Book Review - Crimson City by Madhulika Liddle

You invariably breathe a sigh of relief, as you come to the end of Crimson City, the last addition to the Muzaffar Jang Mysteries, by Madhulika Liddle, for at long last, having run the entire length of the book, the last few pages being literally a hundred meter sprint, finally the serial killer in Shahjahanabad is nabbed, thanks to the timely intervention of Shireen, the newly wed, very intellectual bride of Muzaffar Jang, our 17th Century detective of the Mughal period, in Dilli. Allah be praised!

A rather long detective novel no doubt, but beautifully laced with description of Shahjahanabad, old Dilli, of now, with all its lanes and gallis, havelis, gardens and hamaams, the reader is taken on leisurely walk around, albeit constantly in doubt of every character he encounters along the way, for it is not just one murder, the killer of which is at large, but several killings, all within days, probably only a week, and mostly in and around the same haveli.

At first, the kotwal of Dilli, Khan Sahib is loath to allow his brother-in-law, the brilliant detective by habit, Muzaffar Jang, whom the reader has encountered in all the Muzaffar Jang stories, four in all, in the past, to interfere and poke his nose in matters of this serial killings in Shahjahanabad, but, the young nobleman, with his just married wife, Shireen, find it hard to stay away from the goings on and tend to go on their own quest for the killer, all of which helps to nab the culprit finally.

Not an easy story this one, because of the multiple murders, one after another, with no trace of any apparent motive, nor any tell-tale signs left behind, a maze of happenings, all seeming to connect and yet, totally unconnected, till one comes to the last few pages and in quite a surprising end, the motive and the killer is revealed, which the reader didn’t get a whiff of throughout the novel.

So then, is it okay to read the first few pages of Crimson City and rush to the last few, if one is an impatient reader? Quite obviously no! Such an error would invariably make the reader, lose track of the nail-biting build up and the many frustrations, as one travels along with Muzaffar Jang and Shireen, hurrying here and scurrying there to zero down on the killer, and participating in the gossip of men and women inside the haveli, all making a juicy read, to savour in leisure and abandon of yesteryear, when it was not a compulsion to complete reading within minutes. The author has woven stories inside stories with such adept mastery of story-telling, the reader would be lost, if the entire story with the big surprise at the end, was not read completely.

Of all the Muzaffar Jung series, this book is for keeps. The reason is simple – Liddle has poured her ink thickly on the pages and details of Shahjahanabad, are finely woven into the text. It is a masterpiece of good writing in English by an Indian author, who has made her mark among period detective novel writers worldwide. You may check her out in Wikipedia.  In Crimson City, which is a very apt title for this the last of the Muzaffar Jang Stories, the author’s thoughts around issues of religion and communities are expertly delivered in the lines, so that for the conscious reader, a few nuggets of ideology are for keeps as well.

The book suffers from a few drawbacks though. The first being, there are too many characters and one must then have a notebook around to jot down who is related to whom. Second, even at the last, our kotwal sahib’s insistence of his brother-in-laws interference in finding out the killer, is not explained, although it is Muzaffar Jang and his wife’s diligent study and snooping around which finally lead to the killer. Third, one really could not understand why the Hindu element was woven into the tale, and to what purpose? Fourth, was it not possible to have a tighter manuscript, even if that meant, losing out of a purani Dilli, Shahjahanabad experience, of leisure and time in hand? Last, but not the least, the reference to Jesus Christ, in pg 208, needs verification to find out by what name he was called in Shahjahanabad. Or his reference replaced?

However, one must be totally satisfied with this fact, that even if one has never read a Muzaffar Jang story before, this is a standalone book and is a must read, and one to keep forever, as I will. The last finale of the Muzaffar Jang Mysteries, placed in the spring of 1657, left me in tears when I read the last words, in Acknowledgements – 

“......And last but not the least, my family, without whose unwavering support and love (even if often biased and blind beyond belief) this book might never have got written.”

Doesn’t that sum up what is in many of our hearts, too?

Book details:

Title: Crimson City

Author: Madhulika Liddle

Publisher: Hachette India

Pages: 326

Price: Rs 296 (in October) 

To buy this book Click HERE

Also read: Madhulika Liddle's Blog

Blast from the past: Madhulika Liddle: Engraved in Stone Interview With The Author

Another man's wife by Manjul Bajaj

“ It was an old, old tribal custom and only hearsay now. If a girl spat on a boy’s face it meant she had marked him out as hers.” p 199, Another man’s wife.

We however are not talking about that, but let’s face it, if you ever henceforth pick a book by the author Manjul Bajaj, be sure you are going to tread on grounds, that make for some absolutely wonderful stories, from the very heart of rural and urban India, which not only tell a story well. In this sense, Manjul Bajaj is marked..

In her second innings, Another man’s wife, a collection of 9 stories, Bajaj, takes the reader through a series of issues deeply rooted in our Indian society, and makes a delightful combination with the hot and hungry inner climate of her protagonists. Call it the need to explore or actions following needs of other kind, all the stories, twist and turn, and surprise the reader with a plot that is well thought out and crafted with the reader in mind.

What is the price of displacement? Why must we leave our home and hearth in the villages, to earn our living in cities, what is the cost of this displacement? What are the boundaries of love or sexual communion, what are the consequences of actions, does love last or must it be fueled by fantasy to live on, or does raw intimacy revive distanced relationships, is there a right thing to do, or all actions have their own cycle to complete, is there a continuation of life which once blown out, returns again giving even a murderer a chance for redemption? The author grapples with you by her side, with all this, through a journey of words, stories that make you sit up and think and discuss, long after you have pun the book, down.

There is no shame, no need to tame language and make it polite. The raw rugged rage of thoughts and words come straight from the belly, with no lace, no veil to cover. .

All the stories have strong protagonists, whether male or female, and all cut out a story, you least expected they would when you began to read it first. The twists and turns, the surprises and the large heartedness, all come together, so beautifully, that at the end, although as a reader one might have had a list of ifs and buts coming up, occasionally and punctuating the flow of thought, at the end, one feels that all is right in love and war. Besides, even in the worst case of being wronged, there is an inclusive end and characters are not left out there in the dark, to make sense of themselves.

The editorial work is fantastic and in the title story, the play of emotions, basic instinct, the war of bodies and of minds is a masterpiece to die for, the perfect dance of writer and editor - so exquisite the beat of the drums and the blow of the conches, one might have been a spectator of the very kurukshetra itself, only it is happening in the bedroom and your fire too is rising blow by blow, as this animal display of an instinct called sex moves, caresses, urges, pleads, attacks your senses too, with words that are noisy and restless to penetrate your body and your mind. Well done, Manjul Bajaj.

In this book, there are no lose ends and no question marks left. Bajaj has tied up the stories beautifully and in all of them, she has found her solution, bold, benevolent, without borders or boundaries. So if in her first book, Come before evening falls, she did sit on the fence at times, in this one, she has resolved her differences and cast pearls of wisdom strewn all across the book, like little nuggets, you’d love to keep forever.

I, however, will keep the best pearl of wisdom held close to my heart, a story I would like to re-read again, that one story, I truly call the ‘Meet the author, story,” – Marrying Nusrat.

 Author: Manjul Bajaj
Edited by Nandita Aggarwal
Publisher: Hachette Book Publishing India Pvt Ltd
4^th/5^th Floors, Corporate Centre
Plot no 94, Sector 44, Gurgaon, India
Price: Rs 350
Buy: In bookshops across India, Amazon.com  &  Flipkart