Now begins the mayhem and madness. Reporters and bloggers pick up the story of the book as the 21st century’s answer to Nostradamus, hailing it as the voice of god, a how-to manual to solve the world’s problems. The tome soon appears in the possession of a fraudulent godman who claims that the gods speak to him through the book. He aligns himself with the country’s most powerful leader, the Convener, the ruthless Ishwar Prasad.
Citing the book as his divine source of authority, Ishwar Prasad imposes bizarre Orwellian laws and schemes on the country, all in a bid to perpetuate his power. After privatising education, legalising cheating in exams, imposing a happiness tax, and reforming the electoral laws to allow criminals to vote for him, the Convener now plans to announce in his State of the Disunion speech his much-vaunted India 50-50 scheme aimed at dividing the poor half of the country from the rich half. It doesn’t matter to Ishwar Prasad that The Book Of Answers has no key. Indeed, in a nation of credulous believers and followers of fake godmen, the book is much more useful to him closed than open.
Patros, who just wants to be left alone, is nevertheless manipulated, blackmailed, coerced, and otherwise inveigled into the role of a revolutionary by his best friend Arindam and by his beloved mistress. Rose, a do-gooder vigilante who wants to make the world a better place, sees the book as an omen. She plays to Patros’s conscience, ego, and libido (sometimes all at the same time) to persuade him to retrieve the book. Patros valiantly tries to save the situation, but becomes increasingly embroiled in intrigue, deception, conspiracy, and other nefarious doings.
Unwittingly, he becomes a reluctant hero to an embattled and confused nation. Despite his deep-seated desire to avoid the public eye, Patros has a talent for delivering incendiary speeches that inspire listeners to action.
Finally, he travels to Kerala in search of the missing key that will unlock the secrets of the book.
CY Gopinath, who began his career as a journalist for the iconic JS magazine (sadly, long defunct), has produced a fast-paced, enjoyable satire on Indian politics, corruption, and mis-governance. The events described take place in 2015, but any Indian who has heard of Anna Hazare will nod in recognition of the goings-on in The Book of Answers.
Malini Sood is a Delhi-based editor and writer.
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