Mar 08, 2011 08:57 PM
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(Updated Mar 11, 2011 11:48 AM)
Sherlock Holmes is without doubt one of the most famous fictional characters from literature. The fictional detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is so popular that most people like to believe that such a person existed! The novels and stories of Sherlock Holmes and his friend Watson are extremely popular and all the books are bestsellers.
Many authors have tried to capitalize on the fame of Sherlock Holmes by coming out with their own versions of his stories. Most successful among them was Sir Doyle’s son Adrian, who wrote The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes, which was a worthy tribute to the master detective. Unfortunately, most other such books have been below par.
Vithal Rajan is an Indian author who is obviously a fan of Holmes and of Indian history. The central theme of this book is the visit of Sherlock Holmes to India and his adventures in India at the time of the British Raj. Now, this concept sounds interesting, but let’s see how the author deals with it. The book has six short stories and here’s my take on these stories:
Case of the Murdering Saint : This story is based on the real-life incident of the arrest of the Kanchi Sankaracharya by Jayalalitha a few years ago. The author talks about a Kumbakokam Mutt where the Swami is arrested for murdering his accountant. Holmes is called in to India to solve the mystery. This could have been developed well, but unfortunately there is a lot of nonsense in this story. Sample this – Holmes says that he has written a monograph on the dosa!! And Holmes converses in Sanskrit with the Shankaracharya – God knows how that is possible!! And to this hotch-potch there is a German troublemaker, a temple dancer, a meeting with Madam Blavatsky of the Theosophical Society and a man who the author claims is his father!!! The end result is a stupid story with a drab ending, definitely not worthy to feature Holmes. My rating for this story 2/10.
Bite Worse than Death : Watson is called to Hyderabad to cure the Nizam’s son who is suffering from Malaria. Now when did Watson become such a famous doctor is the big mystery in this story. Not only does Watson cure the boy, but he also discovers the fact that it is mosquitoes who cause Malaria! And there is a local doctor named Ronald Ross, to whom he shares his findings! And we find a young Sarojini Naidu loitering around in the Nizam’s palace. In this story, poor Holmes roams around playing cricket and just loafing around. Disastrous! My rating 1/10.
Naga Baiga of Mogli Hills : In this story, we are introduced to Rudyard Kipling and Holmes instead of detecting crimes, goes to save the British Raj from tribals. In this story, Holmes reveals how he failed to solve the Jack the Ripper murder case. The story ends with Holmes trapping a murderer – without showing any evidence of his famous detection skills. Another dull story, but atleast Holmes has something to do in this. My rating 2.5/10
Kim and Kim Again : From the sublime to the ridiculous – this book keeps getting worse. The author has a very vivid imagination, but he goes totally overboard in this story. Kipling’s famous fictional character Kim is the star of this story. Add to this an assorted bunch of characters including Motilal Nehru, a baby Jawahar Nehru and even Scarlet O Hara and Rhett Butler from Gone with the Wind. This story is so ridiculous, that you feel like throwing the book into a fire! My rating 0/10
Art, Crime and Punishment : The author continues to get vicarious pleasure by torturing us with his unbelievable ideas. This time we have Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda giving us company. Really Mr.Rajan, there is a limit to imagination! The basic premise of the Holmes story is a crime and how Holmes solves it with his brilliant, cold and logical deduction skills. But nowhere in this book do we see this! Holmes is like a piece of furniture, with Watson doing most of the running around. My rating 1.5/10
Indian Summer of Sherlock Holmes : Finally, the book comes to an end with this story. Micheal O’Dwyer (of the infamous Jallianwala Bagh fame) plans to organize a mass murder at a meet (organized by Annie Besant) and this story is about how Holmes foils this attempt. Now, this is really confusing – is Holmes a detective or an Indian freedom fighter? The author’s febrile imagination conjures a potpourri, that includes the legendary mathematician Ramanujam and also Jinnah. Atleast in this story, Holmes does something instead of sitting quietly. My rating 2/10.
Holmes coming to India and meeting characters from Indian history and solving crimes - this was the theme of the novel, but unfortunately the whole theme has gone for a six. The villain here is the author who is confused whether he is writing a history story or a detective novel.
We are confused whether this is Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, because not even in one story, does he reveal his famous skills. Watson gets too much of unwanted prominence. And the author tries to do too much, by introducing a vast number of characters. This has created a horrible mess. I felt like giving up this book half-way, but read it hoping that something good may happen at the end. The only good thing at the end, was that the book came to an end.
Purist fans of Holmes will feel sick after reading this book. In this book, Holmes appears to be a racist, a missionary and a crusader for the Raj - the original Holmes created by Doyle is none of this, he is just a detective Not only is this the worst book featuring Holmes, but this is also one of the worst work of fiction I have read. In one word – pathetic! Thankfully, I read this book from the library and didn’t pay money to buy this.
My overall rating for this book 1.5/10 – and that rating is for the idea.
My recommendation – please avoid!!
