May 15, 2011 10:27 AM
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(Updated May 15, 2011 10:38 AM)
Pageturner ! Unputdownable ! The words have become so cliched with indiscriminate use that they have lost their punch. Yet if I were to describe "The Case Of Exploding Mangoes" in one word/phrase, these are the ones that should come automatically to mind.
Sometime ago I was reading a TOI article by Mohammed Hanif "Ten Myths About Pakistan". What struck me odd was that the myths themselves were rather predictable, the explanations werent. Here was a man with a sense of humour I hadnt come across in ages. And true to this style, his book catches hold of your attention right at the outset and never lets go of it till the end.
The book is ostensibly all about "behind the scene" happenings prior to President Zia-Ul-Haq's plane crash in 1988 but dont bother with the plot. Its the biting narrative that'll have you spellbound. The author deals with several subjects - each with ease that comes only from authors with a keen sense of perception.
In the Prologue, Ali Shigri, Pak Air Force pilot and our protagonist, describes General Zia's fateful walk to what would be his last flight as "the walk of a constipated man."
Ali is so caged up within the singularly robotic existence of the armed forces that he is forced to admit "You can blame our men in uniform for anything, but you can never blame them for being imaginative.” Ali's 2nd Officer In Command (a 'Loser' in the Pak Air Force), is a perfect example of "God's glory. For every monkey there is a houri." When his roommate Obaid mysteriously disappears along with an aircraft, Ali is worried that the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) with its preposterous ways ... "would hang me by my testicles". To compound his fears "The US of A has got satellites with cameras so powerful they can count the exact number of hairs on your bum."
General Zia is hosting close friend and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Naif and his personal physician, Dr Sarwari. The General cant help but consult the Doctor about a nagging personal problem and what follows is a hilarious session of consultancy in the General's office where he is asked: "You wanna a bigger or you wanna a longer?"
Even the Mangeshkar sisters arent spared. "They are old, fat, ugly Indian sisters who both sing like they were teenage sex kittens. One probably sounds sexier than the other, I can never tell."
I will quote no more. Let the reader discover these little gems of satire. Suffice it to say that there are countless. The author’s narrative is like a bottle of acid that singes through everything in its path. Such is the ferocity of his mordancy that it’ll likely have you preoccupied for the best part of the novel before you finally realize that the author has, in the meantime, very cleverly spun an intricate web of possibilities, some probable, others barely possible, to explain the plane crash.
The author has had a stint with the Pak Air Force Academy and it shows. If there's anything which you might find occasionally distracting, its the details of the airforce lifestyle and the theology obsessed existence of General Zia. Add to that a style that some may find offensive/crude. But then isnt an artist's view of the baser things in Life different than that of mere mortals like us :-P
The Book was shortlisted for Booker in 2008 but the title was finally awarded to The White Tiger (Arvind Adiga). As is their wont, the Booker Committee exhibited keen sense of humour, even if it was ill-timed and ill-targeted and even if the books selected by them didn’t exhibit any. It was like saying Kipling was a better author than Orwell simply because he got the Nobel and Orwell didnt.
The book is like that elusive trip which never has a comedown ! If you are into dark humour/satire, you cant afford to miss this one. If you aren’t, you still cant afford to miss it. You wont come across a better specimen in contemporary books of this genre.
I think everyone should own a copy.
